New York, August 25, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned about the safety of three journalists and their driver who were abducted by an unknown armed group two days ago. Somali photojournalist Abdifatah Mohamed Elmi and two foreign freelance journalists, Canadian Amanda Lindhout and Australian Nigel Brennan, along with a driver identified only…
New York, January 7, 2008—Police arrested freelance journalist Idle Moallim on Sunday in the northeastern city of Bossasso in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland, local journalists told CPJ. Police arrested Moallim for “misreporting” a story on human trafficking in Bossasso and are holding him at Bossasso central prison, according to local journalists. Moallim is a…
New York, August 25, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the Colombo high court’s indictment of journalist J.S. Tissainayagam today on terrorism charges for articles he published in 2006. Sri Lanka’s Terrorist Investigation Division arrested Tissainayagam, the editor of news Web site OutreachSL, and five of his colleagues within a few days in March 2008.…
New York, August 25, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns restrictions on the media by security forces trying to quell unrest in the northern Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. Central Reserve Police Forces beat at least 10 journalists for reporting on Sunday during a strict curfew imposed indefinitely on major towns in the Kashmir…
New York, August 25, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomed Saturday’s release of an Associated Press Television News cameraman who had been held by U.S. forces in Iraq for nearly three months without charge, but it expressed alarm over the U.S. military’s continuing practice of detaining journalists without charge in Iraq. Ahmed Nouri Raziak,…
New York, August 22, 2008–Colombian President Álvaro Uribe Vélez called for a criminal investigation of Daniel Coronell on Thursday, alleging that the journalist broke the law by not immediately disclosing a videotaped interview that allegedly links the administration to a bribery scandal. The Committee to Protect Journalists urged Colombian authorities today to dismiss Uribe’s request.
Chalee was killed by a car bomb that apparently targeted people arriving at the scene of a blast that occurred minutes earlier in the town of Sungai Kolok on the Malaysian border, according to local and international news reports. At least 30 people were injured in the second explosion, which occurred 20 minutes after a…
Hong Kong, August 22, 2008—Chinese police should halt ongoing harassment of photographers seeking to document pro-Tibet protests in Beijing, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today in the wake of reports that two video bloggers have been detained and two Associated Press journalists obstructed. Video bloggers Brian Conley and Jeff Rae were detained early Tuesday…
Iraq: New York, August 21, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release of a Reuters cameraman held by U.S. forces in Iraq for three weeks without charge, and it calls on the military to charge or release an Associated Press journalist who has been held since June. Ali al-Mashhadani, 39, was freed today, Reuters…
New York, August 20, 2008—Authorities in Niger summarily suspended a private broadcaster for a month citing unspecified regulatory violations, according to local journalists and news reports. The station has provided sympathetic coverage of the country’s former prime minister, now jailed on corruption charges, according to several sources. In a ruling obtained by CPJ, the state-run…