Attacks on the Press 2005: Countries That Have Jailed Journalists (Follow Links for More Details)
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: Cuba
CUBA Cuba remained one of the world’s leading jailers of journalists, second only to China. Two journalists were imprisoned during the year, joining 22 others who have been jailed since a massive crackdown on the independent press in March 2003. On the second anniversary of that notorious sweep, more than 100 prominent Latin American writers—including…
CPJ urges Castro to end persecution of independent press
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is gravely concerned about your government’s practice of imprisoning journalists in reprisal for their work. Twenty-four Cuban reporters, writers, and editors were behind bars on December 1, 2005, making your country the world’s second-leading jailer of journalists, behind only China, CPJ found in an analysis released today. Two Cuban journalists were imprisoned during the year, joining 22 others who have been jailed since a massive March 2003 crackdown on the independent press.
CPJ alarmed by worsening health of journalist held without charge
New York, December 7, 2005 — A Cuban journalist detained without charge for nearly five months has lost 30 pounds (13.5 kilograms) in prison and is suffering from serious health problems his wife told the Committee to Protect Journalists. Oscar Mario González, a journalist with the independent news agency, Grupo de Trabajo Decoro, was arrested…
Cuban government detains two foreign journalists
New York, December 2, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Thursday’s detention of two foreign journalists who were reportedly interviewing opposition activists in Cuba’s central Sancti Spíritus province. The government was expected to expel the two journalists. Police detained Polish journalist Anna Bikont, who works for the leading Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza, and Swiss journalist…
CPJ calls for release of 24 others still unjustly imprisoned
New York, December 1, 2005—Mario Enrique Mayo Hernández, an imprisoned Cuban journalist who wounded himself and waged repeated hunger strikes to call attention to his plight, was released on medical parole today, more than two and half years after he was jailed in the government’s massive March 2003 crackdown on the independent press.
Cubans: Direct Line to Readers
Since 1995, when the first independent news agencies emerged in Cuba, dozens of journalists have fled the country to escape harassment, threats, detention, or jail. Many have settled in the United States or Spain, where some continue to work as journalists. Manuel Vázquez Portal, who won CPJ’s 2003 International Press Freedom Award, settled in Miami…