2007
Unidentified gunmen in Colombia fire shots outside paper’s offices
New York, February 22, 2007—Unidentified gunmen fired shots outside the offices of the Cali-based bimonthly publication La Razón on Tuesday, injuring three people. The Committee to Protect Journalists is investigating whether the incident was an attack against the paper’s director, Édgar Buitrago Rico, who had been threatened with death. At 3: 45 p.m. on Tuesday,…
Egyptian blogger jailed for insulting Islam, Mubarak
New York, February 22, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns an Egyptian court’s verdict sentencing an Egyptian Internet writer to four years in prison for his online criticisms. The case represents the first time that an Egyptian blogger has stood trial and been sentenced for his work. Abdel Karim Suleiman, who goes by the online…
Independent editor jailed in Russia
New York, February 22, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists is gravely concerned about the fate of Vladimir Chugunov, founder and editor of the independent weekly Chugunka, who has been imprisoned since January 21, according to his family and the independent Moscow daily Novaya Gazeta. Chugunov was summoned to police headquarters in Solnechnogorsk, 40 miles (64…
Time for Journalists to Defend Press Freedom
Samar Fatany Arab News February 21, 2007 I was reading an online discussion between early board members and former directors of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) regarding the challenges facing the press today. One of the best comments I read was an extract by Ann Cooper, executive director of the committee, in which she…
CPJ relieved that missing Pakistani journalist was released
New York, February 21, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists is relieved to learn that Daily Express Peshawar Editor Suhail Qalander, who had been missing along with a friend since January 2, has been returned to safety. The Daily Express is Pakistan’s second largest Urdu-language newspaper. Qalander and Niaz Mohammad, a local businessman, had last been…
Russian police search IWPR office in North Caucasus
New York, February 21, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns today’s official harassment of the Vladikavkaz office of the London-based media training and reporting group, the Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR). Vladikavkaz police searched the local IWPR premises today, confiscating all computers and office documents, Valery Dzutsev, the institute’s Vladikavkaz coordinator, told CPJ.…
Media group journalists in Benin sentenced to prison
New York, February 21, 2007–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns criminal convictions handed down on Friday in Benin against three journalists and an executive of private Golfe media group over a February 2005 story alleging governmental corruption. A court in the capital Cotonou sentenced Golfe media group President Ismael Soumano, former Golfe FM Director Euloge…
In Somalia, broadcasters warned to censor their coverage
New York, February 20, 2007— Somalia’s UN-backed transitional government on Monday said they would censor three private broadcasters over their coverage of deadly unrest in the capital Mogadishu, according to news reports and local journalists. At least 12 people died and thousands fled the city on Monday after fierce artillery exchanges between Ethiopian-backed government troops…
Newspaper editor murdered in the Philippines
New York, February 20, 2007—Hernani Pastolero, 64, editor-in-chief of the community newspaper Lightning Courier Weekly, was shot dead in front of his home Monday morning in Sultan Kudarat township, on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao. Pastolero was shot twice in the head by an unidentified assassin who escaped on foot, according to local media…
In Vietnam, a jailed journalist’s health seriously deteriorates
New York, February 20, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by the severe deterioration in the health of independent journalist Nguyen Vu Binh, 39, who has been imprisoned since 2002. When Binh’s family visited him in Nam Ha prison on February 15, he was so thin and weak that he could not hold a…