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…
CPJ concerned about health of two journalists on hunger strike
New York, March 16, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists expressed concern today about the health of two independent journalists on hunger strike in Cuba, one of them in prison. Guillermo Fariñas, director of the independent news agency Cubacán Press, has refused food for 45 days to protest government restrictions on journalists’ access to the Internet,…
Arrests, jailings mark pre-election press crackdown
New York, March 16, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the latest government crackdown against independent journalists in the days before Sunday’s presidential election. Police arrested at least four journalists this week, and local courts handed them sentences of five to 10 days in jail on charges of hooliganism. Andrei Pochobut, editor of the magazine…
Uzbekistan targets reporters for German broadcaster
New York, March 16, 2006—The Foreign Ministry has invoked restrictive new regulations to reprimand three correspondents working for the German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle, escalating pressure on the few remaining local journalists working for foreign media, according to international press reports. On Wednesday, the Foreign Ministry revoked the accreditation of Deutsche Welle correspondent Obid Shabanov…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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.…