2008

CPJ’s 2008 International Press Freedom awardees, who were officially announced yesterday at a press conference in Washington, are making news today–including editor Andrew Mwenda, who was concurrently issued an arrest warrant in his home country of Uganda.

Washington, November 20, 2008–On the day Ugandan editor Andrew Mwenda was introduced here as a recipient of a CPJ International Press Freedom Award, police back home summoned the journalist for questioning over his magazine’s hard-hitting political coverage.

RIA Novosti has continued coverage of the Anna Politkovskaya murder trial, which began yesterday in Moscow.

Since 2001, CPJ has documented the cases of 340 journalists forced into exile after their reporting exposed them to harassment, violence, or imprisonment. They face many difficulties in their new homes, from language and cultural adjustments to emotional and economic hardships. Here are five snapshots of journalists in exile.

New York, November 17, 2008–A gunman on a motorcycle shot radio commentator Arecio Padrigao in southern Gingoog city today, according to international news reports. The journalist died en route to the hospital.

New York, November 17, 2008–Amid a growing crackdown on political dissent and freedom of expression, a Burmese court on Friday handed down a two-year prison sentence to Eine Khine Oo, a journalist with the local weekly Ecovision Journal. 

Three men charged in the 2007 murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya are on trial in Moscow beginning today.

New York, November 14, 2008–The Committee to Protect Journalists is greatly concerned about the deteriorating security situation in the border area of Pakistan and Afghanistan. In the most recent incident, two journalists were shot and wounded today in Peshawar. 

Making headlines today across the English and Spanish-language press is the brutal murder of Mexican crime reporter Armando Rodríguez.

New York, November 13, 2008–The Committee to Protect Journalists is greatly concerned by media reports in Pakistan and Canada that Khadija Abdul Qahaar, publisher of the Web site Jihad Unspun, was kidnapped Tuesday while traveling in the Bannu district in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas, on the border with Afghanistan.