CPJ condemns grenade attack on newspaper
New York, August 18, 2005 The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the hand grenade attack on the offices of the Colombian daily El Informador. The newspaper said police believe a motorcycle passenger lobbed a fragmentation grenade which exploded outside the newsroom on Monday evening as three journalists and a designer were finishing Tuesday’s edition.…
Court upholds two-year prison sentence for journalist
New York, August 17, 2005—A district court in Moscow upheld the conviction of editor and writer Pavel Lyuzakov on Tuesday, sentencing him to two years in a prison colony for illegal possession of a pistol. The journalist and colleagues say the charges against him were politically motivated and filed in retaliation for his criticism of…
Tamil broadcaster killed with husband
New York, August 16, 2005—A popular Tamil broadcaster and her husband, a political activist, were killed by unidentified gunmen in Colombo on August 12, the day Sri Lanka’s foreign minister Lakshman Kadirgamar was assassinated. Political leaders blamed the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for all three killings, charges the LTTE denied. The attackers…
CPJ condemns criminal defamation charges
New York, August 16, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the criminal defamation charges filed by two state-owned firms against the editor of the English-language daily Bangkok Post, Kowit Sanandang, and the newspaper’s parent company, Post Publishing Plc. The charges, announced today, carry penalties of up to two years in prison and a fine of…
A fourth journalist is jailed for “inciting hatred”
New York, August 15, 2005—A Chadian journalist was sentenced to one year in prison today for “inciting hatred”, the fourth reporter jailed in a month in what local journalists called a growing crackdown on the independent press. A court in the capital N’Djamena convicted Sy Koumbo Singa Gali, publication director of the privately-owned weekly L’Observateur,…
French television soundman seized
New York, August 15, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the abduction of a French television soundman on Sunday in the Gaza Strip and demands his immediate release. Mohamed Ouathi of France 3 Television was forced into a car by three men with rifles as he walked to his hotel with colleagues in Gaza City,…
CPJ condemns sedition charge against radio talk show host
New York, August 15, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists denounces the sedition charge brought today against radio talk show host Andrew Mwenda for remarks last week on the independent KFM radio station. The station also remained off the air today, four days after the government forced its closing in retaliation for the show, which focused…
Authorities deport Russian journalist
New York, August 15, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the deportation of Russian journalist Igor Rotar, who was detained by Uzbek authorities in Tashkent on Thursday and put on a plane bound for Almaty, Kazakhstan, late the next day, according to local and international press reports. Uzbek security and immigration officials detained Rotar when…
A day after station is shut, Ugandan talk show host is arrested
New York, August 12, 2005—An independent radio and print journalist was arrested today in connection with a talk show focusing on the July helicopter crash that killed southern Sudanese leader John Garang. Andrew Mwenda, a journalist with Monitor Publications, was still in custody late this evening, according to sources at the news organization.
Russian journalist detained upon arrival; held incommunicado
New York, August 12, 2005—Uzbek authorities at the airport in the capital, Tashkent, detained Russian journalist Igor Rotar on Thursday and were holding him today, according to his news organization and international press reports. Rotar, a Central Asia correspondent for several Russian newspapers and Western Web sites, was detained by border guards after arriving at…