2009

New York, May 14, 2009–A Cuban independent journalist was sentenced during a summary trial on Tuesday to three years in prison on charges of “disrespect,” journalists in Havana told the Committee to Protect Journalists today.

Dear Prime Minister Najib: The Committee to Protect Journalists is writing to express its longstanding concerns about Malaysia’s restricted media environment and to urge you to undertake reforms that allow for greater press freedom, both for the mainstream and fast emerging online news media.

A mysterious fire in Republic of Congo this week destroyed property belonging to President Denis Sassou Nguesso. The origin of the fire was not officially determined, recalling a similar murky blaze in January, which led to the death of journalist Bruno Ossébi.

In response to a North Korean statement that American journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling of U.S. media outlet Current TV, arrested on March 17 along the border with China, will be put on trial on June 4, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued this statement…

New York, May 13, 2009–The Committee to Protect Journalists strongly condemns a raid today by Yemeni security forces on the Aden compound of the country’s most popular independent newspaper. One passerby was killed. 

New York May 13, 2009–Tunisian government efforts to force out the president of a critical journalists union is part of a campaign to eliminate independent media in the country, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

New York, May 13, 2009–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Kyrgyz authorities to detain, charge, and prosecute three men who attacked Yrysbek Omurzakov, editor of the independent newspaper Tribuna, in the capital, Bishkek, last week.

New York, May 13, 2009–Fiji’s military government, which has been questioning several local journalists in custody, should immediately rescind emergency regulations censoring the island nation’s media, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Roxana Saberi was released on Monday after more than four months imprisonment at Tehran’s Evin Prison. She had been convicted of spying for the U.S. in a closed-door, one-hour trial on April 18 in a notoriously harsh Iranian Revolutionary Court and given an eight-year jail sentence. On Sunday, a court of appeal in Tehran gave…