2007

  

In Mexico, two men arrested in connection with journalist’s murder

New York, April 11, 2007—Mexican authorities detained two men in connection with last week’s murder of veteran broadcast journalist Amado Ramírez Dillanes in Acapulco. Leonel Bustos Muñoz and Genaro Vásquez Durán were arrested Tuesday in Acapulco, 198 miles (320 kilometers) from Mexico City. According to an official statement, when federal police stopped Bustos and Vásquez…

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In Cameroon, a tabloid director faces criminal charges

New York, April 10, 2007—Prosecutors in the Cameroonian capital, Yaoundé, today lodged criminal charges against the director of a private tabloid who has been detained by police since Saturday in connection with a story about an alleged sex scandal, according to local sources and press freedom group Journaliste En Danger. Georges Gilbert Baongla of the…

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Iraqi AP photojournalist held by U.S. without charge for a year

New York, April 10, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the United States to release Bilal Hussein, an Iraqi photojournalist for The Associated Press, who has been held in a U.S. prison in Iraq for a year without charge. Hussein, a Pulitzer Prize winner, was taken by U.S. forces on April 12 in the…

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Ethiopian High Court acquits eight journalists on antistate crimes

New York, April 9, 2007-Ethiopia’s High Court today acquitted and set free eight editors and publishers of Amharic-language newspapers who have been jailed on antistate charges since a massive November 2005 government crackdown, according to local journalists and media reports.

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CPJ urges Mexican president to stop attacks against the press after execution of journalist Amado Ramírez Dillanes

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is writing to express alarm after the execution-style killing of veteran journalist Amado Ramírez Dillanes in Acapulco, in what has become a pattern of deadly attacks against the press that continue at an alarming rate. We are deeply concerned about the state of press freedom in Mexico, and call for swift and decisive federal action to stop this tide of violence.

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Tunisian authorities repeatedly harass prominent journalist

New York, April 9, 2007—A prominent Tunisian correspondent and press freedom advocate was physically prevented from attending and covering a ceremony, the latest in a series of harassing incidents over the last three years. On Friday evening, Lotfi Hajji, head of the Tunisian Journalists Syndicate (SJT), was prevented from attending and covering a reception at…

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Afghan journalist Ajmal Nakshbandi killed by captors

New York, April 9, 2007-The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply saddened by the brutal murder of Afghan journalist Ajmal Nakshbandi. Several Taliban spokesmen told media organizations in Kabul that the group had beheaded Naqshbandi in the Garmsir district of Helmand province Sunday afternoon, after the Afghan government refused to release senior Taliban leaders in…

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Journalists attacked, threatened amid growing political tensions

New York, April 9, 2007-The Committee to Protect Journalists is disturbed by an attack and threats against several provincial journalists amid escalating political tension between Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev and opposition leaders calling for his resignation. “It’s the responsibility of journalists to report on political demonstrations and we are deeply concerned that journalists in Kyrgyzstan…

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A second Deutsche Welle reporter criminally charged

New York, April 9, 2007-The Committee to Protect Journalists deplores the criminal charges filed against Yuri Chernogayev, correspondent for the German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle. Tashkent prosecutors charged Chernogayev on March 27 with “working without a license,” under Article 190 of Uzbekistan’s penal code, according to international press reports. Deutsche Welle reporter Mikhail Bushuyev told…

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Suspect in Kochetkov murder acquitted in Tula

New York, April 8, 2008—A Russian district court judge on Monday acquitted a man accused in the killing of Vagif Kochetkov, Tula correspondent for the Moscow daily Trud and a columnist for the local newspaper Molodoi Kommunar, according to news reports and CPJ interviews.

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