New York, March 24, 2005—An appeals court yesterday reduced the massive damages levied against the independent Moscow daily Kommersant in what a newspaper lawyer called a “tactical victory” in its ongoing legal battle over its reporting on last summer’s banking crisis. Moscow’s Federal Arbitration Court upheld the finding of liability but reduced the damages to…
MARCH 23, 2005 Posted: April 12, 2005 Maurício Melato Barth, Info-Bairros ATTACKED, THREATENED Two unidentified assailants shot Maurício Melato Barth, owner and editor of the bimonthly newspaper Info-Bairros, twice in the legs at the editor’s home in the southern city of Itapema at about 8 p.m.
New York, March 23, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes today’s presidential pardon of a Yemeni editor who was jailed for nearly seven months for publishing opinion articles that strongly criticized the government. Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh pardoned Abdelkarim al-Khawiani, editor of the opposition weekly Al-Shoura, a spokesman for Yemen’s embassy in Washington, D.C.,…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned about the continued detention of Abdirisak Ahmed Absuge, editor of www.guulane.com, the official Web site of faction leader Mohamed Dhere. According to local sources, Absuge was arrested on March 5 in the district of Jawhar, where Dhere is chairman of the self-appointed administration.
MARCH 22, 2005 Posted: April 1, 2005 Radio Télévision Ténéré (RTT) CENSORED Police in the western city of Zinder searched the offices of the privately owned broadcaster Radio Télévision Ténéré (RTT) and confiscated a videocassette containing footage of street protests against a new tax on basic foodstuffs, water and electricity. According to RTT officials quoted…
MARCH 22, 2005 Posted: March 23, 2005 Ahmed Suleyman Dhuhul, Radio Hargeisa Hoodo Axmed Qarbooshe, Radio Hargeisa HARASSED Dhuhul and Qarbooshe, reporters for government-owned Radio Hargeisa in the self-declared republic of Somaliland, were fired from their jobs after they were accused of working for Horyaal Radio, a pro-opposition station based in the United Kingdom. Horyaal…
Your Excellency: One year after the Committee to Protect Journalists conducted a fact-finding mission to Bangladesh in response to a pattern of violence against the press, death threats and deadly attacks against journalists continue at an alarming rate. You offered assurances last year that the press in Bangladesh “enjoys full press freedom,” but that freedom is at great risk today. We are deeply concerned about this press freedom crisis, and join with our Bangladeshi colleagues in calling for swift and decisive action to stanch this relentless tide of violence against journalists.
New York, March 22, 2005—The Pentagon will not reopen a military investigation that cleared U.S. troops of allegations that they abused three Reuters employees in Fallujah in January 2004, the news agency said today. Lawrence Di Rita, special assistant to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, said in a letter to Reuters dated March 7 that the…
New York, March 22, 2005—A Rwandan appeals court today stiffened the sentence against a newspaper editor as it upheld his conviction on charges that he defamed the deputy speaker of parliament in a 2004 article. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the ruling, saying it reflected the ongoing harassment of editors and reporters for Umuseso,…