Sri Lanka: Tamil newspaper pleads for protection from attacks
New York, September 8, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Sri Lankan authorities to fulfill their duty to protect the staff of the pro-Tamil Jaffna newspaper Uthayan, which was threatened and coerced on Thursday. The incident was the latest in a series of attacks and acts of intimidation against the newspaper. E. Saravanapavan, Uthayan’s…
Lithuanian security agents seize all copies of newspaper
New York, September 8, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists deplores Lithuanian security agents’ seizure of all 15,000 copies of the semimonthly Laisvas Laikrastis (Free Newspaper), which was due out today with a story about alleged political corruption. Government agents, who said the story contained classified information, also briefly detained Editor Aurimas Drizius on Thursday. About…
Government suspends Al-Arabiya TV over sectarian violence claim
New York, September 7, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the decision of the Iraqi government today to close the Baghdad bureau of the Dubai-based satellite channel Al-Arabiya for one month. The station reported that police entered its Baghdad offices to halt operations after the cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki ordered the suspension.
Journalist on trial for defamation missing for five days
New York, September 7, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by reports that an Iraqi journalist on trial for defamation has been missing since Sunday morning. A source told CPJ that Ahmed Mutair Abbas, managing editor of the defunct daily Sada Wasit in the southern city of Kut, called Sunday morning to say that…
Editor kidnapped and beheaded
New York, September 6, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists deplores the kidnapping and beheading in Sudan of a newspaper editor. Masked gunmen bundled Mohammed Taha Mohammed Ahmed, editor-in-chief of the private daily Al-Wifaq, into a car outside his home in east Khartoum late Tuesday. Police found his severed head next to his body today in…
Journalists given suspended jail sentence for defamation
New York, September 6, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the jail sentences given to two journalists in Senegal for defamation. A court in the capital Dakar on Tuesday handed down six-month suspended prison sentences to Alioune Ndiaye and Saliou Sambe, respectively director and reporter with the private daily L’Observateur, according to local news reports…
Vietnam: Pro-democracy advocate and writer held, others harassed
New York, September 6, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the detention in Vietnam of Cong Thanh Do, a political activist and pro-democracy advocate who writes on the Internet under the pen name Tran Nam. He was detained August 14 while on vacation with his family in Phan Thiet. Do, who is a…
In Niger, two journalists sentenced to 18 months in jail
New York, September 5, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by 18-month prison sentences and heavy fines handed down against the director and editor of the Niger private weekly Le Républicain on charges of defaming the government and publishing false news. A court in the capital, Niamey, found Director Maman Abou and Editor Oumarou…
U.S. blogger freed after 30 days in jail; case still looms
New York, September 1, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is gratified that a federal appeals court in San Francisco has agreed to release a video blogger on bail while the journalist’s appeal is pending. Joshua Wolf spent 30 days in prison after refusing to turn over to a federal grand jury a videotape of a…
Three Iraqi journalists face trial on defamation charges
New York, September 1, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is gravely concerned about the ongoing criminal prosecution of three Iraqi journalists whose trial on defamation charges resumes in Baghdad on Sunday. Editor-in-Chief Ayad Mahmoud al-Tamimi and Managing Editor Ahmed Mutair Abbas of the now-defunct Iraqi daily Sada Wasit, a local newspaper in the southern city…