2008
CPJ urges Karzai to protect Afghan media
Dear President Karzai, The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned about your government’s failure to push through proposed media reforms at a time when the Afghan press is growing increasingly restricted. As a nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization of journalists committed to supporting our colleagues around the world, CPJ is troubled by our findings on Afghanistan, which suggest that media policy is increasingly aimed at hampering journalists.
British PM should push for press freedom in China
Dear Prime Minister Brown, The Committee to Protect Journalists, a nonpartisan organization committed to promoting global press freedom, welcomes your visit to China at this crucial time in the run-up to the 2008 Olympics. Your trip provides a unique opportunity to encourage Chinese leaders to meet the pledges they made when they were awarded the Games in 2001 by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Chadian police take radio station off the air
New York, January 17, 2008—Police in the Chadian capital, N’djamena, forced a radio station launched by local human rights activists off the air on Wednesday and detained its director on allegations of defamation over the broadcast of a press release by a consumer advocacy group, according to local journalists and news reports. The studios of…
Deported journalist declared threat to state security
New York, January 17, 2008—Russian authorities say they were ensuring the “security of the state” when they barred a reporter from re-entering the country last month. Natalya Morar, a Moldovan citizen who works for the Moscow-based independent newsweekly The New Times, said the Russian Embassy in Moldova informed her today of the official reason for…
In expulsion case, Pakistani assertions ring hollow
New York, January 16, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists rejects claims made by Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs that CPJ’s alert on the expulsion of U.S. journalist Nicholas Schmidle was “misleading and factually incorrect.” The ministry’s remarks were made in a prepared opening statement to a press briefing in Islamabad today and repeated in response…
Appeals court upholds verdict in Fatullayev case
New York, January 16, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns an Azerbaijani appellate court’s decision today to uphold the 2007 conviction of Eynulla Fatullayev, editor of the independent Russian-language weekly Realny Azerbaijan and the Azeri-language daily Gündalik Azarbaycan. Fatullayev was convicted in October 2007 on charges of terrorism, incitement of ethnic hatred, and tax evasion,…
Hiran governor arrests BBC reporter in central Somalia
JANUARY 15, 2008 Posted January 16, 2008 Ayanle Hussein Abdi, BBC Freelance HARASSED Local police arrested BBC freelance reporter Ayanle Hussein Abdi on Tuesday in Beledweyne, the capital of the central Somali region of Hiran. The governor of Hiran Province, Yusuf Dabageed, ordered the arrest of Abdi with no official charges but accused the reporter…
Journalist flees home after learning of alleged plot to kill him
JANUARY 15, 2008 Alexander Guerrero, Magangué Hoy, El Comunicador THREATENED Guerrero, a reporter for the Magangué-based dailies Magangué Hoy and El Comunicador, left his home in the northern Bolívar province after learning of an alleged plot to kill him, the journalist told CPJ. Guerrero said he believed the threats were retaliation for his reporting on…
CAR journalist imprisoned over corruption editorial
New York, January 15, 2008—A court in the Central African Republic’s capital, Bangui, today sent the director of a private newspaper to prison to await trial on criminal charges in connection with an editorial about a political scandal. Faustin Bambou of the biweekly Les Collines de l’Oubangui was transferred to Bangui’s main Ngaraba prison after…
Arrests made in Kabul hotel suicide bombing
New York, January 15, 2008—Afghan authorities swiftly arrested four suspects following the attack on the Serena Hotel in Kabul yesterday, according to The Associated Press. The suicide blast took the lives of at least six people, including that of Norwegian journalist Carsten Thomassen, 38, a journalist from the Oslo daily newspaper Dagbladet.