New York, June 2, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed that Haiti’s transitional government has detained a cameraman without charge. Officials have also closed a radio and television station owned by the Aristide Foundation for Democracy, which was founded by former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. On Friday, May 28, police arrested Aryns Laguerre, a…
New York, June 2, 2004—A brother-in-law of Ivory Coast’s first lady has been formally charged as an accessory in the kidnapping, confinement, and murder of Guy-André Kieffer, a missing freelance journalist with both French and Canadian citizenship, according to international news reports. Michel Legré, the accused, has been in detention since May 25 in the…
New York, June 2, 2004—Sami Yousafzai, a stringer for Newsweek, was released without charge from prison today by local authorities in Miran Shah, the capital of the North Waziristan Agency near the Pakistani-Afghan border, according to local journalists. Mohamed Salim, a driver hired by Yousafzai and arrested with him, was also released. On April 21,…
New York, June 2, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is concerned by reports that the popular news program “Namedni” (Recently) on the television channel NTV was canceled under government pressure. Leonid Parfyonov, anchor of the show, was also fired, according to local and international reports. On Sunday, May 30, Parfyonov was scheduled to air…
New York, June 1, 2004—Aiyathurai Nadesan, a veteran Tamil journalist, was shot and killed on Monday, May 31, by unidentified assailants in Batticaloa, a town on the eastern coast of Sri Lanka and 135 miles (216 kilometers) from the capital, Colombo, according to international news reports and local journalists. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)…
New York, May 28, 2004—Two Japanese journalists and their Iraqi translator were killed on Thursday night when their car came under attack by gunmen in Mahmoudiya, 20 miles (30 kilometers) south of Baghdad, according to news reports. Bangkok-based freelancer Shinsuke Hashida and his nephew Kotaro Ogawa, also a freelancer, had been traveling to Baghdad from…
New York, May 28, 2004 – Dusko Jovanovic, the controversial publisher and editor-in-chief of the opposition daily Dan, was killed in a drive-by shooting early Friday morning as he was leaving his office in the Montenegrin capital of Podgorica, according to local and international news reports. Unidentified assailants used an automatic rifle to shoot Jovanovic…
May 27, 2004, New York, NY—Former Hong Kong radio host and delegate to the Chinese legislature Allen Lee told members of Hong Kong’s Legislative Council today that he quit both posts last week after being pressured by Beijing officials because of his support for democracy on-air. Lee announced his resignation from both posts on May…
New York, May 27, 2004 – Lucien-Claude Ngongo, deputy editor of the weekly newspaper Fair Play, has been detained in the DRC capital Kinshasa for a week without charge, according to local press freedom group Journaliste en Danger (JED). Local journalists say Ngongo has been questioned about an article he wrote denouncing corrupt practices by…
New York, May 27, 2004—Nguyen Vu Binh, an imprisoned journalist who went on a hunger strike on May 5 after his conviction on espionage charges was upheld on appeal, has ended his strike and is suffering from ill health, according to CPJ sources and Agence France-Presse. Binh’s wife, Biu Thi Kim Ngan, was allowed to…