2009

New York, August 24, 2009–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a Mauritanian court’s decision to sentence an online editor to six months in prison.

New York, August 24, 2009–Authorities in Pakistan’s northwest tribal regions must immediately investigate today’s murder of Afghan journalist Janullah Hashimzada, the Committee to Protect Journalists said.

The government’s cruel treatment of Tunisian journalist Abdallah Zouari came to an end on August 1, a reminder that even the most autocratic regimes will yield to international pressure for press freedom. Zouari, a former reporter for the now-defunct Islamic weekly Al-Fajr, had been forced to live under a form of house arrest since his…

Ahead of the first anniversary on Sunday, August 23, of the kidnapping in Mogadishu of Canadian Amanda Lindhout and Australian Nigel Brennan we issued the following statement today on behalf of the families of the two journalists…

On August 15, Caracas authorities arrested Gabriel Uzcátegui in connection with a violent attack against a dozen local journalists who were protesting an education bill that critics fear will restrict press freedom in Venezuela. Uzcátegui is an employee of the government-owned broadcaster AvilaTV, the national daily EL Nacional reported.

New York, August 21, 2009–Prosecutors in Abakan, the capital of the Republic of Khakassia in southern Siberia, should drop their defamation charges against online editor Mikhail Afanasyev, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The charges are tied to a blog entry about Monday’s explosion at Russia’s largest hydroelectric plant that killed dozens of workers,…

This week, CPJ’s Shawn W. Crispin examined the incredible risks and challenges confronting witnesses to journalist murders in the Philippines. Crispin’s report, “Under Oath, Under Threat,” featured Bob Flores, a man who has demonstrated extraordinary courage in identifying a gunman in the slaying of radio journalist Dennis Cuesta. Crispin and I had met Flores earlier…

New York, August 20, 2009–Security forces obstructed, assaulted, and detained Afghan and foreign journalists in Kabul and elsewhere in Afghanistan today, enforcing an official gag order on news of violent incidents during the presidential election. A spokesman for President Hamid Karzai told the press that information about attacks would discourage voter turnout. 

CPJ spoke with three Kabul-based journalists to learn how they and their colleagues around the country responded to the government’s request to mute coverage of violence during polling hours today.