Controversy grows after assault in Venezuela
On August 15, Caracas authorities arrested Gabriel Uzcátegui in connection with a violent attack against a dozen local journalists who were protesting an education bill that critics fear will restrict press freedom in Venezuela. Uzcátegui is an employee of the government-owned broadcaster AvilaTV, the national daily EL Nacional reported.
Protesting journalists attacked in Caracas
New York, August 14, 2009–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned a violent assault by suspected government supporters on a dozen journalists in Venezuela on Thursday. The journalists were protesting an education bill that would restrict press freedom.
U.S. officials detain Pakistani VOA journalist
New York, August 14, 2009–The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by U.S. immigration officials’ decision to detain without explanation Rahman Bunairee, a Pakistani reporter for Voice of America who said he had been targeted for attack in his home country. CPJ calls on immigration officials to release Bunairee immediately and allow him to resume…
U.S. immigration detains Pakistani journalist
In response to news that Pakistani reporter Rahman Bunairee was detained Monday by immigration officials at Washington Dulles International Airport while trying to enter the country to accept a one-year position with Voice of America, we issued this statement…
An Iraqi journalist in America: The other side of the war
It’s been more than three months since I realized one of my most important dreams by coming to the United States. Still, I never thought that I would come here as a refugee, maybe because my Iraqi dignity and pride simply wouldn’t accept such an idea.
Cacho, a top Mexican reporter, describes a life under threat
A month ago I sat next to a cop, turned on my computer, and opened my blog. The threats were there: “My dear lydia cacho get ready to be found soon with your throat slit, your pretty head will be left outside your apartment if you think you are so brave bye.”
Ecuadoran journalist, freed on parole, jailed again for slander
On May 5, 2009, Milton Nelson Chacaguasay Flores, director and editor of the weekly publication La Verdad in the city of Machala, was released on parole after serving six months in prison on libel charges. Chacaguasay told CPJ that on June 8, 2009, he was again charged with slander and sentenced to four months in…
Helping the Hikers
The notion that three American hikers could innocently wander across the border from Iraqi Kurdistan into Iran has elicited some understandable skepticism. But a statement from their friend who stayed behind in his hotel because he was ill helps explain how the situation unfolded.
Pro-Chávez militant arrested in Globovisión attack
At noon on Tuesday, Venezuelan authorities arrested pro-government activist Lina Ron and took her to Caracas’ military intelligence headquarters, according to an official statement by the Venezuelan Minister of Interior and Justice Tarek El Aissami. Ron, a founding and very public member of the far-left political party Union Patriótica Venezolana (UPV), appeared in footage of…