2011
Nigeria’s new FOI law brings celebration, challenges
There is a deserved celebration in the Nigerian media over the recently passed Freedom of Information Act, which provides citizens with broad access to public records and information held by a public official or institution. It is the climax of an 11-year struggle to pass such a law in the Nigerian parliament. Indeed, the call…
Media targeted in Thai political transition
Bangkok, July 7, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the raid and seizure of broadcasting equipment by police at six community radio stations in Thailand’s northeastern Nakhon Ratchasima province. The raids were staged two days after caretaker Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva’s government lost to the opposition Peua Thai party in general elections held on July…
Tibetan magazine editor given four-year jail term
New York, July 6, 2011–The closed-door sentencing of a Tibetan magazine editor jailed without charge for over a year is another disturbing indicator of the lack of due process allowed to ethnic minority journalists in China, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Jammeh must disclose knowledge of Manneh’s fate
New York, July 6, 2011–Gambian President Yahya Jammeh must clarify his March 16 comments suggesting that detained journalist “Chief” Ebrima Manneh has died, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. CPJ’s call comes ahead of the fifth anniversary of the July 7, 2006, arrest of Manneh, left, who disappeared after being taken into government custody.
Ethiopia detains two Swedish journalists
New York, July 5, 2011–Two Swedish journalists reporting on the activities of armed separatists operating in an oil-rich province of eastern Ethiopia have been detained without charge since Thursday in the Horn of Africa nation, according to news reports and government officials.Ethiopian security forces arrested photojournalist Johan Persson and reporter Martin Schibbye, contributors to the Sweden-based agency Kontinent,…
Provincial journalist shot to death in Colombia
New York, July 5, 2011–Luis Eduardo Gómez, a Colombian freelance journalist who was a witness for an investigation into links between politicians and paramilitary groups, was shot and killed on Thursday in the town of Arboletes, in the northwestern province of Antioquia, according to news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Colombian authorities…
Celebrating Shchekochikhin, doubting investigators
It has been eight years since Yuri Shchekochikhin, deputy editor of the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, died a painful death from a disease that in a matter of days stripped him of his skin, caused his organs to fail one after the other, and led his body to shut down.On Sunday, on the anniversary of…
Pakistan must explain ISI’s role in murder
New York, July 5, 2011–Pakistan’s president must clarify the role of Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence Directorate following U.S. allegations that the agency ordered the killing of journalist Saleem Shahzad, as reported in The New York Times today, said the Committee to Protect Journalists.