Jailed Chinese journalist, freed on medical parole, dies
New York, January 13, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists mourns the death on December 31 of Zhang Jianhong, the founder of Aiqinghai (Aegean Sea), a popular website closed by the Chinese government in 2006, according to several human rights groups. Zhang had been sentenced to six years in prison by a court in Ningbo in…
Zimbabwe hikes media fees under draconian media law
New York, January 13, 2010–Zimbabwe’s power-sharing government should repeal the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), the Committee to Protect Journalists said today after a late 2010 amendment to the legislation hiked mandatory registration and accreditation fees for the press working in the country by as much as 400 percent.
Tunisia must end crackdown on media
New York, January 12, 2010–Tunisian authorities must end their weeks-long crackdown on bloggers and reporters covering street protests, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Scores of journalists have been detained in the past four weeks, three of whom remain in custody. Local and international reporters have faced continued harassment, including detention, restrictions on movement,…
More raids on journalists’ homes amid Belarus crackdown
New York, January 12, 2011–As part of an ongoing assault on the independent press in Belarus, KGB agents in Minsk raided the apartments of imprisoned journalist Irina Khalip and her mother, Lyutsina Khalip, and took the journalist’s computer, the independent news website Charter 97 reported. Today’s raids are the second at each apartment since the agency imprisoned the journalist on December…
CPJ concerned for safety of Pakistan’s Sherry Rehman
New York, January 12, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists is greatly concerned about public threats made against journalist and National Assembly member Sherry Rehman. The government has stepped up protection for Rehman after she supported a bill in the National Assembly that would amend Pakistan’s blasphemy law. The changes include the repeal of the law’s…
Post-election crackdown on the press continues in Belarus
New York, January 11, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the ongoing official crackdown against the independent media in Belarus. The Belarusian security service, known as the KGB, continues to relentlessly raid newsrooms, confiscate reporting equipment from publications and journalists’ homes, imprison independent and pro-opposition journalists, and harass their families.
Death of local reporter in Pakistan must be fully investigated
New York, January 11, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists joins with our colleagues in Pakistan in calling for a full investigation into the killing of Ilyas Nizzar, who was found dead in Pidarak, in the volatile Baluchistan province, in Pakistan’s southwest, on January 5. Nizzar, a general assignment reporter with the Baluch-language magazine Darwanth, had been…
Kurdish journalist given 138 years in prison in Turkey
New York, January 10, 2010–The Committee to Protect Journalists is outraged by the conviction and outlandish sentencing of Emine Demir, the former editorial manager of the Kurdish-language daily Azadiya Welat. Demir was given 138 years in prison in connection with dozens of articles in the paper. CPJ called today for Turkish authorities to overturn the sentence on appeal and end the…
CPJ opposes prison terms for 2 Rwandan journalists
New York, January 7, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists opposes prosecution demands for lengthy prison sentences for the editor and deputy editor of the independent weekly Umurabyo. State Prosecutor Agustin Nkusi requested a 33-year prison sentence for Editor Agnès Uwimana, at left, and 12 years for her deputy, Saidati Mukakibibi, at a High Court hearing on Thursday in…
Ecuadoran radio denied license renewal on bogus charges
New York, January 5, 2011–An Ecuadoran provincial radio station known for its criticism of local authorities was denied its license renewal based on bogus administrative violations, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Ecuadoran regulators must allow the station to report the news freely, CPJ said.