Canadian journalist wounded by roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan
New York, August 23, 2007—A Canadian journalist traveling with a military convoy in southern Afghanistan was injured Wednesday when the armored vehicle in which he was riding hit a roadside bomb in Kandahar province, a Taliban stronghold. Two Canadian soldiers and an Afghan interpreter were killed by the explosion. Radio-Canada cameraman Charles Dubois sustained a…
CPJ concerned by restrictions on media coverage of Bangladesh crisis
New York, August 23, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists is dismayed by reports of the assault, detention, and harassment of local journalists by security forces attempting to enforce the indefinite curfew imposed yesterday on the capital, Dhaka, and five other cities in response to growing unrest across the country. CPJ is also deeply concerned about…
Kuwaiti editors arrested after alleged insult is posted on Web forum
New York, August 22, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by the arrest of two Kuwaiti journalists by the state security services in Kuwait City on Saturday. State security officers arrested Bashar al-Sayegh, an editor for the daily newspaper Al-Jarida, by order of the general prosecutor’s office, said Hussein al-Abdallah, the journalist’s attorney.…
Cuban journalist released after 15 months in prison
New York, August 21, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes Monday’s release of independent Cuban journalist Armando Betancourt Reina, who had been imprisoned at the Cerámica Roja Prison in the central city of Camagüey since May 2006. Betancourt Reina, a reporter for the independent news agency Nueva Prensa Cubana, left prison Monday morning, reported the…
In Ethiopia, four journalists released from prison
New York, August 20, 2007—Four imprisoned Ethiopian journalists of now-defunct Amharic-language weeklies were released on conditional pardon on Saturday along with 27 opposition activists, according to news reports and local journalists. The four journalists had been given heavy prison sentences earlier this month in connection with their coverage of deadly post-election unrest in 2005.
Opposition activist released from forced psychiatric hospitalization
New York, August 20, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes today’s release of opposition activist Larisa Arap, who was forcibly held in a Russian psychiatric hospital. Arap’s detention on July 5 came soon after the publication of her interview on the treatment of patients at the Murmansk regional psychiatric hospital in northern city of Apatity—the…
In Kenya, journalists protest media bill compelling disclosure of sources
New York, August 16, 2007—Hundreds of journalists marched silently Wednesday in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi with their mouths gagged to protest a bill that would restrict press freedom. The law, which would force editors to name their sources if a story led to a court cases, was sent to President Mwai Kibaki last week for review.
In DRC, police disrupt photojournalists’ march honoring slain colleague
New York, August 16, 2007—A peaceful march today led by photojournalists in DRC’s capital, Kinshasa, to demand justice for last week’s assassination of freelance photojournalist Patrick Kikuku Wilungula was interrupted and dispersed by police, according to press freedom group Journaliste en Danger and local journalists.
In Kenya, journalists protest media bill compelling disclosure of sources
New York, August 16, 2007—Hundreds of journalists marched silently Wednesday in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi with their mouths gagged to protest a bill that would restrict press freedom. The law, which would force editors to name their sources if a story led to a court cases, was sent to President Mwai Kibaki last week for review.
Casablanca court hands down prison sentences against two journalists
New York, August 15, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the prison sentences handed down today against two Moroccan journalists who published a secret government document about terrorist threats against Morocco. Abderrahim Ariri, publisher of the Moroccan weekly Al-Watan Al An, and Mustafa Hormatallah, a journalist for the paper, were convicted by a criminal court…