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…
Dmitry Kholodov’s parents allege improprieties in investigation
New York, September 21, 2005—The European Court of Human Rights has agreed to hear charges that Russian authorities failed to properly investigate and prosecute the 1994 murder of Moscow reporter Dmitry Kholodov, the journalist’s parents told the Committee to Protect Journalists today. Kholodov, a reporter for the independent newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets, was killed in October…
Newspaper seized, editor questioned by police
New York, September 20, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned the Rwandan authorities for seizing copies of the newspaper Umuco and harassing its editor who has criticized the government. CPJ also renewed its call for the release of Umuco journalist Jean-Léonard Rugambage, who has been in jail without charge since September 7. On Sunday,…
Two Iraqi journalists kidnapped and murdered in separate attacks
New York, September 19, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the separate kidnapping and murder of two Iraqi journalists in the past two days. Fakher Haider of the New York Times was seized on Sunday night from his home in the al-Asmaey neighborhood of the southern city of Basra by several men claiming…
Reporter arrested, 15 others flee
New York, September 19, 2005— The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the arrest today of a reporter with Kantipur publications in the mid-western district of Dailekh from which 15 independent journalists fled after being harassed by the military for their reporting of Nepal’s civil war. Authorities detained Harihar Singh Rathour, correspondent for the Kathmandu Post…
CPJ demands government account for “disappeared” journalists
New York, September 16, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists demanded today that Eritrea, the worst jailer of journalists in Africa, account for 15 journalists who have been held, some in secret prisons, since the government crushed private media and independent reporting four years ago this month. “Holding these journalists incommunicado without due process is a…
15 Journalists imprisoned in Eritrea
15 Journalists imprisoned in Eritrea Zemenfes Haile, Tsigenay Imprisoned: January 1999 Sometime in early 1999, Haile, founder and manager of the private weekly Tsigenay, was detained by Eritrean authorities and sent to Zara Labor Camp in the country’s lowland desert. Authorities accused Haile of failing to complete the National Service Program, but sources told CPJ…
Mass arrest of journalists protesting media curbs
New York, September 16, 2005—Police detained more than 80 journalists today in Kathmandu ahead of a planned protest against restrictions on the media. The journalists had gathered in the capital’s Ratna Park area, where rallies are banned. The journalists were held for about four hours and released. “The authorities should not prevent protests by journalists…