In recent years, it had become common for people who care about Afghanistan to worry about its growing invisibility. The all-encompassing burqa gown, which the ruling Taliban forced women to wear, seemed a metaphor for the militia’s efforts to hide Afghanistan’s people and problems from the world. Visits by foreign correspondents were restricted; taking pictures…
As the Palestinian uprising, or intifada, entered its second year, Palestinian National Authority (PNA) chairman Yasser Arafat appeared to be fighting for his own survival amidst escalating Israeli military attacks and intense diplomatic pressure from the United States. Despite the PNA’s precarious situation and increasing alienation from the population at large, the PNA showed that…
Since its founding in 1981, CPJ has, as a matter of strategy and policy, concentrated on press freedom violations and attacks against journalists outside the United States. Within the country, a vital press freedom community marshals its resources and expertise to defend journalists’ rights. CPJ aims to focus its efforts on those nations where journalists…
New York, March 6, 2002—The British-led international peacekeeping force warned reporters today of a credible threat to kidnap foreign journalists. “Information about threats come and go all the time, but this is the first one assessed as credible enough to pass on to journalists,” said Lt. Col. Neal Peckham of the International Security Assistance Force…
New York, NY, March 4, 2002 —Kathleen Kenna, a correspondent for the Toronto Star, was seriously wounded when her car was attacked by unidentified assailants, according to press reports. Kenna was traveling with her husband, freelance photographer Hadi Dadashian; Star photographer Bernard Weil; and an Afghan driver on the main road from Kabul to Gardez.…
New York, January 31, 2002—In a letter sent today to U.S. defense secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, CPJ requested information about the circumstances behind the U.S. bombing of the Kabul office of the Al-Jazeera satellite television channel in mid-November. During the early morning hours of November 13, 2001, U.S. aircraft dropped two 500-pound bombs on the…
New York, January 31, 2002—In a letter sent today to U.S. defense secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, CPJ requested information about the circumstances behind the U.S. bombing of the Kabul office of the Al-Jazeera satellite television channel in mid-November. During the early morning hours of November 13, 2001, U.S. aircraft dropped two 500-pound bombs on the…
Read first-hand accounts by journalists covering the war in Afghanistan. • December 21, 2001—The New York Times reported that on December 20, Afghan tribal fighters detained three photojournalists working for U.S. news organizations. The journalists were detained for more than one hour, apparently at the behest of U.S. Special Operations forces in the Tora Bora area….
Fisk, his Independent colleague Justin Huggler, driver Amanullah, and translator Fayyaz Ahmed were driving past Kila Abdullah, near the Afghan border, when their car broke down. A large crowd gathered around the car and started throwing stones and hitting Huggler and Fisk. As the two reporters tried to board a bus, Fisk was dragged off,…
New York, November 28, 2001—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is extremely concerned about the safety of Ken Hechtman, a Canadian free-lance journalist who is believed to be held captive in the border town of Spin Boldak. Hechtman, 33, was writing for the weekly Montreal Mirror. On November 27, a man who identified himself as…