Ethiopia: New York, March 6, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the recent arrest and two-week imprisonment of three journalists from Muslim-oriented newspapers on criminal defamation charges in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Editor Ezedin Mohamed and Publisher Maria Kadim of Al Kidus and Editor Ibrahim Mohamed of Selefia were arrestedon February 16 and held for nearly…
New York, March 6, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned about the fate of three reporters for Azadi, an Urdu-language daily in the unstable southwestern province of Baluchistan. Two have gone missing in the past several days, while the third disappeared on November 30. Reporter Hameed Baloch disappeared on Monday from the town of…
New York, March 5, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the decision on Tuesday by an Algerian court of appeals to uphold two-month jail terms for two journalists at the Algiers-based independent daily El Watan. The appeal court in Jijel, nearly 224 miles (360 kilometers) east of Algiers, upheld the convictions of Omar Belhouchet, editor…
PAKISTAN: New York, March 4, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists extends its condolences to the family and colleagues of Siraj Uddin, a correspondent for the daily Nation, who died in the February 29 suicide bombing in Mingora, Pakistan. The bombing, which took the lives of more than 40 people, took place at the funeral of…
New York, March 3, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by the one-year jail sentence handed down in absentia to an Iranian-American journalist working for U.S.-backed Radio Farda by a Revolutionary Court on Saturday. Tehran’s 13th Revolutionary Court convicted Parnaz Azima of disseminating propaganda against the Islamic Republic by working for Radio Farda,…
New York, March 3, 2008—Government soldiers raided three radio stations in Somalia on Sunday and detained the director of one of the stations, according to journalists who witnessed the events. The raids occurred after heavy fighting and looting over the weekend in the central area of the capital, Mogadishu. Journalists from Horn Afrik, Radio Shabelle,…
Restrictions imposed as president declares emergency New York, March 3, 2008—Armenian authorities should immediately lift restrictions on independent news reporting and the censorship of independent news Web sites, steps imposed when President Robert Kocharian declared a state of emergency on Saturday, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Kocharian declared a 20-day state of emergency…
New York, February 29, 2008—CPJ condemns the arbitrary arrest of two popular online editors without charge. The two were detained and interrogated for 24 hours in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, on February 18, in what observers of the case say was a politically motivated attempt to shutter the site. The two young editors, Maxence Mello…
New York, February 28, 2008—The Cuban government should release 22 imprisoned independent journalists in keeping with an international accord protecting free expression that was signed today by Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque, the Committee to Protect Journalists said. Pérez Roque signed the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which provides “the right to freedom…
New York, February 28, 2008—Police in the capital, Yaoundé, today forced a popular radio station off the air and confiscated its equipment over commentary critical of the government during a call-in program, according to local journalists. Magic FM is the third broadcaster summarily closed by authorities within a week in response to critical coverage of…