New York, October 31, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply troubled by a report that editor Jean-Marie Kanku has been abducted and held for three days by the national intelligence agency (ANR) in Kinshasa. Kanku’s disappearance follows articles in his newspaper L’Alerte that accused ANR boss Lando Lurhakumbirwa of corruption, Journaliste en Danger (JED),…
New York, October 27, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is outraged by the recent abduction of four Guatemalan journalists. On Sunday, October 26, former paramilitary fighters kidnapped reporters Freddy López and Alberto Ramírez, and photographers Emerson Díaz and Mario Linares, all of the Guatemala Citybased daily Prensa Libre, in the town of La Libertad,…
New York, October 27, 2005—The editor of The Independent newspaper was detained today and interrogated for several hours by Gambian state intelligence agents, who instructed him to return for more questioning on Friday. Local journalists said they believe Musa Saidykhan is being harassed in connection with a recent article on the unsolved December 2004 murder…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the ongoing harassment of prominent writer and medical doctor Nguyen Dan Que. Although he was released from prison in February, Que continues to face harsh restrictions on his movements and communication with others. He is barred from sending material online and seeking employment.
New York, October 26, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the government harassment of foreign media in Uzbekistan, which today prompted the BBC to close its Tashkent bureau. The BBC World Service said it would immediately close its office and withdraw staff because of continued harassment since its reporting of the May 13 massacre in…
New York, October 26, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned about alleged attempts by the U.S. military to recruit a detained journalist as a spy. London’s Guardian newspaper reported that U.S. military interrogators allegedly told a journalist for Qatar-based Al-Jazeera that he would be released if he agreed to inform U.S. intelligence authorities about…
New York, October 26, 2005 —A businessman who reported online about steel worker protests in the central Chinese town of Chongqing has disappeared, and is thought to be in police custody, according to the advocacy group Chinese Rights Defenders (CRD). Police seized Shi Xiaoyu from his home in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province on October 20, CRD…
OCTOBER 26, 2005 Posted: December 2, 2005 BBC Deutsche Welle The Associated Press Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty HARASSED The BBC World Service closed its Tashkent office and withdrew staff because of continued harassment by authorities because of its reporting on the May 13 massacre in the northeast city of Andijan. Other local and foreign media…
New York, October 24, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the brazen late-night raid on Kantipur FM’s Kathmandu headquarters on Friday when dozens of armed police officers forcibly entered the radio station, seized control of the studio, and confiscated modems, recorders, and equipment used by the station to transmit programming to the country’s eastern districts.…
OCTOBER 24, 2005 Posted: December 8, 2005 African Independent Television RayPower FM CENSORED Nigerian authorities ordered the country’s leading independent broadcast network off the air, in part because the network’s reports on the October 22 Bellview Airlines crash included details that had not been officially released. Daar Communications group’s African Independent Television (AIT) and its…