Critical journalist receives numerous death threats
JANUARY 28-30, 2008 Posted February 1, 2008 Uzeyir Jafarov, Baku Zaman THREATENED Jafarov, a reporter of the independent daily Baku Zaman and a former editor of the now-shuttered Azeri-language daily Gündalik Azarbaycan, said he received numerous death threats from anonymous callers. Jafarov said the calls began after he wrote critical stories about the army and…
Editor jailed over Muhammad cartoons
New York, January 18, 2008—Minsk City Court in Belarus today imprisoned Aleksandr Sdvizhkov, an editor at the now-shuttered independent weekly Zgoda (Consensus) newspaper, for reprinting controversial Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in 2006. Sdvizhkov was charged with “incitement of religious hatred” and sentenced to three years in a high-security prison. Sdvizhkov was arrested on…
Deported journalist declared threat to state security
New York, January 17, 2008—Russian authorities say they were ensuring the “security of the state” when they barred a reporter from re-entering the country last month. Natalya Morar, a Moldovan citizen who works for the Moscow-based independent newsweekly The New Times, said the Russian Embassy in Moldova informed her today of the official reason for…
Appeals court upholds verdict in Fatullayev case
New York, January 16, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns an Azerbaijani appellate court’s decision today to uphold the 2007 conviction of Eynulla Fatullayev, editor of the independent Russian-language weekly Realny Azerbaijan and the Azeri-language daily Gündalik Azarbaycan. Fatullayev was convicted in October 2007 on charges of terrorism, incitement of ethnic hatred, and tax evasion,…
Authorities crack down on freelancers after a protest rally in Minsk
New York, January 14, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned about the detention of one freelance journalist and the interrogation of three others in Minsk, and it calls on Belarusian authorities to halt persecution of the independent press. Arseny Pakhomov, a freelance photographer working for the independent weekly Nasha Niva, was arrested and sentenced…
Azerbaijani president pardons five journalists; three left behind bars
New York, December 28, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes today’s pardon of five journalists imprisoned in Azerbaijan, but it calls on President Ilham Aliyev to free the three journalists who remain unjustly jailed. Samir Sadagatoglu, Rafiq Tagi, Faramaz Novruzoglu, Rovshan Kebirli, and Yashar Agazadeh were among 114 prisoners pardoned by presidential decree. The five…
FSB bars journalist from re-entering Russia
New York, December 18, 2007—Authorities at the Moscow Domodedovo airport barred Natalya Morar, a Moldovan citizen and an investigative reporter for the Moscow-based independent newsweekly The New Times, from re-entering Russia when she returned from her business trip to Israel on Sunday. Referring to a secret Federal Security Service (FSB) order, passport control officers said…
Independent Belarus newspaper faces closure
New York, December 17, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply worried about a defamation lawsuit by a Belarusian senior government official against the independent weekly Novy Chas in the capital, Minsk. A ruling against the paper would bankrupt Novy Chas and force it to shut down, according to local CPJ sources. In late October,…