A journalist is freed as more than 20 remain jailed
New York, December 7, 2004—The man who headed an independent Havana news agency has been freed after more than 20 months behind bars, becoming the sixth Cuban journalist to be released in recent months. The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Cuban officials to immediately release the 23 journalists still jailed after the government’s massive…
Photographer gunned down in Sinaloa
New York, December 1, 2004—A newspaper photographer was gunned down Sunday in front of his family in a cafeteria in the northwestern state of Sinaloa, home to some of Mexico’s top drug traffickers. The Committee to Protect Journalists is investigating the slaying to determine whether it was connected to his journalistic work.
Rivero released on medical parole
New York, November 30, 2004—Cuban writer Raúl Rivero was released from a Havana prison today, the second imprisoned journalist to be granted medical parole in as many days. Twenty-five other journalists swept up in a March 2003 government crackdown on the independent press remain behind bars. Rivero’s discharge and the release of journalist Oscar Espinosa…
Imprisoned Cuban journalist released on medical parole
New York, November 29, 2004—At least one of the 27 journalists imprisoned in Cuba since a March 2003 crackdown on the independent press has been released from custody on a medical parole, and several others have been transferred to prison hospitals in Havana. CPJ called on Cuban authorities today to release all of the journalists…
2004 IPFA dinner remarks
Remarks by Ann Cooper, Executive Director of CPJ At this event we celebrate the courage of individual journalists and we demonstrate our collective determination to thwart forces that would silence the press. Those collective efforts over the past 12 months have helped win the early release of journalists imprisoned for their work in Tunisia, in…
Journalist convicted of criminal contempt
EDITOR’S NOTE: Corrected version, 11/19/04, below New York, November 18, 2004—A federal court today convicted Jim Taricani, a reporter at WJAR-TV, an NBC Universal–owned station in Providence, Rhode Island, of criminal contempt for refusing to reveal a confidential source. Sentencing is set for December 9, and Taricani faces up to six months behind bars, according…
Klebnikov family calls for journalists worldwide to probe editor’s unsolved murder
Washington, November 18, 2004—The family of slain journalist Paul Klebnikov is calling on reporters worldwide to launch an investigation into the unsolved murder of the Forbes Russia editor, gunned down in a contract-style slaying outside his Moscow office in July, the journalist’s brother said today. “In this awful tragedy there are seeds of hope. We’ve…
CPJ disappointed by dissolution of local press freedom group
New York, November 12, 2004—The noted Argentine press freedom organization PERIODISTAS dissolved yesterday amid internal differences. The group, which was established nine years ago to defend local journalists against press freedom abuses, said in a press release that, “after a long internal discussion about the association’s main goals, it was impossible to find a consensus…
Supreme Court upholds sentence against journalist
New York, November 11, 2004—Ecuador’s Supreme Court of Justice upheld the conviction of columnist Rodrigo Fierro Benítez on criminal defamation charges, the Committee to Protect Journalists has learned. The Supreme Court then suspended Fierro’s sentence. On October 29, a three-judge Supreme Court panel upheld the one-month prison sentence against Fierro, a columnist for the Quito-based…