Turkey special report
Committee to Protect Journalists An independent, non-profit organization dedicated to protecting press freedom worldwide Contact: [email protected] Tel. 212-465-1004
Government tightens restrictions on foreign media
New York, March 15, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the Uzbek government’s tightening of controls over local and foreign journalists working for foreign state-funded media. The cabinet approved regulations February 24 giving the Foreign Ministry wide discretion to issue formal warnings to foreign correspondents, revoke their accreditation and visas, and expel them.…
Days before Belarusian vote, four newspapers forced to halt publication
New York, March 14, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Belarusian authorities’ escalating harassment of the country’s few independent newspapers as Sunday’s presidential election approaches. Four newspapers based in the capital, Minsk, have been forced to interrupt publication less than a week before the balloting in which incumbent Aleksandr Lukashenko seeks re-election, according to local…
Son of slain journalist Veronika Cherkasova released on bail
New York, March 14, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release on bail of the 16-year-old son of murdered journalist Veronika Cherkasova. Anton Filimonov was freed Monday from the Minsk detention center where he had been held since December 27, local media reported. Although he was formally charged with forging currency, Filimonov was pressured…
Filmmakers sentenced to prison for espionage
New York, March 9, 2006—A court in the breakaway region of Abkhazia has sentenced three Georgian filmmakers to three months in prison for espionage and illegally entering the self-declared republic in the northwest Caucasus, according to local and international press reports. The filmmakers were tried and convicted on Tuesday evening by the Sukhumi City Court…
Broadcaster loses contact with other reporters RFE/RL correspondents held in Turkmenistan
New York, March 9, 2006—Two correspondents for the Turkmen service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty are being held incommunicado after being arrested on Tuesday, and the U.S. government-funded broadcaster said today it has lost contact with its entire network of correspondents in the country. The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply alarmed by the developments…
Yemen: Attacks, Censorship, and Dirty Tricks
SANA’A, Yemen — Newspaper editor Jamal Amer arrived home just before dawn last August 23 after closing the latest edition of his independent weekly, Al-Wasat. A shout pierced the morning calm as Amer got out of his car, and, within moments, a man in a military jacket and traditional head scarf bundled the editor into…
In Azerbaijan, reporter for opposition paper is abducted, beaten
New York, March 7, 2006–Three unidentified men abducted a reporter for the Azerbaijani opposition newspaper Azadlyg on Sunday night, beating him, breaking some of his fingers, and slashing him, according to local and international press reports. The attack on Fikret Huseynli (Huseinli) was likely related to his work, Azadlyg Editor-in-Chief Ganimat Zahidov told reporters at…
Filmmakers held in separatist region of Abkhazia
New York, March 7, 2006—Authorities in the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia today charged three journalists with entering the self-declared republic illegally to shoot a documentary film, local and international media reported. Journalists Tea Sharia, Georgii Sokhadze and Teimuraza Eliava were arrested March 1 in Abkhazia, a region along the Black Sea in the northwest…
Belarusian police seize paper’s election edition
New York, March 6, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned escalating media repression in Belarus ahead of March 19 presidential elections. Iosef Serdiyevich, editor-in-chief of the opposition newspaper Narodnaya Volya, announced at a press conference today that police officers had confiscated 250,000 copies of a special election edition of the newspaper, according to local…