2005
Captors release video of kidnapped Italian journalist
New York, February 16, 2005—The kidnappers holding Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena have released a video showing her pleading for her life and calling on U.S. and coalition troops to leave Iraq, The Associated Press (AP) has reported. On February 4, gunmen seized Sgrena, a reporter for the Rome-based Italian daily Il Manifesto, near Baghdad University,…
Journalist’s deportation delayed
New York, February 16, 2005—A journalist ordered deported by the Russian security service was allowed to stay in Russia temporarily because officials in the passport office told him they could find no legal basis to expel him. Yuri Bagrov, who has covered the North Caucasus for The Associated Press and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL),…
CPJ concerned about harassment of international correspondents
New York, February 15, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned that Zimbabwean police repeatedly visited the offices of three senior freelance reporters for international publications on Monday and Tuesday. Officials first said they were investigating espionage allegations against the journalists. Then they claimed they were looking into the reporters’ accreditation. Finally, the officers said…
must reveal sources in CIA leak case
New York, February 15, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed that a federal appeals court has ruled that two journalists can be jailed for not revealing their confidential sources. A panel of three judges for the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., ruled today that Time magazine, Time White House correspondent Matthew Cooper,…
Provincial journalist shot dead
New York, February 15, 2005—Unidentified gunmen shot and killed Pongkiat Saetang, editor of the bimonthly newspaper Had Yai Post, near a market in Had Yai, in southern Thailand’s Songkhla Province yesterday. The Committee to Protect Journalists is investigating to determine whether he was killed for his journalistic work. Two assailants shot Pongkiat twice in the…
CPJ concerned about journalist’s pending deportation
New York, February 15, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is disturbed that the Russian government is planning to deport Yuri Bagrov, a journalist who has covered the North Caucasus for The Associated Press and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, in retaliation for his independent reporting on the war in the southern Russian republic of Chechnya. An…
IRAQ
FEBRUARY 15, 2005 Posted: March 14, 2005 Meutya Hafid, Metro TV Budiyanto, Metro TV ABDUCTED Gunmen seized reporter Hafid, cameraman Budiyanto and their driver, Ibrahim Abdel Khader, near the city of Ramadi. They were en route from Amman, Jordan, to cover the observance of Ashura, one of the most important religious events for Shiites, according…