Americas

  

Mexican court did not call for release of Brad Will suspect

New York, November 11, 2009—A court in Oaxaca has not ordered the release of Juan Manuel Martínez Moreno, who was charged last year for the 2006 killing of U.S. journalist Bradley Roland Will, contrary to initial news reports in the Mexican press.  

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Mexico must continue to investigate Will death

We issued the following statement today in response to reports that a tribunal in Oaxaca state called for the release of Juan Manuel Martínez Moreno, who was charged last year for the 2006 killing of U.S. journalist Brad Will. The tribunal determined there was insufficient evidence to continue holding the suspect…

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Obama should press Chinese for release of jailed journalists

Dear President Obama: We are heartened by news reports that you plan to talk to Chinese leaders about human rights and related issues when you visit the country next week. On World Press Freedom Day in May, you specifically raised the cases of two of China’s jailed journalists—Shi Tao, imprisoned for allegedly “leaking state secrets,” and Hu Jia, behind bars for alleged “incitement to subvert state power.” Both men remain jailed, and we ask that you now press for their immediate release.

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CPJ rejects Iran espionage charges against American hikers

New York, November 9, 2009—Three American hikers who inadvertently crossed the border into Iran on July 31 are facing chargers of espionage, according to a report from the state news agency IRNA.

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Playing the spy card against WSJ in Pakistan

Last Thursday, Pakistan’s The Nation newspaper published a reckless and unsubstantiated story accusing Wall Street Journal South Asia correspondent Matthew Rosenberg of being a spy. It’s an accusation that gravely endangers Rosenberg’s safety. Wall Street Journal Managing Editor Robert Thomson responded with a scathing letter to The Nation’s editor, Shireen Mazari, expressing his disgust at the publication…

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CPJ condemns assault, harassment of Cuban bloggers

We issued the following statement in response to reports that Cuban bloggers Yoani Sánchez, Claudia Cadelo, and Omar Luís Pardo Lazo were detained, assaulted and harassed by state security agents on their way to a peaceful march in Havana. Details of the incident were published on the Web site of Global Voices. 

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Mexican crime reporter abducted, slain in Durango

New York, November 3, 2009—Crime reporter Bladimir Antuna García was found murdered Monday night, according local news reports, after reportedly being abducted from a street in the Mexican city of Durango that morning. The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Mexican authorities to show their commitment to press freedom and the protection of Mexican journalists…

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Toronto’s Citizen Lab uses forensics to fight online censors

A basement in the gray, Gothic heart of the University of Toronto is home to the CSI of cyberspace. “We are doing free expression forensics,” says Ronald Deibert, director of the Citizen Lab, based at the Munk Centre for International Studies. Deibert and his team of academics and students investigate in real time governments and…

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CNN’S Lou Dobbs threatened; shot fired at home

On October 26, 2009, CNN anchor Lou Dobbs announced on the air that a shot had been fired at his home while his wife and her driver were standing outside in the driveway. Dobbs made the announcement on CNN and his syndicated radio program, saying the gunshot struck his home about three weeks earlier as…

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Mexican Congressional body to be disbanded

We issued the following statement today in response to reports that the new Mexican Chamber of Deputies has not renewed the mandate of a special congressional committee on violence against the press appointed in 2006…

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