Blogger and two technicians detained
New York, March 11, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the prolonged detention of an Internet writer, also known as a Web logger, or blogger, and two technicians working with him. According to sources in Bahrain, prosecutors in the capital, Manama, summoned Ali Abdel Imam on February 27 and detained him. Abdel Imam is the…
Wall Street Journal’s Steiger elected CPJ chairman
New York, March 11, 2005—Paul Steiger, managing editor of The Wall Street Journal and a vice president of Dow Jones & Co., has been elected chairman of the Committee to Protect Journalists. He will succeed CPJ’s current chairman, David Laventhol, at the next meeting of the board of directors on July 12. Steiger will take…
Abducted journalist released; captors’ identity in question
New York, March 11, 2005—Journalist JB Pun Magar was released today after three days in captivity. The Himal Khabarpatrika reporter called the magazine’s office in Kathmandu today from Butwal, where he is based, to say that his abductors released him unharmed at 9 a.m., according to news reports.
Ukrainian prosecutors report progress in the Gongadze case
New York, March 11, 2005—The questioning of Ukraine’s former president and negotiations to obtain a potentially key tape recording capped a week of developments in the Ukrainian government’s investigation into the September 2000 abduction and murder of Internet journalist Georgy Gongadze. The once-dormant investigation, given life when President Viktor Yushchenko took office this year, also…
Nepalese journalist abducted by Maoists
New York, March 10, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Maoist rebels for abducting JB Pun Magar, an investigative reporter for the biweekly magazine Himal Khabarpatrika. Rebels abducted Magar while he was on assignment to cover anti-rebel uprisings in the midwestern district of Kapilbastu. The kidnappers allowed the reporter to call the magazine offices in…
Supreme Court examines complaints in Kholodov murder case
New York, March 10, 2005—The Military Collegium of Russia’s Supreme Court today opened hearings to examine complaints filed by the Prosecutor General’s Office and the parents of Dmitry Kholodov, a slain reporter for the Moscow-based independent newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets, according to local press reports. Kholodov was murdered in October 1994 after criticizing then Defense Minister…
No criminal charges against IDF soldier in journalist’s shooting death
New York, March 9, 2005—Israel’s army said today that it would not press criminal charges against a soldier thought responsible for the May 2003 shooting death of British freelance cameraman and film director James Miller in the Gaza Strip. In Tel Aviv, Brig. Gen. Avichai Mandelblith told members of Miller’s family that the soldier would…
Nepalese editor Kanak Dixit released
New York, March 8, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release early this morning of prominent Nepalese editor Kanak Mani Dixit, who was detained and questioned for roughly five hours last night. At least four journalists jailed since the royal coup on February 1 remain imprisoned.
Editor remains jailed
New York, March 8, 2005—Lawyers representing an imprisoned journalist were beaten by security forces during a hearing last week to appeal the prison sentence of Yemeni editor Abdelkarim al-Khaiwani. Jamal al-Jaabi, one of al-Khaiwani’s lawyers, told CPJ that the day of the hearing, March 2, he and colleague Naji Mohamed Allaw were invasively searched before…
CPJ condemns detention of prominent Nepalese editor
New York, March 7, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the detention today of prominent Nepalese journalist and political analyst Kanak Mani Dixit, editor and publisher of the Nepalese-language Himal Khabarpatrika magazine. Dixit, who has criticized the king’s February 1 takeover of the government, was taken into custody shortly after returning from India, where he…