2007
Burmese journalist U Win Tin spends 18 years in prison
New York, March 13, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists called on authorities in Burma today to immediately release journalist U Win Tin, who has spent 18 years of a 20-year sentence in prison on trumped up anti-state charges. U Win Tin, former editor-in-chief of the daily Hanthawati, turned 77 on Monday. He is one of…
Journalists Abducted Gaza Strip 2004-07 BBC correspondent abducted in Gaza City
New York, March 12, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned the abduction of a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) correspondent in the Gaza Strip and called on his kidnappers to free him. Veteran correspondent Alan Johnston, 43, was seized by four unmasked, armed men in a white vehicle as he was driving near the BBC’s…
Journalists handed suspended prison sentences over critical story
New York, March 12, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned criminal defamation convictions handed down last week by a court in the capital, Bamako, against two journalists for a December 2006 story critical of a government minister. Director Diaby Makoro Camara and Editor Oumar Bouaré of the private monthly Kabako were sentenced to four-month…
In Mali, radio targeted over critical broadcasts in wake of presidential polls
New York, March 12, 2007—A private radio station in the central town of Markala was given an eviction notice by authorities last week, after airing broadcasts critical of President Amadou Toumani Touré ahead of next month’s elections. Radio Jamakan, housed in the government-owned complex of Office du Niger (ON), an agency managing irrigation projects, was…
Russian journalists detained, harassed when covering local elections
New York, March 12, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by reports that police and security services harassed several journalists covering local parliamentary elections on Sunday. Police in the southern city of Samara detained reporter Pavel Sedakov and photographer Artyom Pigarov of the independent business daily Kommersant when the two tried to interview a…
Dominican court sentences man to 30 years in journalist’s murderer
New York, May 3, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes Wednesday’s decision by a Dominican court to sentence a gang leader to 30 years in prison for the 2004 murder of local journalist Juan Emilio Andújar Matos. A court in Azua also ordered Vladimir Pujols, leader of the drug trafficking gang “Los Sayayines,” to pay…
Pakistani journalist’s family massacred in apparent retribution for his work
New York, April 3, 2007—Foreign militants killed the brother, father, uncle, and cousin of Urdu-language Inkishaf reporter Din Muhammed at his home in South Waziristan in apparent retribution for his work, colleagues told the Committee to Protect Journalists. Three other family members were also abducted. It is not clear whether Muhammed was among them. “We…
ZIMBABWE:Two journalists beaten and detained for 48 hours by police
MARCH 11, 2007 Posted March 21, 2007 Tsvangirai Mukwazhi, Freelance Tendai Musiyu, Freelance ATTACKED, HARASSED Photojournalist Mukwazhi and television producer Musiyu were stopped by police while driving to cover a gathering of the opposition MDC party in the capital Harare, Mukwazhi later told CPJ. The journalists were ordered to exit their car and lie face…
Disappointment as mediation fails to free U.S. video blogger
New York, March 9, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists is disappointed that a freelance video blogger will remain in jail after a court-appointed arbitrator was unable to mediate a settlement that could have led to the journalist’s release. Joshua Wolf has spent 198 days in jail, the longest incarceration of a journalist in U.S. history,…
CPJ calls for release of Italian journalist in Afghanistan
New York, March 9, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists joins colleagues in Afghanistan and around the world in calling for the release of La Repubblica correspondent Daniele Mastrogiacomo, missing since Sunday when he was abducted in southern Afghanistan. Mastrogiacomo appears to be held by a Taliban military group, which has told media organizations they are…