Profiles

Sonali Samarasinghe is Lasantha Wickramatunga’s widow. A lawyer and senior journalist, she worked alongside her husband for over a decade before he was murdered on January 8, 2009.

Karen Phillips is interim research associate in CPJ’s Americas program. A former associate in CPJ’s Journalists Assistance program, she is the author of the CPJ special report, “A Somali Journalist in Exile.”

Mohamed Keita is advocacy coordinator for CPJ’s Africa Program. Keita has written about independent journalism and development in sub-Saharan Africa for publications including The New York Times and Africa Review, and has appeared on NPR, the BBC, Al-Jazeera, and Radio France Internationale. Keita has also given presentations on press freedom at the World Bank, U.S….

In March 2003, Juan Carlos Herrera Acosta was arrested during the massive crackdown on Cuba’s dissidents and independent press. A Cuban court sentenced him a month later to 20 years in prison. He arrived in Spain in August 2010.

Omar Rodríguez Saludes, director of the Havana-based independent news agency Nueva Prensa Cubana, was arrested in March 2003 and summarily sentenced in April to 27 years in jail. He now lives in Spain.

Demba Jawo is a former president of the Gambia Press Union.

Victor Rolando Arroyo Carmona was a journalist for the independent news agency Unión de Periodistas y Escritores de Cuba Independientes in his home province of Pinar del Río when he was handed a 26-year prison sentence for acting “against the independence or the territorial integrity of the state” under Article 91 of the penal code…

Elisabeth Witchel, a CPJ consultant, served for many years as the organization’s journalist assistance coordinator. She also launched CPJ’s Global Campaign Against Impunity.

Rocío Gallegos is a reporter with El Diario in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.

Normando Hernández González was the director of the news agency Colegio de Periodistas Independientes de Camagüey when he was sentenced to 25 years in prison. He was held for many months in an isolation cell at the maximum-security Kilo 7 Prison in his home province of Camagüey.