2007
In the Philippines, new anti-terror law threatens journalists
New York, July 18, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists expresses its grave concern about new anti-terrorism legislation recently enacted in the Philippines. A top justice ministry official has said that in certain circumstances it would allow the government to wiretap journalists. While the Human Security Act (HSA) specifically prohibits the surveillance and interception of communications…
In Somaliland, reporter jailed without charge
New York, July 18, 2007—In the northern breakaway republic of Somaliland, authorities jailed without charge on Saturday a journalist at a private newspaper in connection with a story about the anointment of a clan leader, according to news reports and local journalists. Abdirahman Mohammed Habane, a correspondent of the Somali-language daily Jamhuuriya, was still detained…
Morocco: Two journalists detained
New York, July 18, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply troubled by the detention of two Moroccan journalists who are being held for publishing secret government documents. Abderrahim Ariri, publisher of the Moroccan weekly Al-Watan Al An, and Mostafa Hormatallah, a journalist for the paper, were summoned for questioning by police in Casablanca yesterday…
Photojournalist brutally detained while covering plane crash
JULY 18, 2007 Rogério Cassimiro, Folha de São Paulo DETAINED, ATTACKED São Paulo police brutally detained Cassimiro, a photojournalist for the daily Folha de São Paulo, and held him for five hours after he photographed the scene a plane crash that occurred the day before.
In Ethiopia, High Court sentences six journalists to prison, four to life
New York, July 16, 2007—Ethiopia’s High Court today handed down harsh criminal penalties, including life prison sentences, against six journalists and three publishers on anti-state charges in connection with critical coverage of the government during the deadly unrest in the aftermath of disputed parliamentary elections in 2005, according to local journalists.
Missing radio journalist found 17 months after vanishing
New York, July 16, 2007—A Paraguayan radio reporter resurfaced last week in the Brazilian city of São Paulo, almost a year and a half after he went missing in northern Paraguay. The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomed the news that Enrique Galeano was found alive, and it called on Paraguayan and Brazilian authorities to fully…
Without legal hearing, Rwanda shutters privately owned newspaper
Dear Minister Nkusi: We are alarmed by the government’s sudden closure of the privately owned English-language newspaper The Weekly Post without a fair hearing, as is guaranteed by Rwandan law. We are also concerned that the paper was the second private newspaper summarily closed down by the government in the last three months, according to CPJ research.
Government cracks down on coverage of rebel attacks
New York, July 13, 2007—Coverage critical of the government’s handling of deadly attacks by an armed group of nomadic Tuareg rebels in northern Niger has led authorities in the uranium-rich West African nation to close a private newspaper and warn others to censor their reporting, according to news reports and local journalists. The bimonthly Aïr…
Warnings issued for U.S. reporters working along Mexican border
New York, July 13, 2007—A San Antonio Express-News reporter has been temporarily reassigned from his posting in the border city of Laredo after a U.S. law enforcement source warned that an unspecified American journalist is on the hit list of a Mexican criminal group, the newspaper’s editor said today. The Association of Foreign Correspondents in…
17 journalists investigated for publishing intelligence documents
New York, August 7, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned about a criminal investigation the German government has launched against 17 journalists. They are accused of publishing information from classified documents related to CIA rendition flights and suspected misconduct by the German secret services in Baghdad during the 2003 U.S. invasion, according to The…