New York, January 7, 2005—The independent Azerbaijani opposition newspaper Yeni Musavat ceased publication indefinitely on December 31, 2004, because a court froze the paperís assets and bank account after ordering it to pay hefty libel damages to several government officials. The damages, which total nearly 800 million manats (US$160,000), stem from seven different defamation lawsuits…
New York, January 6, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists strongly protests the arrest of a correspondent for news channel Al-Arabiya in Kuwait yesterday, shortly after the station aired a disputed report of clashes between Kuwaiti government forces and militants. Correspondent Adil Aidan remained in custody today after his arrest by Kuwaiti authorities, according to Al-Arabiya…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply troubled by the recent violent attack on journalists by government security forces. On Tuesday, January 4, police acting as security at a meeting of the National Executive Council of Your Excellency’s ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the capital, Abuja, assaulted at least 10 journalists who were covering the meeting.
JANUARY 6, 2005 Posted: March 23, 2005 Luis Aguirre Pastor, La Voz de Madre de Dios LEGAL ACTION Aguirre, a radio journalist based in the city of Puerto Maldonado in the southern Madre de Dios region, could be barred from working as a journalist for a year after an appeals court upheld his September 2003…
Dear Lieutenant General Yaalon: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed by the shooting of a Palestinian cameraman in the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday. On January 2, Majdi al-Arabid, who was on assignment for Israel’s Channel 10 TV, was shot in the stomach near Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip while reporting on IDF operations against Palestinians suspected of firing rockets into Israel. Channel 10 reporter Sholmi Eldar, who witnessed the incident, told CPJ that IDF troops were responsible.
JANUARY 5, 2005 Posted January 27, 2005 Nguyen Thi Lan Anh, Tuoi Tre HARASSED, LEGAL ACTION Lan Anh, a staff reporter for the daily Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper, was indicted on a charge of “appropriating state secrets.” The January 5 announcement of legal action against Lan Anh followed her series of investigative articles about manipulations…
JANUARY 5, 2005 Posted: January 27, 2005 Deo Mulima Kampuku, La Référence Plus LEGAL ACTION Mulima, a reporter with the independent Congolese daily La Référence Plus, was sentenced in absentia to four months in jail for criminal defamation on January 5, according to local press freedom group Journaliste en Danger (JED) and sources at the…
New York, January 4, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is disturbed by a Moscow court’s finding that Kommersant, Russia’s leading independent business daily, must pay millions in damages for a July article that described long lines of customers withdrawing money at a major bank. An appellate court ruled last week that Kommersant (Businessman) must pay…