Attacker: I will teach you how to write’
New York, April 26, 2005—Independent Uzbek journalist Ulugbek Haydarov remained hospitalized today after a severe weekend beating at the doorstep of his home by an assailant who shouted, “I will teach you how to write,” according to local and international press reports. Haydarov suffered a broken collarbone and multiple bruises in the assault reported at…
in separate case
New York, April 25, 2005—An Iraqi cameraman working for Associated Press Television News was killed on Saturday while covering fighting in the Iraqi city of Mosul, bringing to 41 the number of journalists killed in Iraq since March 2003. Saleh Ibrahim was killed by gunfire near the city’s al-Yarmouk Circle, the scene of an earlier…
Pakistani journalist acquitted of treason charges
New York, April 25, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the decision of an antiterrorism court in the southwestern city of Quetta to acquit Khawar Mehdi Rizvi and his two associates, Allah Noor and Abdullah Shakir, of treason. Judge Shaukat Ali Rakhshani acquitted the three on Saturday because of lack of evidence by the prosecution,…
Exiled editor of Kazakh opposition weekly detained for two days
New York, April 25, 2005—Police in the Russian city of Volokolamsk detained Irina Petrushova, editor of the Kazakh opposition weekly Respublika Delovoye Obozreniye, for two days at the request of Kazakh authorities, she told the Committee to Protect Journalists shortly after her release today. Petrushova, a 2002 winner of CPJ’s International Press Freedom Award, said…
Pre-anniversary harassment aims to silence dissident writers
New York, April 25, 2005 – The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the recent official harassment of dissident writers Nguyen Thanh Giang and Tran Khue. In an apparent attempt to silence dissent before the 30th anniversary of the defeat of U.S. forces, articles in the state media denounced the two writers for their views, and…
Captors threaten to kill Romanian journalists
April 22, 2005, New York—The captors of three Romanian journalists and a translator threatened to kill their prisoners within four days unless Romania withdraws its troops from Iraq, according to a videotape that was broadcast today on the Arabic satellite channel Al-Jazeera. The video, which aired without sound, showed reporter Ovidiu Ohanesian, of the daily…
Radio station shuttered
New York, April 22, 2005—An independent radio station in the capital, Lomé, was shuttered on Wednesday by the High Audiovisual and Communications Authority (HAAC)—the same government agency that banned independent broadcasters from covering the campaign for this Sunday’s presidential elections. According to CPJ sources, the HAAC suspended Kanal FM for one month because of an…
Captors threaten to kill Romanian journalists
April 22, 2005, New York—The captors of three Romanian journalists and a translator threatened to kill their prisoners within four days unless Romania withdraws its troops from Iraq, according to a videotape that was broadcast today on the Arabic satellite channel Al-Jazeera. The video, which aired without sound, showed reporter Ovidiu Ohanesian, of the daily…
Photographer dies while covering protests
New York, April 21, 2005 Photographer Julio Augusto García Romero died Tuesday evening, after inhaling tear gas while covering a demonstration in downtown Quito, Ecuador’s capital. The demonstration, organized to protest the now-ousted President Lucio Gutiérrez, was moving toward the Palacio de Carondelet, the seat of the executive branch, when police fired water cannons…
Private broadcasters barred from election coverage
New York, April 20, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply troubled by a new Togolese government order that bars private radio and television stations from reporting on the presidential election campaign, which is now in its final days. A directive issued Friday by Togo’s High Audiovisual and Communications Authority (known by its French acronym,…