Army finds no fault in Palestine Hotel shelling
New York, November 5, 2004—Nineteen months after a U.S. Army tank opened fire on a Baghdad hotel full of journalists, killing two and wounding three others, the Pentagon has released a redacted report concluding that coalition forces bore “no fault or negligence” in the shelling. In August 2003, the Pentagon had released summary findings about…
Columnist for opposition weekly is beaten, threatened
New York, November 4, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Tuesday’s vicious attack on Abdel Halim Kandil, an editor and columnist at the opposition weekly Al-Arabi. The attack occurred just before dawn on November 2, after Kandil’s colleagues dropped him off near his home in Cairo, according to local sources and press reports. Before entering…
Baghdad car bomb kills five Al-Arabiya employees
New York, November 1, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalist condemns this weekend’s car bomb attack against the Baghdad bureau of the Dubai-based satellite broadcaster Al-Arabiya. Five station employees were among the seven killed, and more than a dozen other Al-Arabiya employees were wounded in the apparent insurgent attack on Saturday, the station staff told CPJ.
Ramadi fighting claims camaraman
New York, November 1, 2004—An Iraqi freelance cameraman was killed today in the western city of Ramadi, Reuters news agency has reported. Dhia Najim was shot in the head on Monday while covering fighting in his hometown of Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, Reuters said. The exact circumstances of his death are unknown, and…
Journalist killed
New York, October 28, 2004—An Iraqi journalist working for a local, private, Arabic-language TV station was killed in the capital, Baghdad, by gunmen yesterday, October 27. Local journalists told CPJ that Liqaa Abdul Razzak, a news anchor at Al-Sharqiya TV, was traveling in a taxi with two companions when gunmen in another car opened fire…
Four journalists abducted by former paramilitaries
New York, October 27, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is outraged by the recent abduction of four Guatemalan journalists. On Sunday, October 26, former paramilitary fighters kidnapped reporters Freddy López and Alberto Ramírez, and photographers Emerson Díaz and Mario Linares, all of the Guatemala Citybased daily Prensa Libre, in the town of La Libertad,…
CPJ board elects Wall Street Journal’s Steiger as vice chairman
New York, October 26, 2004—Paul Steiger, managing editor of The Wall Street Journal and a vice president of Dow Jones & Company, has been elected vice chairman of the Committee to Protect Journalists, the organization announced today. “Paul Steiger is one of America’s most respected editors,” said David Laventhol, chairman of CPJ’s board of directors.…
Persecuted journalist granted asylum in the U.S.
New York, October 26, 2004—Ruslan Sharipov, an independent journalist and human rights activist who was persecuted, tortured and imprisoned by Uzbek authorities, has resettled in California after gaining political refugee status in the United States. In an interview with the Committee to Protect Journalists yesterday, Sharipov said he is excited to “taste freedom again” and…
CPJ condemns politicized conviction of editor
New York, October 25, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned the conviction and five-year prison sentence handed down to Yeni Musavat Editor Rauf Arifoglu, who was swept up in a crackdown against the opposition press following last year’s tainted presidential election “The politicized conviction of Rauf Arifoglu is yet another government attack against press…
Junta shakeup leads to closing of several publications
New York, October 22, 2004-The Committee to Protect Journalists is very concerned about the closing of a large group of Burmese publications after the ouster of Prime Minister Khin Nyunt this week. Military authorities banned or suspended more than a dozen publications associated with Military Intelligence Services (MIS), which was previously run by Gen. Nyunt,…