2005
CPJ condemns Afghan editor’s conviction, two-year jail sentence
New York, October 24, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is outraged by the conviction of Ali Mohaqiq Nasab, editor of the monthly Haqooq-i-Zan (Women’s Rights), on blasphemy charges and the two-year jail sentence handed down by Kabul’s Primary Court on October 22. Judge Ansarullah Malawizada said that his ruling in Nasab’s case was based on…
Government shutters Senegalese-owned radio station
New York, October 24, 2005—Police shut down the Gambian branch of Senegalese private radio station Sud FM on Saturday, according to international news reports and local sources. In an interview on Sunday with the BBC, acting Gambian Information Minister Neneh Mcdoll-Gaye accused Sud FM of “inciting trouble” between Gambia and Senegal, but gave no further…
Journalists’ hotel attacked in Baghdad
New York, October 24, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns today’s deadly car bomb attacks on Baghdad’s Palestine Hotel, which is widely used by foreigners, including journalists and news organizations reporting from Iraq. In a coordinated attack, three large car bombs detonated outside the hotel at dusk, killing as many as 20 people, injuring a…
Private broadcasters forced off-air after reporting on deadly plane crash
New York, October 24, 2005—Nigerian authorities ordered the country’s leading independent broadcast network off the air today, in part because the network’s reports on Saturday’s deadly Bellview Airlines crash included details that had not been officially released. Daar Communications group’s African Independent Television (AIT) and its radio network, RayPower FM, complied with the order but…
Journalist Ching Cheong imprisoned without lawyer for six months
New York, October 21, 2005 — The Committee to Protect Journalists deplores the continuing imprisonment of veteran Hong Kong journalist Ching Cheong, who will mark six months in detention on Saturday. Ching, a China correspondent for the Singapore daily The Straits Times, has been held in Beijing without charge or access to a lawyer. “It…
Guardian reporter freed in Baghdad; Iraqi journalist killed
New York, October 20, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release today of a reporter who was held captive in Baghdad, while it expressed concern over the murder of another journalist in the Iraqi capital on Wednesday. Rory Carroll, Baghdad correspondent for London’s Guardian newspaper, was released unharmed after a day in captivity, the…
Journalist found dead in apartment
New York, October 20, 2005—Vasily Grodnikov, a freelancer who wrote for the Minsk opposition newspaper Narodnaya Volya, was found dead with a head wound in his apartment outside Minsk on Monday, local and international news agencies reported. CPJ is seeking to determine whether Grodnikov, 66, was murdered in retaliation for his journalistic work. Authorities have…
Journalist still behind bars despite Supreme Court release order
New York, October 19, 2005—The Prosecutor General’s Office in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, is blocking the release of independent journalist Jumaboy Tolibov despite a Supreme Court ruling on October 11 setting him free, a local press freedom group said. The National Association of Independent Media of Tajikistan (NANSMIT), a Dushanbe-based press freedom group which has…
IRAQ
OCTOBER 19, 2005 Posted October 21, 2005 Mohammed Haroon, Al-Kadiya KILLED—UNCONFIRMED Unidentified gunmen killed Haroon, a controversial journalist, as he was driving in Baghdad. Haroon, 47, publisher of the weekly newspaper Al-Kadiya (The Cause) who also served as secretary-general of the Iraqi Journalists Syndicate,, was shot four times, according to CPJ sources.
IRAQ
OCTOBER 19, 2005 Posted October 21, 2005 Rory Carroll, Guardian ABDUCTED Carroll, Baghdad correspondent for London’s Guardian newspaper, was released unharmed after a day in captivity, the publication said. The Guardian said a group of armed men seized Carroll as he left a house in Sadr City, a stronghold of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Carroll…