Burmese government suspends newspaper
New York, January 23, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned that the Burmese government has suspended the weekly Myanmar Times for one week as a result of its publication of unauthorized news, according to international news reports. Burma’s Press Scrutiny Board ordered the temporary closure because of the newspaper’s January 11 Burmese-language edition, which…
CPJ testifies to Congress on Mideast press freedom concerns
Washington, January 22, 2008—In testimony today before the House Middle East and South Asia Subcommittee, the Committee to Protect Journalists raised concern about mounting press freedom abuses in U.S. ally nations in the Middle East and urged the U.S. government to prioritize press freedoms in its bilateral relations.
Gambia blocks RFI broadcasts
New York, January 22, 2008–Gambian authorities have shut down Radio France Internationale (RFI) broadcasts in Banjul, local journalists and the Gambian Press Union told CPJ. The RFI relay transmitter was blocked by Gambian authorities after the Paris-based station reported that three suspected murderers of four French tourists in Mauritania had fled south through The Gambia…
Journalist tried on ‘subversion’ charges
New York, January 22, 2008–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the one-day closed-door trial of imprisoned journalist Lü Gengsong that took place today in Hangzhou, southeast China, and calls on the Chinese government to release him and all journalists held under vague “national security” laws before the 2008 Olympics.
CPJ decries government pressure on Pakistani television station
New York, January 22, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned that the government of President Pervez Musharraf unfairly pressured GEO TV, Pakistan’s largest and most popular independent broadcaster, to modify its editorial policies before the station was allowed to resume domestic cable distribution on Monday. The station has been off domestic cable since November…
Launch of Thai public broadcaster draws concern
Launch of Thai public broadcaster draws concern New York, January 22, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the establishment of the Thai Public Broadcasting Corporation (TPBS), but it is concerned that the military-appointed government closed Thailand’s only independent television station ahead of the move.
Tunisian court affirms journalist’s prison sentence
New York, January 18, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a Tunisian appeals court’s ruling on Friday that upholds a one-year prison sentence against a journalist who had written articles critical of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and the first family. A court of appeal in Sfax, Tunisia’s second-largest city, confirmed a lower court’s…
Editor jailed over Muhammad cartoons
New York, January 18, 2008—Minsk City Court in Belarus today imprisoned Aleksandr Sdvizhkov, an editor at the now-shuttered independent weekly Zgoda (Consensus) newspaper, for reprinting controversial Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in 2006. Sdvizhkov was charged with “incitement of religious hatred” and sentenced to three years in a high-security prison. Sdvizhkov was arrested on…
Chadian police take radio station off the air
New York, January 17, 2008—Police in the Chadian capital, N’djamena, forced a radio station launched by local human rights activists off the air on Wednesday and detained its director on allegations of defamation over the broadcast of a press release by a consumer advocacy group, according to local journalists and news reports. The studios of…
Deported journalist declared threat to state security
New York, January 17, 2008—Russian authorities say they were ensuring the “security of the state” when they barred a reporter from re-entering the country last month. Natalya Morar, a Moldovan citizen who works for the Moscow-based independent newsweekly The New Times, said the Russian Embassy in Moldova informed her today of the official reason for…