Journalist sentenced to six months in jail
New York, March 12, 2004—Judes Zossé, publication director of the private daily newspaper L’Hirondelle (The Swallow) in the Central African Republic (CAR), was sentenced today to six months in prison and fined 200,000 CFA francs (US$375). He was charged with “insulting the head of state.” “This harsh sentence belies the CAR government’s stated commitment to…
HONG KONG JOURNALISTS QUESTIONED AND EXPELLED
New York, March 10, 2004—Authorities in Beijing interrogated three reporters from the Hong Kong-based Apple Daily newspaper yesterday and then deported them to Hong Kong, according to a spokesman for the paper. Apple Daily is the second-largest Chinese-language newspaper in Hong Kong. Early on the morning of March 9, security officials arrived at the journalists’…
AFP PHOTOGRAPHER SHOT IN THE WEST BANK
New York, March 9, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is concerned by today’s shooting by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of Palestinian photographer Saif Dahla in the West Bank city of Jenin. Two witnesses—Dahla’s brother, Reuters photographer Said Dahla and Reuters cameraman Ali Samoudi—told CPJ that there were about half a dozen journalists standing together…
JOURNALIST KILLED AND ANOTHER WOUNDED
New York, March 8, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) mourns the loss of a Spanish television journalist killed yesterday afternoon when gunmen opened fire on demonstrators in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. The demonstrators were calling for the prosecution of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. A U.S. photographer was also wounded in the incident.
CPJ URGES GOVERNMENT TO END CYCLE OF VIOLENCE AGAINST JOURNALISTS
Dhaka, March 5, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) today called upon the government of Bangladesh to vigorously investigate and prosecute all those who murder, assault, or threaten the country’s journalists, in order to end a long cycle of violence against the media and enable journalists to do their jobs safely. During a press conference…
Journalist attacked
New York, March 5, 2004—Vakhtang Komakhidze, a reporter for the well-respected “60 Minutes” investigative journalism program on independent television station Rustavi-2 was brutally attacked today in the autonomous republic of Ajaria in southern Georgia. According to Akaki Gogichaishvili, the host of “60 Minutes,” Komakhidze had spent the last two weeks reporting in Ajaria and was…
JOURNALISTS ATTACKED
Dhaka, March 3, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns yesterday’s violent attacks on at least two journalists covering a student demonstration at Dhaka University. The March 2 demonstration turned violent after police broke up a group of students, who had gathered to protest the February 27 knife attack on Dhaka University professor and writer…
TELEVISION STATION OFFICES ATTACKED
New York, March 3, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns yesterday’s attack on the offices of Geo television in Quetta, the capital of southwestern Pakistan’s Balochistan Province. On March 2, about 20 rioters broke into the offices of the private Geo television station and set fire to administrative records, newspapers, and other materials, according…
Journalist killed
New York, March 2, 2004—Unidentified gunmen shot and killed journalist Khalil Al-Zabin today in the early morning hours while he exited his office in Gaza City. According to local sources, Al-Zabin was the editor of the small-circulation magazine Al-Nashra, which published on an irregular schedule. In addition to his responsibilities as editor, Al-Zabin was a…
JOURNALIST HARASSED AND FIXER ABDUCTED
New York, March 2, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) strongly condemns the harassment of Cox Newspapers Moscow correspondent Rebecca Santana and the abduction of her fixer and driver, Ruslan Soltakhanov, following a recent reporting trip to Chechnya. Santana and Soltakhanov—who has been a fixer and driver for other Western journalists working in Chechnya—traveled in…