New York, June 10, 2008—The editor of an evening daily in southern Mexico was threatened in a note left outside the front door of the newspaper’s office building on Monday, two days after a severed human head was found near the same spot, according to news reports and a CPJ interview. Editorial Director Juan Padilla…
New York, June 9, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the six-year jail sentence handed down today against an outspoken Yemeni journalist accused of conspiring with anti-government rebels. A state security court in Yemen’s capital, Sana’a, sentenced Abdel Karim al-Khaiwani, editor of an opposition news Web site, to six years in prison for being an…
Mexico City, June 9, 2008—President Felipe Calderón today pledged his commitment to federalize crimes against freedom of expression in a meeting with the Committee to Protect Journalists in Mexico City. Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora announced draft legislation that would amend Article 73 of Mexico’s political constitution and would make a federal offense any crime…
New York, June 9, 2008—CPJ calls for a thorough investigation into the June 7 killing of Somali journalist Nasteh Dahir Farah. Dahir, vice chairman of the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ), was shot by two men while walking home from an Internet cafe at around 7 p.m. near his home in Kismayo, local journalists…
New York, June 9, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists joins with the family and colleagues of Afghan journalist Abdul Samad Rohani in mourning his death, and calls on the recently appointed governor of Helmand province, Gulab Mangal, to press investigators to find his killers. Rohani disappeared on Saturday near Lashkar Gah, Helmand’s capital. He was…
New York, June 9, 2008–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned a militant group’s abduction of three journalists from Philippine network ABS-CBN in the southern Philippine province of Sulu on Sunday. ABS-CBN news head Maria Ressa provided CPJ with an official statement today confirming that journalist Ces Drilon, cameraman Jimmy Encarnacion, and assistant cameraman Angelo Valderama…
New York, June 6, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by the legal harassment of BBC correspondent Jonathan Head in Thailand. A high-ranking police official, Lt. Col. Wattanasak Mungkandee, has filed two separate criminal complaints alleging that the journalist insulted the monarchy—charges that Head and the BBC have called unfounded. Thai law allows any…
New York, June 6, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned that China has begun to restrict local and foreign coverage of the aftermath of the May 12 earthquake. Several international media outlets have reported the harassment and temporary detention of reporters at the hands of local officials. The moves come after a brief period…
New York, June 6, 2008—CPJ applauds a regional court’s ruling on Thursday declaring the 2006 arrest of Gambian journalist “Chief” Ebrima Manneh to be illegal and ordering his immediate release. The Community Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States also ordered the Gambian government to pay US$100,000 in damages to Manneh’s…
New York, June 6, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Moroccan authorities to investigate disturbing allegations that former high-ranking Interior Minister official Fouad Ali El Himma was the instigator of a demonstration in 2006 in Casablanca against an independent weekly for reporting on controversial Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohamed. Mustapha Ramid, a leading…