2006
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.
Journalists, others kidnapped as prison siege sparks violence
New York, March 14, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by reports that Palestinian gunmen abducted journalists and other foreigners in Gaza City today. A wave of violence erupted in Gaza and elsewhere in the West Bank, after Israeli forces laid siege to a Jericho prison to arrest militants believed responsible for the…
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…
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…
Police close radio station after critical talk show
New York, March 14, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the closure of an independent radio station in Uganda which aired a show critical of the military and a ruling party candidate in last month’s municipal elections. Police in the northern town of Gulu shuttered Choice FM on Monday, the station’s news editor Sam Lawino…
Days before Belarusian vote, four newspapers forced to halt publication
New York, March 14, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Belarusian authorities’ escalating harassment of the country’s few independent newspapers as Sunday’s presidential election approaches. Four newspapers based in the capital, Minsk, have been forced to interrupt publication less than a week before the balloting in which incumbent Aleksandr Lukashenko seeks re-election, according to local…
Son of slain journalist Veronika Cherkasova released on bail
New York, March 14, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release on bail of the 16-year-old son of murdered journalist Veronika Cherkasova. Anton Filimonov was freed Monday from the Minsk detention center where he had been held since December 27, local media reported. Although he was formally charged with forging currency, Filimonov was pressured…
Insurgents kill head of Iraq state television
New York, March 13, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the murder of Amjad Hameed, head of programming for Iraq’s state television channel Al-Iraqiya. Gunmen apparently affiliated to Al-Qaeda killed Hameed and his driver Anwar Turki in an ambush in Baghdad Saturday. Hameed, 45, had run the station since July. “We deplore the senseless murder…
Photographer gunned down outside his home
New York, March 10, 2006—Mexican photographer Jaime Arturo Olvera Bravo was shot to death Thursday outside his home in La Piedad in the central state of Michoacán. The special prosecutor for crimes against journalists has opened a preliminary inquiry and will work with state authorities to establish if the murder was related to Olvera’s work.…