In Senegal, two journalists get suspended prison terms
New York, January 20, 2012–Two Senegalese journalists with the private daily Le Quotidien were handed suspended prison sentences this week in a criminal libel case over their coverage of an armed insurgency in a separatist province, according to news reports.
Chinese writer sentenced for ‘anti-government thoughts’
New York, January 20, 2012–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the harsh sentence given to Chinese writer and activist Li Tie, whose online writings calling for political reform were cited as evidence of “subversion of state authority.”
Sudan confiscates, shuts down newspapers again
New York, January 18, 2012–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Sudan’s routine use of newspaper closures as a means to censor critical reporting. Over two weeks, the authorities have shut down and confiscated the assets of two daily newspapers.
In Somaliland, crackdown on the press continues
New York, January 17, 2012–The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the deteriorating press conditions in the semi-autonomous republic of Somaliland after this weekend’s detention of 21 journalists protesting a police raid on a private broadcaster.
Further investigation necessary in Hrant Dink murder
New York, January 17, 2012–The conviction of several accomplices in the 2007 assassination of Hrant Dink, then-editor of the Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, fails to address the issue of who commissioned the slaying, thus perpetuating impunity in the case, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Gunmen kill Pakistani journalist who reported on Taliban
New York, January 17, 2012–Unidentified gunmen killed broadcast journalist Mukarram Khan Aatif in a mosque north of Peshawar today, according to news reports. Aatif was a correspondent for private TV station Dunya News and also worked for Deewa Radio, a Pashto-language channel of the U.S. government-funded broadcaster Voice of America, news reports said.
Vietnam releases journalist, nine others still jailed
Bangkok, January 17, 2012–The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release from prison of French-Vietnamese blogger Pham Minh Hoang and calls on Vietnam’s Communist Party-led government to remove the continuing restrictions on him and free the nine other journalists still behind bars.