As world press event approaches, Russian agency evicts journalist union
New York, May 16, 2007—A federal property agency is evicting the Russian Union of Journalists (RUJ) from its Moscow offices as the press organization is preparing for the 26th World Congress of Journalists, an international gathering of media workers starting on May 28 in Russia’s capital. The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply troubled by…
CPJ urges Colombia to probe tapping of journalists’ phones
New York, May 15, 2007— The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Colombian authorities today to fully investigate the illegal tapping of journalists’ telephone lines. The government acknowledged on Monday that the national police have improperly listened in on the telephone conversations of public officials, opposition members, and journalists.
Ecuadoran President Correa should drop libel suit
New York, May 15, 2007—Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa Delgado should immediately drop a criminal defamation complaint filed against a top newspaper executive over a critical editorial, and he should help bring the country’s press laws into compliance with international standards on free expression, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Student editors jailed for allegedly publishing offensive articles
New York, May 15, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the recent arrests of four Iranian student editors of Amirkabir University of Technology in Tehran following the publication of newsletters carrying articles deemed insulting to Islam. The students say they had no involvement in the publications, calling them a fraud designed to disrupt student elections.…
In DRC, reporter suspended after airing dissident general’s interview
New York, May 15, 2007—The broadcast on public radio of an interview with dissident Congolese Gen. Laurent Nkunda led officials in the eastern border town of Goma to indefinitely suspend a reporter last week, according to the press freedom group Journaliste en Danger (JED) and local journalists. This month, CPJ named the DRC one of…
Mexican TV news crew missing since Thursday
New York, May 14, 2007— TV Azteca Noreste reporter Gamaliel López Candanosa and camera operator Gerardo Paredes Pérez went missing on Thursday in the northern Mexican city of Monterrey. The Committee to Protect Journalists is investigating possible links between their disappearance and their professional work.
Journalist, media worker killed in Gaza City
New York, May 14, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalist is outraged by the killings of a journalist and a media worker, who were shot on Sunday in Gaza City. Gunmen wearing presidential guard uniforms stopped a taxi carrying Suleiman Abdul-Rahim al-Ashi, 25, an economics editor for the Hamas-affiliated daily Palestine, and Mohammad Matar Abdo, 25,…
In Thailand, legislation allows censorship of online news
New York, May 14, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned that new legislation in Thailand will further weaken press freedom guarantees. On Thursday, the military-appointed National Legislative Assembly (NLA) passed legislation granting the government the power to censor critical online news reports. The bill, which will become law after it receives approval from King…
Man charged, sought in Politkovskaya murder
New York, May 12, 2008—The Investigative Committee at Russia’s Prosecutor-General’s Office announced today that 34-year-old ethnic Chechen Rustam Makhmudov has been charged in absentia with murdering Novaya Gazeta journalist Anna Politkovskaya, according to local news reports. The Investigative Committee issued an international warrant for Makhmudov’s arrest. Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin told journalists that seven…
In Bangladesh, a prominent journalist is taken in military raid
New York, May 11, 2007—Plainclothes officers raided the Dhaka home of prominent journalist and human rights advocate Tasneem Khalil early this morning in an action that the Committee to Protect Journalists called “an indication of the fragile state of press freedom in Bangladesh.” Four men identifying themselves as a “joint task force” came to Khalil’s…