New York, August 19, 2004— An investigative journalist working on a story about government corruption was beaten in the middle of the day on a main street in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporozhye, and taped interviews for his article were taken. An unknown assailant intercepted Dmitry Shkuropat, a correspondent for the independent weekly Iskra…
New York, August 18, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists is extremely concerned by reports today that an armed group in Iraq has threatened to kill the abducted American journalist Micah Garen in 48 hours unless U.S. forces withdraw from the city of Najaf. A group calling itself the Martyrs Brigade released video to the Qatar-based…
New York, August 18, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed by the increasing violence against journalists by Maoist rebels, including the murder of radio journalist Dekendra Raj Thapa and the subsequent death threats made against at least nine other rural reporters earlier this week. Rebels in midwestern Nepal’s Dailekh District claimed to have…
New York, August 18, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply disturbed by a federal judge’s ruling today holding five reporters in contempt for refusing to identify sources for stories about Wen Ho Lee, the nuclear scientist once suspected of spying. U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson imposed daily fines of $500 against H. Josef…
New York, August 17, 2004—An Iraqi cameraman working for the German television station Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF) was killed August 15 in Fallujah, the station confirmed today. Mahmoud Hamid Abbas, 32, also worked as a producer and editor for the public television broadcaster. ZDF said in a statement that Abbas had called the station August…
New York, August 17, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is pleased that restrictions have been lifted against journalist Sergei Duvanov, who was released from prison on probation in January. Yesterday, August 16, a district court in Kazakhstan’s industrial capital, Almaty, lifted the restrictions, which included handing over a portion of his salary to the…
New York, August 17, 2004—Amid increased political violence, Bala Nadarajah Iyer, a journalist, writer, and political activist with the opposition Tamil group the Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP), was shot and killed yesterday, August 16, by unidentified assailants in the capital, Colombo. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is investigating whether the murder was related…
New York, August 16, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns attempts during the weekend by Iraqi authorities to bar media from the Iraqi city of Najaf, where U.S. and Iraqi forces have been fighting Shiite insurgents. According to CPJ sources in Iraq, most journalists were forced to leave the city as a result of…
New York, August 16, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by reports that a French-American journalist and his translator have gone missing in Iraq and may have been abducted. Micah Garen, a journalist with the U.S.-based Four Corners Media, and his translator Amir Doushi, were abducted Friday by two armed men in civilian…
New York, August 16, 2004—An unidentified gunman ambushed radio commentator Edward Balida in the public market in Valencia City, Bukidnon Province, on Friday, August 13. Balida, a broadcaster for the Bukidnon affiliate of Radio Mindanao Network (RMN), survived the gunshot wound, which shattered his left hand, according to local media groups and news reports. The…