Alerts
2005
Federal investigators take over probe
New York, April 18, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists mourns the loss of Mexican crime reporter Dolores Guadalupe García Escamilla, who died Saturday from injuries she suffered in an April 5 shooting in front of her radio station in the border city of Nuevo Laredo. García Escamilla had been hospitalized in critical condition since she…
Journalist held on charges of “anti-constitutional activity”
New York, April 18, 2005—An Uzbek reporter for the state-run weekly newspaper Hurriyat (Liberty) has been criminally charged with “undermining the constitutional order” and faces up to 20 years in prison, according to local and international press reports. Sobirdjon Yakubov, 22, a Muslim, was detained in the capital, Tashkent, on April 11 on suspicions of…
Two Iraqi journalists killed in Baghdad bombings
New York, April 15, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists mourns the deaths of two Al-Hurriya television journalists who were killed in suicide bombings while on their way to an assignment in Baghdad yesterday morning. The station’s Baghdad director, Nawrooz Mohamed, told CPJ today that producer Fadhil Hazem Fadhil and cameraman Ali Ibrahim Issa were killed…
British journalists acquitted, deported
New York, April 15, 2005—Two British journalists detained in Zimbabwe during parliamentary elections left the country today after being acquitted of the criminal charge of reporting without accreditation from the government-controlled Media and Information Commission. Toby Harnden, chief foreign correspondent for the London-based Sunday Telegraph, and photographer Julian Simmonds boarded a plane today and safely…
Army to take no action against officer in journalist’s death
New York, April 14, 2005—The Israel Defense Forces said today that it would not take disciplinary action against an officer thought responsible for the May 2003 shooting death of British freelance cameraman and film director James Miller in the Gaza Strip. The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply disturbed by the decision, which comes one…
PRESS STATEMENT
string of unsolved arson attacks, a series of unchecked threats, and the passage of restrictive new laws have created deep mistrust between the Gambia’s government and its small independent press. Suspicions have been compounded by the December 2004 murder of veteran journalist Deyda Hydara and the government’s failure to bring the perpetrators to justice. Over…
Murder, arson, repression thwart Gambian press
Banjul, Gambia, April 12, 2005—A string of unsolved arson attacks, a series of unchecked threats, and the passage of restrictive new laws have created deep mistrust between the Gambia’s government and its small independent press. Suspicions have been compounded by the December 2004 murder of veteran journalist Deyda Hydara and the government’s failure to bring…
Journalist forbidden to report for 10 years
New York, April 12, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a Moroccan court’s decision today banning independent journalist and former newspaper owner Ali Lmrabet from practicing journalism for 10 years. The sentence comes just 10 days before Lmrabet was expected to receive a license to publish a new satirical weekly, Demain Libere. Lmrabet, who is…
King urged to release journalists, lift crackdown
Kathmandu, Nepal, April 12, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on the government of Nepal to end the harassment and imprisonment of journalists and to repeal restrictions imposed on private media in the wake of King Gyanendra’s February 1 emergency proclamation. During a press conference in Kathmandu at the end of a weeklong fact-finding…
Radio broadcaster shot; suspects arrested in columnist’s murder
New York, April 12, 2005 Police are searching for two suspects responsible for the attempted murder of radio broadcaster Alberto Martinez, who was shot in the back while on his way home on the southern island of Mindanao. Police Inspector Alberto Jungaya told local reporters today that unidentified gunmen shot Martinez last Sunday night…