New York, July 31, 2007—A few days after being assaulted and threatened by a parliamentarian-elect, a reporter in southern Mali has filed a complaint in a local court. Local politician Mamadou Sinayoko attacked reporter Adama Coulibaly, a presenter at community Radio Kafo-Kan in the southern city of Bougouni, 462 miles (743 km) south of the…
New York, July 31, 2007–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the attack by a group of armed men on a fledgling independent Yemeni newspaper in the capital, Sana’a, on Monday. In a possibly related situation, the Yemeni Ministry of Defense has brought a case against the paper accusing it of harming national security, a charge…
New York, July 31, 2007—The Venezuelan government has asked cable and satellite providers to remove RCTV’s new signal from their programming by tomorrow if the station does not register as a national broadcaster. RCTV has been operating as a paid subscription channel since July 16 after being taken off the public airwaves by the government…
New York, July 30, 2007— The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by reports that a Gambian reporter, arrested a year ago and since held incommunicado without charge or trial by the government, was briefly admitted last week to Gambia’s main hospital in the capital, Banjul. “Chief” Ebrima B. Manneh, the State House correspondent for…
New York, July 27, 2007—Veteran editor Abel Mutsakani, one of dozens of Zimbabwean journalists forced into exile in neighboring South Africa, was shot in the chest on Monday after three unidentified men attacked him near his home in Johannesburg, according to news reports. Mutsakani, editor of the South Africa-based Zimbabwean news Web site ZimOnline, still had…
New York, July 26, 2007—Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law today a package of amendments that expand the definition of extremism to include public discussion of such activity, and give law enforcement officials broad authority to suspend media outlets that do not comply with the new restrictions, according to local press reports. The package,…
New York, July 26, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon to veto amendments to the country’s criminal code that would broaden its defamation laws to include Internet publications. Amendments to several articles of the penal code were adopted by the upper house of Tajikistan’s parliament on July 19, according to…
New York, July 26, 2007–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Wednesday’s shooting of radio journalist and station manager Ferdinand “Bambi” Yngson in Sagay City, on the central island of Negros. Yngson was on his way to work when he was shot in the left arm, according to news reports. “We are appalled at this vicious…
Manila, July 26, 2007 -The chief justice of the Philippine Supreme Court told a delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists that he will seek justice in the unsolved killings of journalists and will use his authority to protect freedom of speech and of the press. “The fact that the killings remain unsolved heightens public…
New York, July 25, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists expresses its grave concern about today’s police interrogation of popular Internet-based writer Raja Petra Kamarudin, founder of the Malaysia Today news Web site. According to Malaysia Today, Raja Petra was summoned to the Dang Wangi Stadium police station in Kuala Lumpur in response to a police…