2013
Sri Lanka detains, then releases two visiting journalists
With two weeks to go until the start of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Sri Lanka, the government’s anti-media policies remain a pressing topic. There are two links below to statements by media support groups today relating to the government’s wrongful and heavy handed response to a media workshop held in Colombo this…
Shabelle off air and staff evicted, fearing for safety
The young staff members of Radio Shabelle, whose offices were in the relatively safe section of Mogadishu next to the airport, are no longer feeling safe. On Saturday, while presenters were on the air, heavily armed security forces raided the Shabelle offices and arrested the three-dozen staff members at gunpoint, according to a statement by…
Vietnamese blogger sentenced for Facebook post
Bangkok, October 29, 2013–A Vietnamese court today sentenced independent blogger Dinh Nhat Uy to a 15-month suspended prison term and one year of house arrest in connection with his posts on Facebook, according to news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the verdict and calls on Vietnamese authorities to end their escalating campaign of…
CPJ urges UK political parties to reconsider royal charter
New York, October 28, 2013–The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Britain’s three main political parties to reconsider a royal charter that would establish a new press regulator in the United Kingdom. The Privy Council, the assembly that formally advises the Queen, is scheduled to review on Wednesday the proposed charter agreed by the…
In China: Who, and what, to believe?
The New Express’s campaign to get Chen Yongzhou, 27, released from police detention last week attracted international attention, including CPJ’s. Chen had been picked up October 18 on “suspicion of damaging commercial reputation” with a series of stores alleging financial mismanagement and corruption at Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science and Technology Co., China’s second-largest heavy equipment…
Universal TV journalist dies of injuries in Somalia
Nairobi, October 28, 2013–Journalist Mohamed Mohamud, commonly known as “Tima’ade,” succumbed to gunshot wounds on Saturday and died at Medina Hospital in the capital, Mogadishu, local journalists told CPJ. Unidentified gunmen shot Mohamed, a reporter for the popular, privately owned, U.K.-based Universal TV, on his way to work on October 22 in the Wadajir district…
In Peru, two journalists handed suspended jail terms
Two Peruvian journalists in the central Peruvian city of Ayacucho who had reported on alleged government corruption were convicted of criminal defamation, fined, and handed suspended jail sentences in two separate cases on October 21, 2013, according to news reports.