2006
Journalist convicted of criminal defamation
New York, May 5, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the criminal defamation conviction of Venezuelan journalist Henry Crespo, who was handed an 18-month suspended jail term after reporting on government corruption. Crespo, a reporter for the Caracas-based weekly Las Verdades de Miguel, was sentenced by the Caracas Eighteenth Tribunal on Wednesday. The…
Nobel laureate Mahfouz calls for release of jailed Arab journalists
New York, May 5, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists joins acclaimed Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz in calling on Arab governments to free jailed journalists including two Egyptian reporters detained last week while covering demonstrations in Cairo. Mahfouz, who won the 1988 Nobel Prize for literature, launched his appeal in an interview with the semi-official Egyptian…
Journalist beaten after report criticizing religious leader
New York, May 5, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Thursday’s attack on Pape Cheikh Fall, a correspondent for the private radio station RFM in the central Senegalese city of Mbacké. RFM’s parent group Futurs Médias linked the attack to a report criticizing a local religious leader’s foray into politics. Fall was beaten with metal…
CPJ demands justice for journalists as treason trial resumes
New York, May 5, 2006—Initial proceedings in the treason trial of 14 Ethiopian journalists have reinforced concerns that the defendants may not get a fair trial, the Committee to Protect Journalists said. Prosecutors are due to start presenting evidence on May 8 against the journalists and dozens of opposition leaders accused of conspiring to overthrow…
Two charged in Klebnikov murder acquitted
Editor’s note: The final paragraph has been amended to make clear that 12 murders remain unsolved. New York, May 5, 2006— A Moscow jury acquitted two Chechens today of the murder of Forbes Russia editor-in-chief Paul Klebnikov after a trial criticized by the Committee to Protect Journalists for its lack of transparency.
The world’s most censored countries
Robert Mahoney May 4, 2006 11:44 AMPublished in The Guardian’s Comment is Free blog http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/robert_mahoney/2006/05/press_freedom.html Could you pick out Equatorial Guinea on the world map? Or Turkmenistan, or Eritrea? Probably not at the first attempt. These countries are usually below the radar of the international media, and the autocrats who run them like it that…
Criminal case against prominent journalist dropped
New York, May 4, 2006—The case against prominent journalist Madiambal Diagne was dropped on Tuesday on a procedural issue, ending a legal saga that spanned nearly two years and galvanized the Senegalese press. But the Committee to Protect Journalists expressed concern that the criminal charges used to jail Diagne for more than two weeks in…
Media council suspends newspaper for critical article
New York, May 4, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the recent suspension of the twice-monthly private newspaper L’Enquêteur by Guinea’s National Communications Council after it published an article critical of President Lansana Conté’s government. Council Chairman Boubacar Yacine Diallo confirmed to CPJ via e-mail that the paper was suspended for two months on April…
Italian court frees journalist held after writing about serial murders
New York, May 3, 2006—Mario Spezi, an Italian journalist whose new book raises questions about a serial murder investigation, was released from a prison in the central city of Perugia on Saturday, according to local and international press reports. An appeals court that day ordered that Spezi be released immediately, but it did not issue…
Philippines: CPJ calls for thorough probe in slaying
New York, May 3, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls for an immediate and full investigation into the shooting death today of newspaper columnist Nicholas Cervantes, 65. According to media reports, he was shot three times in the chest by a group of four or five assailants outside of his house in suburban Manila. Cervantes,…