Journalist’s deportation delayed
New York, February 16, 2005—A journalist ordered deported by the Russian security service was allowed to stay in Russia temporarily because officials in the passport office told him they could find no legal basis to expel him. Yuri Bagrov, who has covered the North Caucasus for The Associated Press and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL),…
CPJ concerned about journalist’s pending deportation
New York, February 15, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is disturbed that the Russian government is planning to deport Yuri Bagrov, a journalist who has covered the North Caucasus for The Associated Press and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, in retaliation for his independent reporting on the war in the southern Russian republic of Chechnya. An…
Provincial journalist shot dead
New York, February 15, 2005—Unidentified gunmen shot and killed Pongkiat Saetang, editor of the bimonthly newspaper Had Yai Post, near a market in Had Yai, in southern Thailand’s Songkhla Province yesterday. The Committee to Protect Journalists is investigating to determine whether he was killed for his journalistic work. Two assailants shot Pongkiat twice in the…
must reveal sources in CIA leak case
New York, February 15, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed that a federal appeals court has ruled that two journalists can be jailed for not revealing their confidential sources. A panel of three judges for the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., ruled today that Time magazine, Time White House correspondent Matthew Cooper,…
CPJ concerned about harassment of international correspondents
New York, February 15, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned that Zimbabwean police repeatedly visited the offices of three senior freelance reporters for international publications on Monday and Tuesday. Officials first said they were investigating espionage allegations against the journalists. Then they claimed they were looking into the reporters’ accreditation. Finally, the officers said…
Radio station and news agency suspended
New York, February 14, 2005—Burundian independent radio station Radio Publique Africaine (RPA) today resumed broadcasting after authorities suspended the station on Friday for two days, accusing it of violating the country’s press law. Private news agency Net-Press, which was also summarily banned on Friday for seven days following libel complaints, remained shuttered. Local journalists believe…
CPJ condemns government crackdown on private broadcasters
New York, February 14, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the closures of several private radio stations in the capital, Lomé. On Friday, February 11, Togolese authorities shuttered four stations that have protested the military’s appointment of the son of the late President Gnassingbé Eyadema as leader. Today, two more stations were closed.
Journalist dies of injuries sustained in bomb blast
New York, February 11, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists mourns the death of Bangladeshi journalist Sheikh Belaluddin, who died at around 10 a.m. today of injuries sustained in a bomb attack last week. Belaluddin, a correspondent with the Bengali-language daily Sangram, was injured along with three other journalists on February 5, when a bomb exploded…
Jailed reporter freed
New York, February 11, 2005—A reporter with the Congolese private daily La Référence Plus jailed on defamation charges has been freed, CPJ has learned. A Kinshasa court granted José Wakadila a provisional release on February 8. He was freed that day after paying bail equivalent to US$200, according to local press freedom group Journaliste en…
Journalists demand inquiry into alleged abuses by security agency
New York, February 10, 2005—Five independent Croatian journalists filed a petition on Monday requesting that the government investigate allegations that the Counter-Intelligence Agency (POA) tried to discredit them after they reported on sensitive war crimes issues, according to local and international press reports. The journalists called for an inquiry after the February 4 edition of…