New York, January 29, 2008—Police in the southern Russian Republic of Ingushetia detained, beat, and deported journalists and human rights activists who tried to cover an opposition rally in the regional capital on Saturday, according to CPJ sources and local news reports. Authorities mounted a massive crackdown against the roughly 200 protesters in Nazran. Riot…
New York, January 26, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned about the fate of Mexican reporter Rodolfo Rincón Taracena, who has been missing in the southern Tabasco state since Saturday night. CPJ is investigating whether Rincón’s disappearance is linked to his professional work. Rincón, an investigative crime reporter for the Villahermosa-based daily Tabasco Hoy,…
New York, January 26, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists is greatly concerned about new regulations imposed by the Bangladeshi interim government that severely restrict news reporting. The Emergency Powers Rules of 2007, announced on Thursday, restrict press coverage of political news and set penalties of up to five years in prison for violations. The new…
New York, January 26, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned about journalist Suhail Qalander, who has been missing along with a friend since January 2. His colleagues believe he was kidnapped, possibly in relation to his work as a Peshawar editor of the Daily Express, Pakistan’s second largest Urdu language newspaper. “We join our…
New York, January 25, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Haitian authorities today to fully investigate the murder of photographer Jean-Rémy Badio, who was gunned down outside his home in Port-au-Prince on Friday after receiving several death threats from local gang members. CPJ is investigating whether Badio’s murder is linked to his professional work.…
New York, January 25, 2007—The Chechnya prosecutor’s office is investigating officers of the southern republic’s Interior Ministry in connection with articles by the slain investigative reporter Anna Politkovskaya, the Moscow business daily Kommersant reported Wednesday. The daily quoted Chechnya prosecutor Valery Kuznetsov as saying that Politkovskaya’s accounts of alleged torture last spring prompted his office…
New York, January 24, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes Chinese President Hu Jintao’s call for a swift and thorough investigation into the brutal beating of Zhongguo Maoyi Bao (China Trade News) journalist Lan Chengzhang at the site of an illegal mine in northern China’s Shanxi province. Lan died of a brain hemorrhage in Datong…
New York, January 24, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the Sri Lankan government to bring charges against detained Tamil reporter Maunasámi Parameswaree or release her. Parameswaree, who wrote for the Sinhala-language weekly Mawbima, was arrested at her home south of Colombo on November 24. On Tuesday, the Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) in Colombo…
New York, January 23, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the bomb attack targeting the Gaza City office of the Dubai-based satellite news channel Al-Arabiya on Monday night. No causalities were reported, but the office was severely damaged, Al-Arabiya reported. A bomb exploded around 9 p.m. outside the entrance to Al-Arabiya’s office in the Al-Shurouq…
New York, January 23, 2007—A court in the capital, Ouagadougou, convicted two top journalists with the private bi-monthly L’Evénement on criminal defamation charges on Monday in connection with critical stories about the unsolved 1998 murder of editor Norbert Zongo. Director Germain Nama and editor Ahmed Newton Barry were found guilty of defaming Francois Compaoré, brother…