New York, July 29, 2008–The Hamas-led government in Gaza should immediately halt a wave of censorship and harassment of Palestinian media outlets and journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. CPJ also called on the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority to end its longstanding obstruction of certain media outlets in the West Bank On Tuesday, for…
New York, July 29, 2008–The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by reports that Afghan television reporter Mohammad Nasir Fayyaz was detained one day after his television station aired a documentary that was critical of some cabinet members and their ministries. The program was cut short while being broadcast, apparently at the demand of the…
New York, July 29, 2008–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the International Olympic Committee to investigate reports that Internet connections within the Games’ Main Press Center, at the heart of the Olympics facilities in Beijing, have been censored and access to some Web sites has been restricted. Reuters and other news agencies reported that…
New York, July 28, 2008–Armed and hooded men threatened three Brazilian photographers covering a weekend visit by Sen. Marcelo Crivella, a Rio de Janeiro mayoral candidate, to a poor city neighborhood. The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Brazilian authorities to ensure that journalists covering sensitive issues such as drug trafficking and organized crime…
New York, July 28, 2008–A Panamanian judge barred sports columnist Bienvenido Brown from leaving the country and ordered him to stand trial on criminal defamation charges filed in 2005. Eleventh Criminal Court Judge Josefina Sclopis issued the ruling on Friday against Brown, a columnist with the daily La Estrella de Panamá, the newspaper reported. The…
New York, July 28, 2008–The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by the July 26 arrest of a Palestinian cameraman in Gaza by Hamas security services. Hamas security agents arrested Sawah Abu Seif, a cameraman with German broadcaster ARD TV in his home in Tel al-Hawa in southwest Gaza following an explosion that Hamas blamed…
New York, July 28, 2008–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the decision by the Lesotho Communications Authority last week to suspend private radio broadcaster Harvest FM for three months. The decision to suspend the award-winning station on July 21 follows defamation complaints lodged separately by the principal secretary in the Ministry of Communications and the…
New York, July 28, 2008–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Friday’s vicious attack on Zurab Tsechoyev, editor of Mashr, a human rights Web site based in the volatile North Caucasus republic of Ingushetia. At least 50 armed, masked men in camouflage gear raided Tsechoyev’s home, shoved him into an armored personnel carrier, drove him to…
New York, July 24, 2008–Unidentified individuals set fire to the home of critical journalist Jeso Carneiro on Sunday night in the northern city of Santarém. No one was injured but the house suffered considerable damage. The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Brazilian authorities to investigate the attack and provide the necessary protection to allow…
New York, July 23, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists strongly condemns the recentarrest and criminal defamation charges filed by the Malaysian government against prominent blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin, editor and founder of the Malaysia Today news Web site. Raja Petra was arrested and charged on July 17 at police headquarters in Kuala Lumpur and later…