Colombian intelligence official held in journalist’s murder
New York, June 30, 2010—A former deputy director of the national Colombian intelligence agency has been ordered held for masterminding the 1999 murder of journalist Jaime Garzón. José Miguel Narváez is currently behind bars awaiting trial in a separate case.
Police beat journalist at G-20 summit in Toronto
A freelance journalist was beaten by police on June 26, 2010, as he was covering a demonstration related to the G-20 summit of world leaders in Toronto. Jesse Rosenfeld, a contributor to the opinion section of the Guardian online, later said in a press conference that Canadian police authorities attacked him after recognizing him as a “loud-mouthed…
Veteran Panamanian journalist jailed on defamation charges
New York, June 30, 2010—A 70-year-old Panamanian journalist arrested and jailed Saturday on a 2008 defamation conviction should be immediately released, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.The charges against Carlos Núñez López, at left, stemmed from a 2005 story in the now-defunct weekly newspaper La Crónica about environmental damage in the province of Bocas del Toro, his lawyer, Luis…
Burma campaign hits Grand Central
New York’s Grand Central Station is a gathering point today for people who are coming into town from a little farther away than usual: Burmese dissidents, writers, monks, and musicians are convening to protest the military junta of Senior General Than Shwe. Human Rights Watch has organized a petition and an art and photo installation in Vanderbilt…
Finding success in exile from Sierra Leone
It was just days ago that my daughter had her 11th birthday. She was excited about this birthday as never before, but I understood why. A couple of days prior, she was accepted to the Frederick Douglass Academy in Manhattan for middle school starting next fall. The school is regarded as one of the best…
Peruvian Supreme Court frees editor jailed for defamation
New York, June 21, 2010—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes Friday’s decision by the Peruvian Supreme Court to release Alejandro Carrascal Carrasco, editor of the weekly newspaper Nor Oriente, who was sentenced on January 12 to one year in prison on defamation charges.
Freed Sri Lankan journalist Tissainayagam arrives in U.S.
New York, June 19, 2010—The Committee to Protect Journalist welcomes the arrival in the United States of Sri Lankan journalist J.S. Tissainayagam, who arrived at Washington’s Dulles International Airport on Saturday morning. He was met there by friends. According to CPJ representative Kamel Labidi, who was on hand to meet Tissa, “He was all smiles,…
As dissidents move online, governments fight back
Social media and cyber dissidents have exerted a increasing influence on global politics over the last few years—Twitter, for instance, was widely utilized by protesters and journalists during Iran’s 2009 post-election Green Movement, and China has been locked in conflict with Google over allegations of censorship and hacking. “Ideas in Action” with Jim Glassman, a half-hour weekly show on…
Starting from scratch: A Haitian journalist exiled in the U.S.
I arrived in New York in April 2003. It was cold.The streets of Brooklyn seemed too wide to me and the buildings huge. The number 3 train would pass over and over again like a luminous monster. From the window of my apartment, I would watch this train go by. I would also watch people walk without…