New York, February 6, 2007—The Ethiopian government today reversed its decision last month to deny two journalists released from prison last year on pardon from launching new newspapers, according to local journalists. Three other journalists who were acquitted and set free last year remained blocked from launching their own publications.
Positive signs from Afghan officials, but Kambakhsh still faces death New York, February 6, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists cautiously welcomes signs today that the authorities in Afghanistan are responding to pressure to commute the death sentence young journalist Parwez Kambakhsh faces for alleged blasphemy. Afghanistan’s Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak told journalists in Estonia…
Hong Kong, February 5, 2008–The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned about today’s nearly simultaneous sentencing of Chinese journalist Lü Gengsong and the unexpected release on parole of veteran Hong Kong reporter Ching Cheong. “While CPJ welcomes Ching Cheong’s release after nearly three years behind bars, the goodwill was dissipated by Lü Gengsong’s prison…
New York, February 5, 2008—Authorities in the Ivorian economic capital of Abidjan indefinitely suspended the FM broadcasts of France-based Radio France Internationale (RFI) on Friday. The reason given was the absence of a permanent correspondent in country, according to news reports and local sources. In a telephone interview with CPJ, Frank Kouassi, the…
New York, February 4, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the recent release from prison of Tran Khai Thanh Thuy, an award-winning writer and journalist. Thuy, 47, had an unexpected trial before the Hanoi’s People’s Court on Thursday. She was sentenced to nine months and 10 days on charges of “causing public disorder” under Article…
New York, February 4, 2008–China’s onerous restrictions on the media in the run up to the 2008 Olympic Games, the erosion of press freedom in many of Africa’s new democracies, the criminalization of journalism in central Asia, and the increasing use of vague “antistate” charges to jail journalists around the world are among the troubling…
New York, January 31, 2008—As part of its ongoing campaign to urge China to adopt reforms promised when the International Olympic Committee awarded the country the 2008 Olympics, CPJ today delivered more than 500 advocacy cards to the Chinese Consulate in New York urging the government to release 29 jailed journalists. The IOC granted China…
New York, January 30, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the criminal defamation lawsuit filed by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani on Tuesday against the editor-in-chief of the independent Kurdish weekly Hawlati for translating and publishing a report written by a U.S. scholar. Tariq Fatih, publisher of Hawlati, told CPJ the newspaper was served…
New York, January 29, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists urges Mexican authorities to fully investigate the alleged involvement of Alfredo Araujo Avila, a top hit man for the Arellano Félix drug cartel, in the shooting of editor J. Jesús Blancornelas a decade ago. Araujo was arrested Saturday in Tijuana by the Mexican military, according to…
New York, January 29, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Monday’s six-month prison sentence given by the Bangui Magistrates’ Court to the editorial director of a private weekly in the Central African Republic. The editor of Les Collines de l’Oubangui, Faustin Bambou, was found guilty of inciting revolt, abuse, and defamation.