Police detain journalist who filmed raid on street vendors
New York, May 19, 2005—Zimbabwean security forces yesterday detained a freelance journalist filming police as they cleared Harare’s central business district of street vendors, according to a lawyer for the press freedom group MISA-Zimbabwe. The journalist, Frank Chikowore, was being held without charge today. “It’s outrageous that Zimbabwean authorities would lock up someone who was…
CPJ concerned by threats against journalists
New York, May 18, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by a series of chilling death threats made this week against three well-known Colombian journalists in the capital, Bogotá. Daniel Coronell, news director of “Noticias Uno” (News One) on the television station Canal Uno; Carlos Lozano, news director with the weekly Voz (Voice);…
CPJ outraged at forced closure of community radio station
New York, May 18, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by the closing yesterday of Radiotélévision Kasaï (RTDK), a community radio station in the central diamond mining town of Mbuji-Mayi where at least three people were killed in violent anti-government protests. The local governor accused the radio station of inciting violence, but RTDK…
Journalist abducted and TV tower attacked
New York, May 18, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is gravely concerned about the safety of reporter Som Sharma, who was abducted from his residence in the eastern district of Ilam late last week. The abduction is one of several serious attacks on the press in recent days by both Maoist rebels and the government.…
Journalist gets 18 months detention on defamation charge
New York, May 17, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists deplores the criminal defamation conviction of Brazilian sports commentator Jorge Kajuru, who will soon begin serving 18 months of overnight detention. Kajuru, whose real name is Jorge Reis da Costa, has been ordered to stay at a prison dormitory in Goiânia, capital of central Goiás state,…
Imprisoned journalist Jiang Weiping in ill health
New York, May 17, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is appalled by the recent deterioration in the health care and prison conditions provided to Jiang Weiping, an investigative journalist now serving his fifth year in jail. Prison authorities have barred Jiang from making phone calls during recent months and have denied him permission to read…
Two journalists and their driver killed
New York, May 17, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is investigating the circumstances surrounding the murder of two Iraqi journalists on Sunday on a road in Latifiyah, a town about 25 miles south of Baghdad. Agence France-Press identified the journalists as Ahmed Adam and Najem Abed Khudair, who worked for the private Iraqi newspaper Al-Mada.…
The Independent forced to stop publishing
New York, May 16, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned that the biweekly newspaper The Independent, which lost its printing press in an unsolved arson in April 2004, has been forced to stopped publishing entirely after its printing arrangement with the private Daily Observer was abruptly terminated. The Independent has not published since…
Amid unrest, Uzbek authorities continue obstructing journalists
New York, May 16, 2005—Uzbek authorities maintained a virtual blockade today on news coverage of civil unrest in the northeastern city of Andijan, expelling journalists from the town and obstructing foreign television news broadcasts. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the moves and called on President Islam Karimov to end the obstruction and harassment of…
Al-Jazeera crew detained while covering judges’ meeting in Cairo
New York, May 13, 2005—Authorities in Cairo today detained six Al-Jazeera employees and two freelance technicians covering a national gathering of judges, a station editor told the Committee to Protect Journalists. Hussein Abdel Ghani, Al-Jazeera’s bureau chief in Cairo, said four Al-Jazeera staffers and the two technicians were preparing for a live transmission outside the…