2007
AP journalist abducted in Iraq’s Diyala province
New York, August 8, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the abduction last month of an Associated Press journalist by masked gunmen in Iraq’s eastern province of Diyala. On July 28, gunmen kidnapped Talal Mohammed, 40, a reporter and photographer for The Associated Press, and an unnamed friend near Diyala province’s capital of Baqubah, the AP reported.…
Journalists in Manipur threatened on all sides
New York, August 8, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by deteriorating conditions for the media in the northeastern Indian state of Manipur, where more than a dozen insurgent groups are involved in separatist activity or factional fighting. In addition to increased pressure from competing militant groups, journalists are now faced with a new…
In DRC, journalist jailed for not airing politician’s interview
New York, August 7, 2007—Intelligence agents in central DRC have jailed a reporter for failing to air an interview with a local politician, according to news reports and local journalists. Manda Mutombo of Radiotélévision Nationale Congolaise was arrested Friday by Congo’s National Intelligence Agency in the diamond-rich city of Kananga, 674 miles (1,085 km) southeast…
In Iraq, charges dropped against detained media workers
New York, August 7, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes Monday’s decision by a criminal court in Baghdad to dismiss the charge of incitement to terror against 11 current and former employees of the independent Iraqi production company Wasan Media. A source at Wasan Media familiar with the case told CPJ that the judge threw…
CPJ urges Argentine municipal government to reopen newspaper plant
Dear Mayor De la Quintana, The Committee to Protect Journalists is writing to express deep concern about the closure of the San Lorenzo-based daily El Observador’s printing plant ordered by your government in late July, which prompted the paper to stop publishing. CPJ believes the decision violates freedom of expression as enshrined in the Argentine constitution and in the provincial constitution of Santa Fe.
Morocco: Government confiscates newsweeklies, charges publisher
New York, August 6, 2007— The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the Moroccan government’s seizure of the editions of two independent newsweeklies over the weekend. Authorities alleged that the magazines disrespected King Mohammed VI and violated public morality. On Saturday, Moroccan police seized copies of the Arabic-language weekly Nichane from newsstands and other locations around…
Iranian journalist sentenced to death in closed trial
New York, August 6, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the death sentence handed down in mid-July by a revolutionary court against Adnan Hassanpour, a journalist and former editor for the now-defunct Kurdish-Persian weekly Aso in Iran’s northwestern province of Kurdistan. Iranian Kurdish environmental activist Abdulvahed Butimar was also convicted and sentenced to death. Hassanpour…
Suspect confesses to Oakland editor’s murder
New York, August 6, 2007—CPJ welcomes the swift apprehension of the man who killed Oakland editor Chauncey Bailey. Following a police raid on Friday, a 19-year-old handyman at a local bakery confessed to the murder. Bailey was gunned down in broad daylight as he walked to work on the morning of August 2.
Journalist shot and wounded after corruption reports
August 6, 2007—Mexican journalist Alberto Fernández Portilla was shot and wounded early Sunday morning as he arrived at his home in Salina Cruz, a Pacific port city in the southern state of Oaxaca. The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Mexican authorities to investigate the attack. Fernández told CPJ that the shooting occurred around 1:50…