In Guatemala, a radio host wounded in shooting
New York, August 24, 2006—Guatemalan radio host Vinicio Aguilar Mancilla was seriously injured Wednesday when unidentified assailants shot him in the face as he was jogging in Guatemala City, according to news reports and CPJ interviews. Aguilar was recovering today after undergoing surgery. Two men approached Aguilar, host of a daily political show on Radio…
Grenade attack on newspaper that reports on drug trafficking
New York, August 24, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a grenade attack on the Mexican daily Por Esto!, the third attack since June on the Cancún-based newspaper that has investigated local drug trafficking and government corruption. Unidentified assailants driving an SUV with tinted windows lobbed two hand grenades shortly before 10 p.m. Wednesday into…
Islamic group says it holds two Fox News journalists
New York, August 23, 2005—A group calling itself the Holy Jihad Brigades today released a video of two Fox News Channel journalists it said it kidnapped in the Gaza Strip last week. In a statement with the video, the previously unknown group demanded the release of Muslim prisoners held by the United States within 72…
Antigovernment protesters seize 12 private radio stations
New York, August 21, 2006—Protesters including striking school teachers in southern Mexico seized 12 private radio stations today after unidentified assailants shot up a government-owned station already under the demonstrators’ control. At least 50 protesters of the antigovernment group, Popular Assembly of the People of Oaxaca (APPO), simultaneously took over each of the stations in…
CPJ condemns partial closure of private radio station
New York, August 21, 2006—Authorities in Burundi have stopped local broadcasts of the private radio station Radio Publique Africaine (RPA) in the northern province of Ngozi since Friday. The reason authorities gave for the closure was non-payment of broadcast license fees but several local sources told CPJ the move was in retaliation for RPA’s critical…
Sri Lanka: Tamil newspaper editor killed in Jaffna
New York, August 21, 2006—A Tamil newspaper editor and former member of parliament was killed outside his home on the besieged Jaffna Peninsula late Sunday, international and local media reported. Sinnathamby Sivamaharajah, managing director of the Tamil-language Namathu Eelanadu newspaper was shot dead in Vellippalai. Police are investigating the murder, according to news reports. The…
Independent journalist kidnapped in Chechnya
New York, August 21, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned about the fate of reporter Elina Ersenoyeva, who was seized by masked men in the southern Russian republic of Chechnya on Thursday. Ersenoyeva is Grozny correspondent for the independent weekly Chechenskoye Obshchestvo (Chechen Society), which is based in neighboring Ingushetia.
Arrest of a suspected mastermind in Ortiz Franco murder
New York, August 17, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists today urged Mexican authorities to investigate the suspected involvement of Arturo Villarreal in the 2004 killing of a Tijuana newspaper editor. Villareal was picked up as part of a drug sweep by U.S. security services on August 14. A Mexican prosecutor last year identified Villarreal, who…
Concern grows for kidnapped Fox News journalists
New York, August 17, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists voiced concern today for the safety of two Fox News Channel journalists seized in Gaza three days ago, and appealed to their kidnappers to release them. No group has claimed responsibility for the abduction of the journalists from the U.S. television network, and the kidnappers have…
Editor abducted in Baghdad
New York, August 16, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by the abduction of an Iraqi editor by unidentified assailants in Baghdad yesterday. Seif Abd al-Jabbar al-Tamimi, an editor for Al-Akha’ newspaper, which is affiliated with the Iraqi National Turkoman Party, was seized in Baghdad’s al-Adil neighborhood, according to Journalistic Freedoms Observatory, an…