In Iraq, driver for state-owned TV gunned down
New York, October 6, 2006-The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the murder of Jassem Hamad Ibrahim, a driver for the Iraqi state television channel Al-Iraqiya who was shot by unidentified gunmen in Mosul on Wednesday. The assailants ambushed Ibrahim at about 2 p.m. as he was running errands for the station, according to a source…
Tunisia, Egypt ban newspaper editions on controversy over pope’s comments
New York, September 27, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by Tunisian and Egyptian government decisions to ban recent issues of European newspapers addressing the controversy caused by remarks about Islam made by Pope Benedict XVI. “Banning newspapers is unacceptable, and it is no solution in furthering the cause of mutual understanding and…
Correspondent detained by Iraqi security forces
New York, September 20, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by the arrest and detention of a reporter in Tikrit today. Kalshan al-Bayati, 33, an Iraqi correspondent for the London-based, Arabic-language daily Al-Hayat, was arrested by Iraqi forces around noon when she went to collect her previously confiscated personal computer from local authorities,…
TV correspondent murdered in Ramadi
New York, September 18, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the murder today in Iraq of Ahmed Riyadh al-Karbouli, a correspondent for Baghdad TV. Six gunmen in two Opel cars shot the reporter/cameraman as he chatted with friends after midday prayers outside a mosque in the town of Ramadi, CPJ sources said. Al-Karbouli, 25, had…
AP photographer held by U.S. military for months without charge
New York, September 17, 2006 – The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by news that a Pulitzer Prize-winning freelance photojournalist working for The Associated Press in Iraq has been held by U.S. military forces for five months without charge. “U.S. authorities who have detained Bilal Hussein in Iraq must either charge him or release…
Appeals court upholds jail sentence of Kurdish journalist
New York, September 15, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the ruling of an Iranian appeals court upholding a one-year prison sentence against Kurdish journalist and human rights activist Mohammad Sadiq Kabudvand. The court of appeals in the northwestern province of Kurdistan ordered him to serve the suspended jail term, the semiofficial Iranian…
Authorities intensify newspaper censorship and seizures
New York, September 14, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by increasing censorship of opposition and independent newspapers in Sudan. The press climate in the country has deteriorated in recent months against a backdrop of continuing ethnic killings in the western region of Darfur, and growing political unrest and protests over price rises.