Thailand: Court clears activist, journalists of defamation charges
New York, March 15, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the acquittal of media activist Supinya Klangnarong and four journalists from the Thai-language daily Thai Post on criminal defamation charges brought by telecommunications giant Shin Corp. The Bangkok Criminal Court dismissed the charges on Tuesday in a move widely hailed as a victory for press…
Government tightens restrictions on foreign media
New York, March 15, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the Uzbek government’s tightening of controls over local and foreign journalists working for foreign state-funded media. The cabinet approved regulations February 24 giving the Foreign Ministry wide discretion to issue formal warnings to foreign correspondents, revoke their accreditation and visas, and expel them.…
Journalists, others kidnapped as prison siege sparks violence
New York, March 14, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by reports that Palestinian gunmen abducted journalists and other foreigners in Gaza City today. A wave of violence erupted in Gaza and elsewhere in the West Bank, after Israeli forces laid siege to a Jericho prison to arrest militants believed responsible for the…
Iraqi editor gunned down in Baghdad
New York, March 14, 2006—Muhsin Khudhair, editor of the news magazine Alef Ba, was killed by unidentified gunmen near his home in Baghdad Monday night, becoming the third journalist killed in Iraq in the last week, Reuters and Agence France-Presse reported. The shooting took place just hours after Khudair attended a meeting of the Iraqi…
Arrests, closings, censorship found by CPJ delegationEthiopian political divide ensnares the press
Nairobi, Kenya, March 14, 2006—Deep political divisions in Ethiopia have fueled the massive, months-long crackdown on the private press in that country, gutting the print media, promoting rampant self-censorship, and resulting in the imprisonment of more than a dozen journalists on charges that could bring the death penalty, the Committee to Protect Journalists found during…
Police close radio station after critical talk show
New York, March 14, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the closure of an independent radio station in Uganda which aired a show critical of the military and a ruling party candidate in last month’s municipal elections. Police in the northern town of Gulu shuttered Choice FM on Monday, the station’s news editor Sam Lawino…
Days before Belarusian vote, four newspapers forced to halt publication
New York, March 14, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Belarusian authorities’ escalating harassment of the country’s few independent newspapers as Sunday’s presidential election approaches. Four newspapers based in the capital, Minsk, have been forced to interrupt publication less than a week before the balloting in which incumbent Aleksandr Lukashenko seeks re-election, according to local…
Son of slain journalist Veronika Cherkasova released on bail
New York, March 14, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release on bail of the 16-year-old son of murdered journalist Veronika Cherkasova. Anton Filimonov was freed Monday from the Minsk detention center where he had been held since December 27, local media reported. Although he was formally charged with forging currency, Filimonov was pressured…
Insurgents kill head of Iraq state television
New York, March 13, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the murder of Amjad Hameed, head of programming for Iraq’s state television channel Al-Iraqiya. Gunmen apparently affiliated to Al-Qaeda killed Hameed and his driver Anwar Turki in an ambush in Baghdad Saturday. Hameed, 45, had run the station since July. “We deplore the senseless murder…
Photographer gunned down outside his home
New York, March 10, 2006—Mexican photographer Jaime Arturo Olvera Bravo was shot to death Thursday outside his home in La Piedad in the central state of Michoacán. The special prosecutor for crimes against journalists has opened a preliminary inquiry and will work with state authorities to establish if the murder was related to Olvera’s work.…