Journalists slain in a bloody week in Iraq
New York, June 1, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists mourns the slayings of four Iraqi journalists during an especially deadly week in the country. Nazar Abdulwahid al-Radhi, 38, a correspondent for the independent news agency Aswat al-Iraq and Radio Free Iraq, was gunned down in the southern city of Al-Amarah on Wednesday morning. Three men…
Ethiopia’s High Court convicts four editors, three publishers
New York, June 11, 2007— Ethiopia’s High Court today convicted four editors and three publishers of now-defunct weeklies of anti-state charges linked to their coverage of the government’s handling of disputed parliamentary elections in 2005, according to local journalists. Two of the editors were convicted of charges carrying life imprisonment or death. The journalists were…
Ailing Vietnamese journalist released from prison
New York, June 11, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes as “long overdue” the release of Nguyen Vu Binh, a journalist imprisoned since 2002 for criticizing the government and freed less than two weeks before Vietnam’s president is due to meet with President Bush. “For nearly five years, Nguyen Vu Binh and family have suffered…
CPJ mission to Bolivia finds growing difficulties for media
Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, June 8, 2007—Despite a relatively open press climate, President Evo Morales’s intolerance of media criticism is making working conditions for reporters increasingly difficult, a delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists found during a week-long visit to Bolivia. Morales, while pledging to respect press freedom, accused the media of…
Iraqi journalist who endured abductions, threats is slain in Mosul
New York, June 7, 2007—An Iraqi journalist who had been abducted, shot and threatened with death was slain in Mosul today by unidentified gunmen who answered her cell phone after the killing and told the caller “she went to hell.” The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the murder of Sahar Hussein Ali al-Haydari, 44, a…
Somali government cracks down on media over security coverage
New York, June 7, 2007—Three private broadcasters covering a government security crackdown in the aftermath of Sunday’s deadly suicide bombing of the residence of the Somali prime minister in the capital, Mogadishu, were indefinitely shuttered on Wednesday after authorities accused the stations of fomenting unrest, according to news reports and local journalists. HornAfrik Radio, the…
CPJ urges Azerbaijan to end persecution of imprisoned editor
New York, June 7, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists is calling on Azerbaijani authorities to release an editor imprisoned on libel charges who says he has been denied food and water, and has received death threats. Eynulla Fatullayev, editor of the independent Russian-language weekly Realny Azerbaijan and the weekly Azeri-language daily Gündalik Azarbaycan, told presiding…
Gambia: Reporter for shuttered newspaper convicted over coup story
New York, June 6, 2007—A court in the capital, Banjul, on Tuesday fined a reporter for a now-banned newspaper in connection with a March 2006 story reporting the arrest of several suspects in the aftermath of a purported coup attempt, according to local journalists and news reports. Lamin Fatty of the private bi-weekly The Independent…
In Afghanistan, second female journalist killed in a week
New York, June 6, 2007-The Committee to Protect Journalists is horrified by the murder in her home of radio station director Zakia Zaki in Afghanistan’s Parwan province, north of the capital Kabul. Unidentified gunmen shot her several times near midnight this morning in the bedroom she was sharing with her small children, according to international…
CPJ calls on Pakistani government to drop complaint against 200 journalists
New York, June 5, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed that Pakistani police have filed a complaint against roughly 200 journalists on charges of defying a ban on political rallies. CPJ calls on the government to immediately withdraw the cases, which were announced today, and to stop its pattern of intimidation against journalists. The…