New York, March 20, 2009–Ivorian authorities on Thursday abruptly jailed a journalist who was scheduled to appear in court next week on libel charges related to a column critical of the government, according to local journalists and press reports. The imprisonment appeared to violate the 2004 Ivorian press law, which decriminalized press offenses and banned pretrial…
New York, March 19, 2009–Diplomats in China, North Korea, and the United States should cooperate to ensure the safe release of two journalists and a guide reportedly detained by North Korea while working near the country’s border with China, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
New York, March 18, 2009–A Burundian online journalist jailed since last September was acquitted today, according to local journalists. In a separate case on Tuesday, however, authorities detained two journalists covering the activities of a former CPJ Press Freedom Award winner, according to the same sources.
New York, March 16, 2009–The court of appeals in Iraqi Kurdistan should overturn yesterday’s decision to fine an independent newspaper and its former editor-in-chief for defaming Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The defamatory article was a translation of one written in 2008 by a U.S. scholar.
New York, March 13, 2009–Amid widespread civil demonstrations and a growing political crisis, Pakistan’s largest independent news broadcaster, Geo TV, was removed today from cable carriers in five major cities, Managing News Editor Azhar Abbas told CPJ.
New York, March 11, 2009–After the deadly attack on freelance journalist Jawed Ahmad in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar on Tuesday, the Committee to Protect Journalists called today for an aggressive investigation into the murder in order to put an end to a pattern of impunity that marked past journalist murders.