Several journalists attacked while covering ‘Freedom March’ in Pakistan
New York, August 25, 2014–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on all sides to respect the role of journalists and media workers covering an anti-government demonstration in Pakistan. Journalists from various news outlets have been attacked while covering the “Freedom March”, according to news reports.
Q&A: Pakistan’s Hamid Mir speaks about climate for press freedom following attack
In April, Geo News senior anchor Hamid Mir was shot multiple times shortly after a CPJ delegation met with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who pledged to take several steps to improve journalist security. The investigation into the attack has yielded no accountability. And since the attack, two arrest warrants have been issued by courts in…
Blasphemy charges, threats loom for outspoken journalist in Pakistan
Forty-nine year-old magazine editor and publisher Shoaib Adil fled his home in the eastern city of Lahore last month and went into hiding with his wife and children. Adil faces threats and possible charges of blasphemy–a crime punishable by life imprisonment or death–in connection with a book he published in 2007, written by a judge…
Seeking release of Pakistani journalist Faizullah Khan, jailed in Afghanistan
It’s not often that CPJ agrees with the Pakistan government, but here is one of the rare occasions when we do. While Pakistan journalists have been pushing for quite a while for the release of one of their colleagues, Faizullah Khan, being held in Nangahar in Afghanistan, the Islamabad government has apparently been working diplomatic…
Pakistani reporter sentenced to 4-year prison term in Afghanistan
New York, July 14, 2014–A Pakistani television journalist was convicted on charges of travelling to Afghanistan without travel documents and sentenced to four years in prison, Pakistani officials said on Sunday. He had initially been accused of spying by Afghan authorities, according to news reports.
Bomb explodes outside home of Express News’ Peshawar bureau chief
Jamshed Baghwan and his wife were leaving their home in the Murshidabad neighborhood in Peshawar on July 2, 2014, when they saw unidentified assailants on motorcycles placing a bomb outside their house, The Express Tribune reported. Baghwan is the Peshawar bureau chief of Express News, a TV channel owned by Express Media Group.
CPJ calls on Pakistan to act on pledged commitments to press freedom
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif: We are writing to express our deep concern about the deteriorating climate for press freedom in Pakistan, which undermines recent commitments made by your government during CPJ’s mission to the country.