In Yemen, four journalists face prison
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists wishes to express its grave concern about the criminal prosecution of four Yemeni journalists facing lengthy prison terms if convicted under Yemen’s press law for publishing controversial cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. Their newspapers have all been ordered closed.
Algerian editors face prosecution
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists wishes to express its grave concern about the arrest of two Algerian editors and the closure of their weeklies for publishing controversial cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad on February 2. Kamel Bousaad, editor of pro-Islamist weekly Errissala, was arrested on February 8 and Berkane Bouderbala, managing editor of the weekly Essafir, was arrested on February 11, according to news reports.
Moroccan court awards record damages against independent weekly
New York, February 17, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by the record damages awarded by a Moroccan court against the independent weekly Le Journal Hebdomadaire in a defamation suit brought by a Belgian think tank. The magazine, which has been harassed by the government since its founding in the late 1990s, said…
2005 prison census: 125 journalists jailed
AFGHANISTAN: 1 Ali Mohaqqiq Nasab, Haqooq-i-Zan (Women’s Rights) Imprisoned: October 1, 2005 The attorney general ordered editor Nasab’s arrest on blasphemy charges after the religious adviser to President Hamid Karzai, Mohaiuddin Baluch, filed a complaint about his magazine. “I took the two magazines and spoke to the Supreme Court chief, who wrote to the attorney…
Attacks on the Press 2005: CPJ Releases Attacks on the Press in Four Cities
New York, February 14, 2006–Highlighting the global nature of its press freedom advocacy work, the Committee to Protect Journalists today released its annual press freedom survey Attacks on the Press in four cities: Bangkok, Cairo, London and Washington, D.C.
Attacks on the Press in 2005: Headlines
January 11: A killing in Colombia reinforces self-censorship — Gunmen kill radio news host Julio Hernando Palacios Sánchez as he drives to work in Cúcuta. Attacked from all sides, the Colombian press censors itself to an extraordinary degree, CPJ later reports. Probing journalists are killed, detained, or forced to flee. Verified news is suppressed, and…
Iran arrests seven journalists over satirical article
New York, February 16, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the arrest of seven Iranian journalists over a satirical article and is deeply concerned by an unconfirmed report that one of them has died in jail. Elham Afroutan and six other journalists of the weekly newspaper Tammadon-e Hormozgan were detained in the southern city of…
Attacks on the Press 2005: Countries That Have Jailed Journalists (Follow Links for More Details)
AFGHANISTAN: 1 Ali Mohaqqiq Nasab, Haqooq-i-Zan (Women’s Rights) Imprisoned: October 1, 2005 The attorney general ordered editor Nasab’s arrest on blasphemy charges after the religious adviser to President Hamid Karzai, Mohaiuddin Baluch, filed a complaint about his magazine. “I took the two magazines and spoke to the Supreme Court chief, who wrote to the attorney…