New York, May 9, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by continuing attacks on Agil Khalil, a reporter with the Azerbaijani opposition daily Azadlyg (Freedom). On Wednesday afternoon, at least two unidentified men tried to push Khalil onto the tracks of a Baku subway. Later that same day, two young men tried to kidnap…
New York, May 8, 2008—Zimbabwean police arrested a top newspaper editor today and released a photographer jailed since Monday, according to local journalists and news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists remains concerned about the well-being of a leading media lawyer following reports of his hospitalization after his arrest on Wednesday. Davison Maruziva, deputy editor…
New York, May 7, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists is greatly concerned by allegations that federal police agents assaulted three reporters working in Culiacán, the capital of the northern Mexican state of Sinaloa. At approximately 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, three reporters working for the newspaper El Debate went to report on a roadside checkpoint being…
New York, May 7, 2008—Moroccan authorities should immediately reverse this week’s decision to prevent Al-Jazeera from broadcasting its evening roundup of regional news and views from Rabat, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On Tuesday, the Moroccan National Agency for Telecom Technical Regulation notified Al-Jazeera that the frequency it had used for the Rabat-based…
New York, May 7, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by reports that a leading Zimbabwean lawyer working in defense of journalists was arrested today in the capital, Harare. Harrison Nkomo remained in police custody late today after his arrest this afternoon for allegedly “undermining the authority or insulting the president,” according to his…
Call for government to allow foreign journalists to cover disaster New York, May 7, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the government of Burma to allow journalists to travel to the country to report on the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis. CPJ is gravely concerned by reports that the country’s military government has refused…
Blogger held on sedition charges New York, May 7, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls for sedition charges to be dropped against Malaysian blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin, who was jailed Tuesday. He is being held in connection with a story alleging that Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife were involved in the October…
Arbil, Iraq, May 5, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists urged KRG President Masoud Barzani on Sunday to publicly investigate a spate of violent attacks against the press, end official interference and harassment of journalists, and support press legislation that conforms to international standards of free expression. A CPJ delegation met with Barzani at his headquarters…
Editor’s note: The original text of this alert was modified to correct Ibrahim Al-Saraj’s professional affiliation. New York, May 5, 2008–Unidentified gunmen shot and killed an Iraqi journalist in Mosul on Sunday after she resisted their attempt to kidnap her. The journalist, Sarwa Abdul-Wahab, and her mother were walking back from a nearby market to…
New York, May 5, 2008—Police in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, have detained a journalist and three support staffers of a private entertainment magazine since May 2. Local journalists say the detentions are related to a cover story about the high-profile trial of Ethiopia’s most popular pop singer, Tewodros Kassahun. Deputy Editor and owner Alemayehu…