Tueni’s killers go unpunished one year on
New York, December 11, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is dismayed that a year after the assassination of leading Lebanese journalist Gebran Tueni in Beirut, the perpetrators remain at large. On December 12, 2005, Tueni, managing director and columnist for the leading daily Al-Nahar, was killed by a bomb that targeted his armored vehicle in…
Philippines:Radio broadcaster and former newspaper columnist shot dead
New York, December 8, 2006—Two unidentified gunmen killed Ponciano Grande, 53, a former newspaper columnist and occasional co-host of a radio variety show, at his farm on Thursday in Cabantuan City, in Central Luzon. The Committee to Protect Journalists is investigating to determine whether the killing was related to Grande’s work as a journalist. Two…
Fiji: Media refuse to bow to military censorship
New York, December 7, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists today congratulated the media in Fiji for successfully resisting censorship attempts by the leaders of Tuesday’s military coup. Executives from the daily Fiji Times newspaper, Fiji TV and two radio stations, Radio Fiji and FM 96, refused to comply with orders to stop critical reporting on…
Appeals court refuses to hear Zakhidov defense witnesses
New York, December 7, 2006—The Azerbaijan Court of Appeals should reverse a ruling excluding defense witnesses in the appeal of Sakit Zakhidov and release the ailing journalist, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today . The court ruled Monday not to hear witnesses for the defense or further investigate the case against Zakhidov, a prominent…
Journalist detained, dissident jailed for launching news agency
New York, December 6, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is outraged at the detention of one Cuban journalist for working for an independent news agency, and of a second for attempting to launch such an agency. Police and state security forces swooped on the Havana home of independent journalist Ahmed Rodríguez Albacia on Monday, confiscating…
Editor convicted and fined over Prophet cartoons
New York, December 6, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the conviction and fine handed down to a Yemeni editor today for reprinting Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. A court in the capital Sana’a convicted Mohammed al-Asaadi, editor-in-chief of the English-language weekly Yemen Observer, of insulting Islam and fined him 500,000 rials (U.S. $2,500).
Two officials suspected in shooting of U.S. journalist released
New York, December 4, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists renewed its appeal to Mexican federal authorities today to take over the investigation into the killing of U.S. journalist Bradley Roland Will after two local officials suspected in his shooting were freed. Will, 36, an independent documentary filmmaker and reporter for the news Web site Indymedia,…
Radio station editor killed in Baghdad
New York, December 4, 2006—Unidentified gunmen killed Nabil Ibrahim al-Dulaimi, 36, a news editor for the privately-owned station Radio Dijla, shortly after he left his home in Baghdad’s al-Washash neighborhood for work today, sources at the station told the Committee to Protect Journalists. “We offer our condolences to the family of Nabil Ibrahim al-Dulaimi,” said…
CPJ condemns jailing of two journalists for criminal libel
New York, December 4, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned at the jailing in Benin of two journalists convicted of criminal defamation. A court in the capital Cotonou sentenced editor Clément Adéchian and reporter Cécil Adjévi of the private daily L’Informateur to six months in prison on December 2. It also fined them…
Mogadishu radio correspondent held in Puntland
New York, December 4, 2006—Authorities in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland in northeast Somalia have arrested a correspondent for a private radio station in the Islamist-controlled capital Mogadishu, according to the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) and local journalists. Puntland supports the weak, U.N.-backed interim government which is in conflict with the Islamists controlling…