Journalist released from prison
New York, May 31, 2005—Iranian authorities temporarily released imprisoned journalist Akbar Ganji. Ganji was released for medical leave on Sunday, according to press reports. Judicial authorities had previously refused Ganji’s request to be released on medical leave, prompting him to start a hunger strike on April 18. Ganji ended the strike after his release. Ganji’s…
Police search Corriere della Sera newsroom
New York, May 27, 2005—Six police officers searched the headquarters of Corriere della Sera, Italy’s leading national daily based in Milan. The officers spent at least two hours in the newsroom Wednesday evening, looking for documents that the daily had used as part of its earlier report on the use of Italian pistols by Iraq…
CPJ Condemns Pakistani Governments ban on ads
New York, May 27, 2005—The Pakistani government has banned state-sponsored advertising in two newspapers owned by a leading conservative media company, the Urdu-language daily Nawa-i-Waqt and the English-language daily The Nation. According to reports in The Nation, last week’s ban was implemented in direct retaliation for an April ad that both dailies ran from the…
In Dangerous Assignments, information war rages in Chechnya
New York, May 27, 2005—The Kremlin has waged a brutally effective information war in Chechnya using repressive policies, restrictive rules, subtle censorship, and outright attacks on journalists, Alex Lupis reports in the new edition of Dangerous Assignments. The spring/summer edition of the magazine is now available from the Committee to Protect Journalists. Also in the…
Journalists assaulted while covering rally
New York, May 26, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the assault of several foreign and local journalists by government supporters as police looked on during demonstrations in Cairo yesterday. Journalists told CPJ that the attacks took place as they were covering demonstrations in downtown Cairo organized by Kifaya (Enough), an opposition group that was…
Honduran high court strikes down desacato provision
New York, May 26, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes a new ruling by the Honduran Supreme Court of Justice that strikes down the desacato, or contempt, provision in the country’s Penal Code. The Supreme Court’s Constitutional Chamber ruled on May 19 that Article 345 of the Penal Code was unconstitutional because it provided “special…
Journalist shot and wounded in Mogadishu
New York, May 26, 2005—Veteran journalist Abdallah Nurdin Ahmad was wounded Tuesday night in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, when an unidentified gunman fired three times at close range, according to CPJ sources. Nurdin, a senior producer at the private radio station HornAfrik, underwent surgery at Medina Hospital and was recovering today. Ali Iman Sharmake, HornAfrik’s…
Brazilian jury convicts suspected drug lord in Lopes murder
New York, May 25, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes today’s conviction of a suspected drug lord in the brutal 2002 slaying of Brazilian investigative reporter Tim Lopes. A jury in Rio de Janeiro also sentenced the defendant, Elias Pereira da Silva, to 28 and a half years in prison, according to press reports.
Media executive severely beaten
New York, May 25, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Sunday’s assault on Dmitry Suryaninov, general director of the Media-Samara holding company, which owns several news outlets in the Samara region of southern Russia. At least two assailants battered Suryaninov with baseball bats near his home in Samara, the regional capital, according to local and…
Journalists detained, charged with seditious libel
New York, May 25, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the criminal charges brought today against two journalists from the private weekly newspaper Trumpet. Managing editor Sydney Pratt and reporter Dennis Jones were arrested yesterday and were being held at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in the capital, Freetown, where the paper is based. Both…