2006
Editor attacked, threatened
MARCH 10, 2006 Irina Ovsy, Sotsialisticheskaya Kharkovshchina ATTACKED Two unidentified men attacked Ovsy, editor of Sotsialisticheskaya Kharkovshchina, weekly newspaper of the For Union political coalition, at the entrance to her apartment building, according to local press reports. Ovsy was leaving for work at around 10 a.m. when the assailants pushed her against a wall, told…
Government tightens restrictions on foreign media
New York, March 15, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the Uzbek government’s tightening of controls over local and foreign journalists working for foreign state-funded media. The cabinet approved regulations February 24 giving the Foreign Ministry wide discretion to issue formal warnings to foreign correspondents, revoke their accreditation and visas, and expel them.…
Thailand: Court clears activist, journalists of defamation charges
New York, March 15, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the acquittal of media activist Supinya Klangnarong and four journalists from the Thai-language daily Thai Post on criminal defamation charges brought by telecommunications giant Shin Corp. The Bangkok Criminal Court dismissed the charges on Tuesday in a move widely hailed as a victory for press…
China: CPJ condemns latest attempt to charge journalist Li Jianping
New York, March 15, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists rejects Chinese government charges of subverting state power brought against imprisoned Internet journalist Li Jianping. Li has been detained in Zibo, a city in northeastern China’s Shandong Province, since May 27, 2005. The latest charges were brought on March 9, and recently made public by Li’s…
Arrests, closings, censorship found by CPJ delegationEthiopian political divide ensnares the press
Nairobi, Kenya, March 14, 2006—Deep political divisions in Ethiopia have fueled the massive, months-long crackdown on the private press in that country, gutting the print media, promoting rampant self-censorship, and resulting in the imprisonment of more than a dozen journalists on charges that could bring the death penalty, the Committee to Protect Journalists found during…
Kidnappers free foreign journalists in Gaza
New York, March 15, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is relieved that Palestinian kidnappers have released French and South Korean journalists abducted in Gaza. Caroline Laurent, a reporter for the French women’s weekly ELLE, Alfred Yaghobzadeh, a photographer from the photo agency SIPA, and Yong Tae-young, a correspondent for South Korea’s public broadcaster KBS, were…
In meeting with CPJ, Colombian president pledges support for provincial journalists
Bogotá, Colombia, March 15, 2006–Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Vélez today expressed support for the work of provincial journalists who report under threat of violence and said that any official who impedes their work “is committing a crime against democracy.” Uribe issued the statement at the urging of a delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists,…
Iraqi editor gunned down in Baghdad
New York, March 14, 2006—Muhsin Khudhair, editor of the news magazine Alef Ba, was killed by unidentified gunmen near his home in Baghdad Monday night, becoming the third journalist killed in Iraq in the last week, Reuters and Agence France-Presse reported. The shooting took place just hours after Khudair attended a meeting of the Iraqi…
Journalists harassed for broadcasting “false news”
February 1, 2006 Posted March 14, 2006 Jimmy Uhuru, Unity FM Paul Odom Aryam, Unity FM Joe Okello, Unity FM HARASSED Police in the northern town of Lira raided the private radio station Unity FM and arrested three journalists working for the station. Owner Uhuru, News Editor Aryam, and news reader Okello were released the…
Criminal cases draw concern
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is troubled by the cascade of criminal cases filed against newspaper directors who published lists of supposed “secret homosexuals” in January and February. While readers may have been offended by publication of the lists in La Météo, L’Anecdote, and Le Soleil d’Afrique, the use of repressive criminal defamation and insult laws in this matter endangers press freedom in Cameroon.