Alerts
2006
In Niger, two journalists sentenced to 18 months in jail
New York, September 5, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by 18-month prison sentences and heavy fines handed down against the director and editor of the Niger private weekly Le Républicain on charges of defaming the government and publishing false news. A court in the capital, Niamey, found Director Maman Abou and Editor Oumarou…
U.S. blogger freed after 30 days in jail; case still looms
New York, September 1, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is gratified that a federal appeals court in San Francisco has agreed to release a video blogger on bail while the journalist’s appeal is pending. Joshua Wolf spent 30 days in prison after refusing to turn over to a federal grand jury a videotape of a…
Three Iraqi journalists face trial on defamation charges
New York, September 1, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is gravely concerned about the ongoing criminal prosecution of three Iraqi journalists whose trial on defamation charges resumes in Baghdad on Sunday. Editor-in-Chief Ayad Mahmoud al-Tamimi and Managing Editor Ahmed Mutair Abbas of the now-defunct Iraqi daily Sada Wasit, a local newspaper in the southern city…
Police holding three suspects in journalist’s murder
New York, September 1, 2006—Police in the Democratic Republic of Congo are holding a former soldier and two civilians in connection with the July 8 murder of freelance journalist Bapuwa Mwamba, according to the local press freedom group Journaliste en Danger and Agence France-Presse. Kinshasa regional police chief Gen. Patrick Sabiti told journalists Thursday that…
CPJ condemns jailing of a third journalist
New York, September 1, 2006—A reporter for the private newspaper l’Enquêteur has been jailed since August 28, making him the third journalist imprisoned in Niger in recent weeks, according to local sources. Salif Dago was tried Thursday on charges of publishing false information and sent back to jail, the newspaper’s director Idrissa Soumana Maïga told…
In China, Hong Kong journalist sentenced to five years in prison
New York, August 31, 2006—A court in Beijing today sentenced Hong Kong journalist Ching Cheong, China correspondent for The Straits Times, to five years in prison on charges of spying for Taiwan. The Committee to Protect Journalists noted that authorities have not presented evidence that Ching committed any crime, and that his jailing appears to…
China: Apple subcontractor reduces libel damages claim
New York, August 31, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the decision today of an Apple Computer subcontractor in China to reduced its demand for punitive libel damages against two journalists who investigated alleged labor abuses. The company, which makes iPods in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, also asked a local court to unfreeze…
Indonesian journalist tried on religious defamation charges
New York, August 31, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the criminal defamation trial of Indonesian journalist Teguh Santosa, who faces charges of defaming Islam by posting online controversial cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. State prosecutors outlined the criminal charges, which under Indonesia’s penal code carry a possible five years in prison, at the trial’s…
China: CPJ troubled by libel case against journalists reporting on Apple supplier
New York, August 30, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the filing of a defamation suit and the freezing of the assets of two journalists who investigated alleged labor abuses by a maker of Apple iPods in China. A subsidiary of Foxconn Technology Co. Ltd of Taiwan is suing reporter Wang You and…
BBC reporter’s brother killed in Pakistani tribal area
New York, August 30, 2006—The teenage brother of a BBC correspondent was found murdered today in South Waziristan, a violent and lawless tribal region along Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan. Taimor Khan, 16, brother of Dilawar Wazir, an Urdu language reporter for the BBC, was abducted in the town of Wana on his way home from…