New York, August 16, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by reports that a French-American journalist and his translator have gone missing in Iraq and may have been abducted. Micah Garen, a journalist with the U.S.-based Four Corners Media, and his translator Amir Doushi, were abducted Friday by two armed men in civilian…
New York, August 13, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the abduction of a British freelance journalist in the southern Iraqi city of Basra. The journalist, James Brandon, was released today, according to international press reports. Brandon, a journalist working for The Sunday Telegraph of London and other media, was taken by gunmen at Al-Diyafa…
Minister al-Naqib: The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned about the reported detentions of several Baghdad-based staff members of the official Iranian news agency IRNA. Iraqi police detained Mostafa Darban, IRNA’s Baghdad bureau chief, and as many as three Iraqi staff members on Monday, according to international news reports. The circumstances of the reported detentions remain unclear.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) strongly protests the Iraqi interim government’s closure of the Iraq offices of the Qatar-based satellite news channel Al-Jazeera. On August 7, the interim government barred Al-Jazeera from working in Iraq for 30 days, accusing the station of incitement to violence and hatred, according to news reports. Your Excellency announced the decision at a press conference, noting that an Iraqi media monitoring body had produced a report “on the issues of incitement and the problems Al-Jazeera has been causing.” You also said the ban was implemented to “protect the people of Iraq and the interests of Iraq.”
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply troubled by the Iraqi interim government’s formation of a media regulatory commission that reportedly will have the authority to restrict news coverage.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply troubled by the Iraqi interim government’s formation of a media regulatory commission that reportedly will have the authority to restrict news coverage.
New York, July 20, 2004—Iraq’s interim government has allowed a weekly newspaper closed by U.S. occupation authorities in March to resume publishing. Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi issued a decree on July 18 allowing for the reopening of Al-Hawza, a Baghdad weekly affiliated with radical Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr. A spokesman for al-Sadr said the…