New York, March 29, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply troubled by the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority’s (CPA) closure of an Iraqi weekly newspaper for allegedly inciting violence against coalition forces. On March 28, dozens of U.S. troops sealed the offices of the Baghdad weekly Al-Hawza, which is affiliated with radical Shiite cleric…
New York, March 29, 2004— A judge granted bail to freelance journalist Khawar Mehdi Rizvi on March 27, in an anti-terrorism court in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta. Rizvi’s lawyer, Habib Tahir, told local journalists that he would be released from jail today after posting a 200,000 rupees (US$3,500) bond payment. Rizvi is still…
New York, March 26, 2004—An Iraqi translator working for the U.S.-based newsweekly Time died today after sustaining multiple gunshot wounds in Baghdad two days ago. Omar Kamal, who also worked as a fixer for the magazine, was shot and critically wounded driving his car on route to an assignment, said Time news director Howard Chua-Eoan.…
New York, March 26, 2004—An Iraqi cameraman freelancing for the U.S.-based television station ABC was killed today in the city of Fallujah, about 35 miles (56 kilometers) west of the capital, Baghdad. The Washington Post reported that 15 Iraqis were killed today in Fallujah following a firefight that occurred “as U.S. Marines conducted house-to-house searches”…
New York, March 25, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) sent a letter today to Tomás Yarrington Ruvalcaba, governor of the State of Tamaulipas in northern Mexico, inquiring about the investigation into the murder of Roberto Javier Mora García, editorial director for the Nuevo Laredobased daily El Mañana. Mora, 42, was stabbed to death on…
New York, March 25, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is very concerned for the safety of journalists working for the London-based Tamil Broadcasting Corporation (TBC). Journalists there have received numerous death threats in recent weeks, according to TBC staff and other CPJ sources. After the station began broadcasting in the United Kingdom and in…
New York, March 24, 2004—Roberto Eisenmann Jr., founder of the Panama City-based daily La Prensa, was forced today to submit to questioning about a criminal defamation suit filed against him in January. This morning, at around 10:30 a.m., officers from the Technical Judicial Police came to Eisenmann’s offices in Panama’s capital, Panama City, and took…
New York, March 24, 2003—Roberto Eisenmann Jr., founder of the Panama Citybased daily La Prensa, was forced today to submit to questioning about a criminal defamation suit filed against him in January. This morning, at around 10:30 a.m., officers from the Technical Judicial Police came to Eisenmann’s offices in Panama’s capital, Panama City, and took…
New York, March 24, 2004—Rakhim Esenov and Ashyrguly Bayryev, freelancers for the Turkmen Service of the Prague-based, U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), who were detained in late February and early March by agents from the National Security Service (MNB) in the capital, Ashgabat, have been released. However, the charges against them are still pending.…
New York, March 23, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is saddened and alarmed by the death yesterday of Palestinian journalist Mohamed Abu Halima, who was killed outside the city of Nablus in the West Bank. According to local Palestinian journalists, Abu Halima, who was a journalism student at Al-Najah University in Nablus and a…