2006
CPJ alarmed by reports of abuse in journalist’s detention
New York, August 14, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned about the fate of Ogulsapar Muradova, Ashgabat correspondent for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), who has been in a Turkmen prison for almost two months. Officers from the Ashgabat Interior Ministry arrested Muradova on June 18 and have been holding her without charge…
Radio station firebombed
AUGUST 11, 2006 Posted: August 25, 2006 Radio Istiqlal ATTACKED Although the station in the province of Loghar south of Kabul did not receive any threats before the attack, police confirmed that a “night letter”—an anonymous warning posted on walls and distributed by hand—appeared in the town a few days before.
In Colombia, a provincial radio journalist is murdered
New York, August 11, 2006—Colombian radio host Milton Fabián Sánchez was gunned down on Wednesday night outside his home in Yumbo, in the southwestern Valle del Cauca province. The Committee to Protect Journalists is investigating whether there is a connection between the murder and Sánchez’ work. A masked assailant shot Sánchez three times in the…
China: Journalist detained afterwriting about police clashes with Christians
New York, August 11, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the detention today of Hangzhou journalist Zan Aizong. Authorities placed Zan under a seven-day administrative detention this evening after warning him to stop writing about arrests and injuries involving Christians protesting the July 29 demolition of a church, according to the Independent Chinese…
European Court finds Ukraine violated journalists free press rights
New York, August 11, 2006—The European Court of Human Rights ruled Thursday that Ukraine violated the press freedom rights of a newspaper editor convicted in 2001 on criminal defamation charges stemming from a series of stories about two government officials. The court found that Oleg Lyashko, former editor of the independent Kyiv weekly Polityka, reported…
Editor of Mexican crime magazine is found murdered
New York, August 10, 2006—The body of Enrique Perea Quintanilla, a longtime police reporter who became editor of a crime magazine, was found on the outskirts of the northern city of Chihuahua on Wednesday afternoon. The Committee to Protect Journalists is investigating whether Perea’s murder is related to his work.
In Azerbaijan, editor sentenced to prison in defamation case
New York, August 10, 2006-A judge in the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, today convicted the editor of an Azeri-language independent newspaper on a charge of criminally defaming a leader of the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan Party, according to international news reports. Shakhin Agabeili, editor-in-chief of Milli Yol, was sentenced to a year in prison in connection with…
CPJ seeks lifting of travel ban in Tyre
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by Israeli military actions that sharply restrict the ability of the press to cover the current conflict in Lebanon and that endanger the lives of civilians, including members of the press. We are particularly concerned about the safety of an estimated 250 journalists in Tyre, who are hunkered down in hotels and unable to move because of Israel’s threats to target all vehicles on the roads.
In Cuba, one reporter is freed and 24 others are still jailed
New York, August 9, 2006—Independent journalist Albert Santiago Du Bouchet Hernández was released on Saturday after a year in prison on a spurious charge of “disrespecting” a local police chief. The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Cuban authorities to free the other 24 journalists imprisoned throughout the island. Du Bouchet was released on…