Venezuelan information minister responds to CPJ
New York, March 30, 2005—Journalists in Venezuela have no reason to fear physical retaliation for their work, a senior government official said in a letter to the Committee to Protect Journalists, but he continued to suggest that some members of the press are spreading U.S. propaganda. Andrés Izarra, the minister of information and communication, publicly…
Three Romanian journalists abducted in Baghdad
New York, March 29, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the reported abduction of three Romanian journalists in Baghdad Monday night, bringing to at least 30 the number of reporters, camera operators and photographers kidnapped in Iraq in the past year.
Two shooting incidents reported at La Nación in less than a month
New York, March 28, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists today called for a prompt and thorough investigation into two gunfire attacks this month against the facilities of the daily newspaper La Nación in Costa Rica’s capital, San José. Three unidentified assailants fired several shots at the newspaper building from a moving vehicle about 4 a.m.…
olumnist gunned down
New York, March 28, 2005—In a brazen attack last Thursday, a gunman walked into columnist Marlene Garcia-Esperat’s house in the city of Tacurong, and shot her in front of her family. Garcia-Esperat died instantly from the single bullet wound to her head, police told reporters. The gunman and his accomplice escaped from the scene on…
President flees amid unrest, fraud, censorship
New York, March 25, 2005—At least one Kyrgyz journalist was hospitalized with injuries and another arrested as police tried to break up the escalating unrest that prompted President Askar Akayev to flee the country this week. The demonstrations, which toppled yet another authoritarian regime in Central Asia, came amid widespread anger over fraud-marred parliamentary elections—and…
Foreign Ministry accuses Swedish media of fomenting violence
New York, March 24, 2005—The Russian Foreign Ministry has strongly criticized Swedish authorities and media for independent news reporting on the conflict in Chechnya, claiming the information was fomenting violence, according to local and international press reports. The Russian embassy in Stockholm criticized the independent Swedish news agency TT on Wednesday for publishing an interview…
CPJ condemns use of broad antistate’ charges
New York, March 24, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is outraged at the Chinese government’s repeated prosecution of Internet essayists on “antistate” charges. Political essayist Zhang Lin was formally arrested on suspicion of inciting subversion for his online writings, his wife told CPJ this week. Chinese state media also reported recently that Internet journalist Zheng…
Court reduces financial penalty against independent daily
New York, March 24, 2005—An appeals court yesterday reduced the massive damages levied against the independent Moscow daily Kommersant in what a newspaper lawyer called a “tactical victory” in its ongoing legal battle over its reporting on last summer’s banking crisis. Moscow’s Federal Arbitration Court upheld the finding of liability but reduced the damages to…
President pardons jailed editor
New York, March 23, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes today’s presidential pardon of a Yemeni editor who was jailed for nearly seven months for publishing opinion articles that strongly criticized the government. Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh pardoned Abdelkarim al-Khawiani, editor of the opposition weekly Al-Shoura, a spokesman for Yemen’s embassy in Washington, D.C.,…