Journalist held by government after Islamist town falls
New York, January 4, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by reports that Somalia’s transitional government in the southern city of Baidoa detained a radio reporter covering fighting between government forces and Islamist militiamen. Local journalists and the National Union of Somali Journalists said Hassan Mohammed Abikar, a correspondent for the Mogadishu-based private radio…
CPJ Press Freedom Award winner released from prison
New York, January 4, 2007-Burma has released CPJ Press Freedom Award winner Thaung Tun as part of a New Year amnesty for nearly 3,000 prisoners but six other journalists remain in jail. “We applaud the release our colleague Thaung Tun, but we call on the Burmese government to free the six journalists still being held,”…
CPJ renews call for release of abducted AFP photographer
New York, January 3, 2007—Amid growing Palestinian and international condemnation of the kidnapping of Agence France-Presse photographer Jaime Razuri, the Committee to Protect Journalists today renewed its call for his immediate release. Razuri, who was seized by gunmen in the Gaza Strip on Monday, was the 14th journalist to be abducted since 2004, according to…
Court acquits journalists charged with endangering security
New York, January 3, 2007—A court in Burundi today rebuffed the government, ordering the release of three journalists and rejecting the prosecution’s claim that their reporting in connection with an alleged coup plot compromised public security. A panel of judges in the capital Bujumbura acquitted editor Serge Nibizi and journalist Domitile Kiramvu of Radio Publique…
Journalist jailed on old charges
New York, January 3, 2007—Ethiopia’s Supreme Court has confirmed a 15-month prison sentence against a journalist who was out on bail, and sent him back to prison, according to CPJ sources. In a December 27 decision, the court ordered that Leykun Engeda, former editor of the defunct Amharic-language weekly Dagim Wonchif, should serve out the…
Two journalists held in Somaliland over critical report
New York, January 3, 2007—Police in the northern self-declared republic of Somaliland stormed the offices of the Somali-language daily Haatuf late Tuesday and seized two journalists over an article alleging corruption by the president’s wife, according to local media reports and local journalists. Managing editor Yusuf Abdi Gabobe and editor Ali Abdi Dini have been…
CPJ calls for probe into attacks on journalists in Nepalgunj
New York, January 3, 2007— The Committee to Protect Journalists called today on the Nepalese government to investigate attacks on journalists in the western town of Nepalgunj which prompted nine newspapers to suspend publication from December 26 to 30. The attacks came amid sectarian violence that killed one person and injured dozens. “We are concerned…
AFP photographer latest journalist abducted in Gaza
New York, January 2, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Monday’s abduction of an Agence France-Presse photographer in the Gaza Strip. Jaime Razuri, a veteran international journalist, was seized by a group of unmasked, armed men as he was entering the news agency’s bureau in Gaza City, AFP reported. Razuri was returning from an assignment…
In Olympic run-up, China eases rules for Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan reporters
New York, January 2, 2007—The Chinese government this week issued new regulations easing restrictions for journalists from Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan who are reporting in mainland China during the run-up to the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008. CPJ welcomed the step but called on the government to extend full protection and freedom to…
Facing record damages, Moroccan weeklys survival in doubt
New York, December 28, 2006—The publisher of the independent Moroccan weekly Le Journal Hebdomadaire and a former reporter have been ordered to pay the record damages awarded earlier this year in a controversial defamation suit. Publisher Aboubakr Jamaï said the award could jeopardize the magazine’s survival. Jamaï told CPJ that two court officials visited Le…