2005
Authorities seize independent publisher’s passport
New York, December 9, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the seizure of the passport of Trevor Ncube, owner and director of Zimbabwe’s two remaining independent newspapers and of South Africa’s Mail and Guardian. Ncube was ordered to hand over his passport on Thursday when he landed in Zimbabwe at Bulawayo airport from South Africa…
Newspaper editor receives death threat for reporting on war crimes
New York, December 8, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by an anonymous death threat made against Drago Hedl, editor of the independent Croatian satirical weekly Feral Tribune. Hedl said on Wednesday he received a letter mailed December 5 in his home city of Osijek that in letters cut from newspapers threatened to kill…
Journalists threatened by Islamic militants
New York, December 8, 2005 —The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by death threats from a banned Islamic group against journalists in four towns and cities in Bangladesh. Local media and CPJ sources said Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), which is suspected of having killed up to 20 people in bombings in the last nine days,…
CPJ calls on Karzai to free journalist Ali Mohaqiq Nasab
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by a growing number of threats being made against the imprisoned editor of the monthly Haqooq-i-Zan (Women’s Rights), Ali Mohaqiq Nasab, by government bodies and representatives who intend to pursue the death penalty in his case.
VIETNAM
DECEMBER 8, 2005 Posted January 4, 2006 Do Nam Hai, freelance HARASSED Police in Ho Chi Minh City interrogated Hai overnight about his efforts to make 11 copies of his book, Let’s Have a Referendum, which was published in the U.S. in September. Hai, commonly known by his pen name Phuong Nam, was detained at…
CPJ alarmed by worsening health of journalist held without charge
New York, December 7, 2005 — A Cuban journalist detained without charge for nearly five months has lost 30 pounds (13.5 kilograms) in prison and is suffering from serious health problems his wife told the Committee to Protect Journalists. Oscar Mario González, a journalist with the independent news agency, Grupo de Trabajo Decoro, was arrested…
CPJ calls on Obasanjo to free jailed journalist
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply troubled by the continued imprisonment of Owei Kobina Sikpi, publisher of the small, privately owned Weekly Star. He was arrested by agents of the State Security Service (SSS) in the southern city of Port Harcourt on October 11. He was later transferred to the central prison in Port Harcourt, where he remains. Sikpi has been imprisoned for his work longer than any other journalist since Your Excellency was first elected in 1999, according to CPJ records.
CPJ condemns draft law to silence government criticism
New York, December 7, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by draft legislation that makes criticism of authoritarian President Aleksandr Lukashenko and his government punishable by up to five years in prison. The lower house of parliament passed amendments to the Penal Code on December 2, a move criticized by the United States and…
Jailed journalist sentenced to eight months in prison
New York, December 7, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the eight-month jail sentence for criminal libel handed down by the Federal High Court to a journalist already in prison as part of Ethiopia’s ongoing crackdown on the independent media. On Tuesday, the court convicted Wosonseged Gebrekidan, former editor of the Amharic-language weekly Ethiop, of…
Soldiers intimidate newspaper
New York, December 7, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by an apparent government attempt to intimidate journalists from the independent daily Al-Ayyam by sending elite Yemeni Republican Guards to its Aden office. Around 1 a.m. on December 5, five soldiers in a gray-blue Mercedes circled Al-Ayyam’s headquarters several times before asking to meet…