2011

New York, July 21, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns sweeping arrests and attacks on journalists, as well as censorship by the administration of Malawi President Bingu Wa Muthiraka against media outlets reporting on nationwide antigovernment protests that erupted on Wednesday.

New York, July 21, 2011--An editor and three executives from the Ecuadoran news daily El Universo were sentenced to three years in prison and $40 million in fines on Wednesday for defaming President Rafael Correa, according to local news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the sentence today and called on Ecuadoran authorities to bring the country's press law into compliance with international standards on freedom of expression. 

New York, July 20, 2011--Zambian law enforcement and judiciary officials must ensure that justice is fully served in Monday's attack against three television journalists and their driver, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Two officials of the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) have been arrested in connection with the attack.

New York, July 20, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is dismayed to learn that veteran Iranian journalist Mashallah Shamsolvaezin has been summoned to serve a 16-month prison term that was unjustly levied in 2010.

Shamsolvaezin is a journalist, political analyst, deputy chairman of the now-defunct Iranian Journalists Association, and spokesman for the Committee for the Defense of Freedom of the Press. In December 2010, he was sentenced to 16 months in prison on charges of "insulting the president" and "weakening the Islamic Republic regime."

New York, July 19, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by intimidation of the private Zodiak Broadcasting Station (ZBS) on Sunday and Monday by masked assailants as protests were planned for Wednesday in the capital.

New York, July 19, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Bahrain to end harassment and contrived legal proceedings against critical journalists. Since February, critical journalists have been intimidated, interrogated, smeared in government-owned and -aligned publications, and harassed and sued by government supporters. 

New York, July 19, 2011--Reports that the Beijing-based China Economic Times has closed its investigative news unit are a concerning sign that pressure is mounting on hard-hitting media outlets in China, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. 

New York, July 18, 2011--Journalist Nery Geremías Orellana was shot and killed Thursday in the western state of Lempira, near Honduras' border with El Salvador, according to local news reports. Orellana was the manager of the local radio station Radio Joconguera and a correspondent for Christian-oriented station Radio Progreso. He was also an active member of the National Front of Popular Resistance (FNRP), an organization that formed in opposition to the 2009 coup d'état in Honduras, the group said. 

New York, July 18, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists called on the government of Jordan to do more to prevent attacks on journalists who cover demonstrations and other forms of civil unrest. On Friday, security forces beat 16 journalists in identifying orange vests during a demonstration and planned sit-in that rapidly devolved into clashes between security personnel and government supporters with demonstrators.

New York, July 14, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the sentencing of Peruvian television journalist Hans Francisco Andrade Chávez to two years in prison on criminal defamation charges stemming from a March 2 report concerning a local government official.