Critical Web site still blocked on eve of presidential election
New York, February 22, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned that the Ugandan government has blocked internal access to a critical Web site, Radio Katwe, in the run-up to Thursday’s hotly contested presidential election. The site has been blocked in Uganda for more than a week, according to news reports and local journalists. The…
Raids, arrests mark crackdown on Kenya’s ‘alternative press’
New York, February 21, 2006—Police in Kenya raided two tabloid newspapers on Monday, confiscating equipment and documents and arresting several journalists in the capital, Nairobi. Police also detained news vendors selling the so-called “alternative press” publications, which are known for provocative reporting on sex and political scandals. Local journalists told the Committee to Protect Journalists…
Journalist freed after 18 days detention in libel case
New York, February 21, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release of newspaper director Ibrahim Manzo, who spent 18 days in preventive detention awaiting the outcome of a defamation case. A court in Niamey, capital of Niger, handed Manzo a suspended one-month prison sentence on Monday and ordered his release, local journalists told CPJ.…
Two journalists jailed after press law convictions
New York, February 17, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned the imprisonment of two Ethiopian journalists for failing to pay hefty fines imposed in court cases stemming from their work. Both journalists were released after the Ethiopian Free Press Journalists’ Association (EFJA) raised the money to pay the fines, EFJA president Kifle Mulat told…
2005 prison census: 125 journalists jailed
AFGHANISTAN: 1 Ali Mohaqqiq Nasab, Haqooq-i-Zan (Women’s Rights) Imprisoned: October 1, 2005 The attorney general ordered editor Nasab’s arrest on blasphemy charges after the religious adviser to President Hamid Karzai, Mohaiuddin Baluch, filed a complaint about his magazine. “I took the two magazines and spoke to the Supreme Court chief, who wrote to the attorney…
Attacks on the Press 2005: CPJ Releases Attacks on the Press in Four Cities
New York, February 14, 2006–Highlighting the global nature of its press freedom advocacy work, the Committee to Protect Journalists today released its annual press freedom survey Attacks on the Press in four cities: Bangkok, Cairo, London and Washington, D.C.
Attacks on the Press 2005: Table of Contents
Preface By Paul E.Steiger Introduction By Ann Cooper AFRICA ANALYSIS Lessons in Democracy and the Press By Julia CrawfordVersion française AMERICAS ANALYSIS All the News That Can’t Be Printed By Carlos Lauría Versión en español ASIA ANALYSIS As Radio Grows More Powerful, Challenges EmergeBy Abi Wright EUROPE AND CENTRAL ASIA ANALYSIS: Free Expression Takes a…
Former reporter attacked, threatened
FEBRUARY 16, 2006 Posted March 20, 2006 Gift Phiri, formerly of The Zimbabwe Independent ATTACKED, THREATENED Phiri, a former reporter for the private weekly The Zimbabwe Independent, was attacked by unidentified assailants who accused him of working for foreign media, including the U.S. government-funded Voice of America. Local sources told CPJ that Phiri believed that…
Attacks on the Press in 2005: Headlines
January 11: A killing in Colombia reinforces self-censorship — Gunmen kill radio news host Julio Hernando Palacios Sánchez as he drives to work in Cúcuta. Attacked from all sides, the Colombian press censors itself to an extraordinary degree, CPJ later reports. Probing journalists are killed, detained, or forced to flee. Verified news is suppressed, and…