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.
Arson attack follows anonymous threat against Cambodian journalist
NEW YORK, August 15, 2007— The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the Cambodian government to launch an independent investigation into the recent arson attack on the home of Phan Phat, a journalist with the local Khmer language newspaper Chbas Kar. According to local press freedom groups and news reports, Phat’s wooden house was set…
Mexican journalist recounts abuse during army detention
New York, August 14, 2007—Mexican crime reporter Sinhué Samaniego Osoria spoke to the Committee to Protect Journalists today and detailed the abuse that he and three other Mexican reporters suffered during their arrest by Mexican soldiers last week in the northern state of Coahuila. CPJ called on Mexican authorities to investigate the conduct of the…
Two Guinean newspaper directors handed suspended prison terms
New York, August 14, 2007—A court in the Guinean capital of Conakry handed down suspended prison sentences on Monday to two private newspaper directors in connection with articles alleging corruption by a former government minister, according to local journalists. Thiernodjo Diallo of La Vérité and Abdoul Azziz Camara of Libération were each sentenced to six-month…
In China, reporter jailed for allegedly fabricating news
New York, August 14, 2007 – The Committee to Protect Journalists is disappointed by the severe criminal penalties handed down by a Chinese court in the case of Zi Beijia, a Beijing TV reporter accused of fabricating a story about contaminated buns. On August 12, the Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court found Zi guilty…
Leading Indian newsweekly attacked by hardliners
New York, August 14, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the attack today on the Mumbai office of the Indian weekly Outlook by a group of men who identified themselves as members of the Shiv Sena, a Hindu nationalist party. The assailants were apparently angered by the political journal’s depiction of their founder, Bal Thackeray,…
Committee will oversee Haitian investigations of journalist murders
New York, August 13, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the creation of an independent committee of Haitian journalists that will review the progress of official investigations into the unsolved murders of journalists in Haiti from 2000 to 2007. Haitian President René Préval announced Friday the creation of the committee, which will be composed of…
In Somalia, two prominent journalists assassinated hours apart
New York, August 13, 2007—Somalia’s U.S. and Ethiopian-backed government arrested two suspects on Sunday in the separate attacks that killed prominent journalists Ali Sharmarke and Mahad Ahmed Elmi of leading independent broadcaster HornAfrik Media in the war-torn capital of Mogadishu. Both were killed on Saturday.
Journalists detained by Mexican army are released
New York, August 10, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release this afternoon of four Mexican journalists who had been detained on Tuesday night by the army while covering a drug raid. Charges of possession of a firearm and marijuana are still pending against them. The reporters told their lawyer that the weapon and…
In DRC, photojournalist assassinated
New York, August 10, 2007— A respected freelance photojournalist in eastern DRC was gunned down on Thursday evening as he returned home from covering a local conference on environmental protection, local journalists told CPJ. CPJ is investigating whether Patrick Kikuku Wilungula—the second journalist killed in Congo’s volatile east this year after Serge Maheshe—was murdered for…