New York, April 19, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by a Moroccan appeals court decision to uphold record damages against the independent magazine Le Journal Hebdomadaire in a defamation suit brought by a Belgian think tank. The magazine, which said it was prevented from mounting a proper defense, now faces bankruptcy. The weekly,…
New York, April 18, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the destruction of the studios of a private Bethlehem television station critical of the Palestinian Authority. Masked gunmen believed to be from the Fatah faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization stormed the offices of Al-Roa television on the night of March 23 and…
New York, April 17, 2006—Journalist Ilyas Aktas died on April 14 in an Ankara hospital two weeks after he was shot in the head during protests in the predominantly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir, in southeast Turkey, local and international media reported. The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply troubled by the shooting and is still…
New York, April 11, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes a Turkish court ruling today to drop charges against four prominent newspaper columnists but deplores the decision to continue with the trial of a fifth. All five writers were charged over comments they made about an Istanbul conference last September on the killing of Armenians…
New York, April 10, 2006—Reuters news agency said today that an inquiry it commissioned into the shooting of one of its journalists by U.S. troops in Iraq found that the killing was “unlawful” and a violation of U.S. military rules of engagement. The Committee to Protect Journalists expressed concern at the findings. Reuters said the…
New York, April 7, 2006—An Iraqi cameraman held for more than a year by U.S. forces in Iraq without due process was released on Thursday, CBS News has confirmed. Abdul Ameer Younis Hussein, who was working for CBS, was freed a day after an Iraqi criminal court, citing a lack of evidence, acquitted him of…
New York, April 7, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned about the ongoing detention of a Saudi journalist who has been held for five days in retaliation for his writings about religious extremism. Rabah al-Quwai’, who writes for the Saudi dailies Okaz and Shams and contributes to the Saudi-run Web sites Dar al-Nadwa…
New York, April 5, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists today renewed its call for Israel to properly investigate the killing of a British cameraman in the Gaza Strip after a London court found that his shooting by an Israeli officer was murder. James Miller, an award-winning filmmaker, was filming a documentary about Palestinian children caught…