Philippine court bids to gag massacre trial scrutiny
Bangkok, May 12, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists is gravely concerned by an appeals court resolution in the Philippines that threatens to curb outside scrutiny of legal proceedings against suspects in the 2009 Maguindanao massacre, in which 32 journalists and media practitioners were systematically shot and murdered.
Italian prosecutor files defamation lawsuit, shutters blog
New York, May 11, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Florence and Perugia authorities to drop the trumped-up defamation lawsuit against Perugia Shock, an English-language blog created and maintained by Frank Sfarzo, an Italian freelance journalist and blogger. Sfarzo has endured sustained harassment in retaliation for his reporting and commentary on the official investigation into the…
Syria holds at least five journalists in custody
New York, May 10, 2011–Syria is holding at least five local and foreign journalists as part of its ongoing repression of the media, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. CPJ also called on the Syrian government to make public the names of all journalists currently in detention and to release them without delay.
A week after Pakistan justice pledge, journalist murdered
New York, May 10, 2011–The death of a journalist apparently targeted by militants in Pakistan today highlights the country’s entrenched climate of impunity for anti-press attacks, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari told a CPJ delegation on World Press Freedom Day that he would pursue justice for journalists killed on…
More than a dozen journalists assaulted in Tunisia
New York, May 9, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists called on the Tunisian authorities today to restrain from attacking journalists reporting on anti-government demonstrations after plainclothes police physically assaulted 15 local and international journalists on Friday.
Two sentenced in Baburova murder in Russia
New York, May 6, 2011–The conviction and sentencing of two defendants in the 2009 double murder of freelance journalist Anastasiya Baburova and human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov is a landmark victory in the fight against impunity in press killings in Russia, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Moscow City Court Judge Aleksandr Zamashnyuk gave defendant…
Journalist pardoned in Transdniester region
New York, May 6, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release of independent journalist Ernest Vardanian, at left, who was unconditionally pardoned by the president of the unrecognized separatist Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR). Vardanian had served more than a year of jail time since the PMR arrested him on treason charges in April 2010; he was…
Ethiopia censors UNESCO World Press Freedom Day event
New York, May 5, 2011–Officials in Ethiopia hijacked a local UNESCO-sponsored World Press Freedom Day event, installing government-backed journalists as speakers and nixing independent journalists slated to speak. There was no discussion, as originally planned, of this year’s global theme on new media and the Internet at the Tuesday forum, according to local sources and…
Critical radio host shot to death in Peru
New York, May 5, 2011–A Peruvian provincial radio host known for his harsh criticism of local authorities was shot to death on Tuesday in the northern city of Virú, the local press reported. The Committee to Protect Journalists urged authorities to investigate the murder, establish whether the motive was related to his work, and bring…