China tightens restrictions for online news and commentary
New York, September 26, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by severe new restrictions for online news, which were issued by China’s State Council and the Ministry of Information Industry on Sunday. CPJ called the new regulations a “major setback for independent writers and Internet users in China.” Under the new regulations, any…
Third attack against press in four months
New York, September 26, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists voiced outrage today at the attempted murder of Lebanese news anchor May Chidiac, a strong critic of Syria. Chidiac, a political talk show host with the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation, was seriously wounded when a bomb exploded in her car near the port city of Jounieh on…
CPJ concerned about health of jailed journalist on hunger strike
Victor Rolando Arroyo New York, September 23, 2005—The Committee to P rotect Journalists is concerned about the health of jailed independent journalist Víctor Rolando Arroyo who went on hunger strike two weeks ago and is now in the prison hospital, his sister Blanca Arroyo told CPJ. Arroyo refused food to protest mistreatment at the Guantánamo…
Tunisian journalist wages second hunger strike in five months
New York, September 23, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned about the health of imprisoned Tunisian journalist Hamadi Jebali, who has been on a hunger strike for eight days to protest 14 years of unjust imprisonment. CPJ today called for his immediate release. His wife, Wahida Jebali, told CPJ that the journalist’s health…
Jail sentence for online writer, the third this year
New York, September 22, 2005— The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned the conviction of freelance journalist Zheng Yichun, the third Internet journalist this year to be sentenced to jail by Chinese authorities. A court in the northeastern port city of Yingkou on Tuesday handed Zheng a seven-year jail term to be followed by three…
Iraqi TV engineer killed in Mosul
New York, September 22, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned the shooting of an engineer working for al-Iraqiya television in Mosul, the third killing of an Iraqi media employee in the northern city in less than a week. Ahlam Youssef was shot to death on Wednesday while driving with her husband, who was also…
Inquiry names Kuchma as mastermind in Gongadze murder
New York, September 22, 2005—A Ukrainian parliamentary commission investigating the 2000 kidnapping and beheading of journalist Georgy Gongadze has accused former President Leonid Kuchma and three senior officials of plotting the murder. In an announcement to parliament on Tuesday the commission named Kuchma, late former Interior Minister Yuri Kravchenko, Parliament Speaker Vladimir Litvin, and Leonid…
CPJ demands end to Uzbek government’s crackdown on media
New York, September 22, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on President Islam Karimov to stop scapegoating the press and to end his government’s campaign of intimidation and repression against the independent media. The government crackdown, which has targeted several international news organizations in dozens of incidents over four months, is part of a…
Chinese Internet writer’s hunger strike reaches three weeks
New York, September 21, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is extremely concerned about the health of imprisoned freelance writer Zhang Lin, who has been on a hunger strike for three weeks. Zhang’s lawyer Mo Shaoping told CPJ that his client plans to wage the strike for 100 days to protest an unjust, five-year prison sentence…
Iraqi editor slain in Mosul, continuing a deadly trend
New York, September 21, 2005—An Iraqi editor working in the northern city of Mosul was gunned down outside his home on Tuesday, the third journalist killed in the country in four days and the second affiliated with the daily newspaper As-Saffir. The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed at the killings, which continue a deadly…