2009

  

Freelance photographer detained in southern Brazil

On July 16, 2009, police detained freelance photographer Antônio Carlos Argemi while he was covering a protest outside the home of Rio Grande do Sul Governor Yeda Crusius in Porto Alegre, 834 miles (1,342 kilometers) southwest of Brasilia.

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Philippine journalists wounded in suspected militant attack

Suspected militants fired at two low-flying military helicopters in Basilan province in the southern Philippines on August 16, 2009, injuring two journalists who were on board, according to local and international reports. The militants were thought to belong to the Abu Sayyaf Group, which is allegedly linked to Al-Qaida.

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Kazakh editor imprisoned for collecting state secrets

New York, August 26, 2009–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the Taraz Regional Court in southern Kazakhstan to overturn on appeal a jail sentence given to Ramazan Yesergepov, the editor of the independent Almaty-based weekly Alma-Ata Info. 

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Ethiopia jails two editors on old charges under obsolete law

New York, August 26, 2009–Two Ethiopian journalists were thrown in prison on Monday after a judge convicted them under an obsolete press law in connection with coverage of sensitive topics dating back several years, according to local journalists and news reports.

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Ricardo González Alfonso is jailed in this Cuban prison. (AP/Jose Goitia)

Hopeless, a sister visits her imprisoned brother in Havana

Graciela González-Degard is 72 years old. She has salt-and-pepper hair, long elegant hands, soft manners reminiscent of another era, and a bad knee that she blames on age. Once a Catholic nun, Graciela moved to the United States from Havana in the 1960s and now lives in New York with her husband. She teaches children…

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Documentary commends Cyclone Nargis journalists

PBS’s “Wide Angle” aired “Eyes of the Storm” last week, a documentary on Cyclone Nargis and its aftermath. Like Anders Ostergaard’s recent film “Burma VJ” on citizen reporters during the monk-led protests in 2007, which we wrote about in April, “Wide Angle” contrasts independent reports filmed at great risk with the junta’s state media claims…

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Four from Uganda’s Monitor face criminal charges

New York, August 25, 2009–Four journalists from Uganda’s largest independent newspaper are facing criminal prosecutions, joining four others already charged since 2007, according to local journalists and news reports.

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Iran charges journalists with ‘lying’

New York, August 25, 2009–The fourth session of the mass trial of more than 100 opposition figures, including journalists, took place in Tehran today. The Committee to Protect Journalists is particularly dismayed by procedural irregularities and the fact that the trial is only open to state-owned media. 

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Assailants force two Honduran broadcasters off the air

New York, August 25, 2009–Masked assailants on Monday stormed a radio station and a television outlet critical of the country’s interim government, forcing the broadcasters off the air in the latest attack on the Honduran media. The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Honduran authorities to ensure that all journalists can work safely in an…

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Somaliland cracks down on independent media

New York, August 24, 2009–The Committee to Protect Journalists called today for an end to an ongoing government crackdown on independent journalists in Somaliland.

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