New York, November 21, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is concerned about the two-day detention of six journalists from the independent Rwandan newspaper Umuseso and the confiscation of the latest edition of the weekly. Editor Robert Sebufirira said he was arrested at about 9:30 a.m. on November 19 near the Rwanda-Uganda border as he…
New York, November 20, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) today presented the recipients of the 2003 International Press Freedom Awards at a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. The recipients include: Abdul Samay Hamed, an independent writer, publisher, political cartoonist, and poet from Afghanistan; Aboubakr Jamai, who publishes two of…
New York, November 19, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) welcomes the release yesterday of Tunisian Internet journalist Zouhair Yahyaoui, who had been imprisoned since his June 4, 2002, arrest. Yahyaoui, editor of the online publication TUNEZINE.com, was sentenced to 28 months in prison on June 20, 2002, after a Tunis court convicted him of…
New York, November 18, 2003—Imprisoned Cuban journalist Bernardo Rogelio Arévalo Padrón was released last week after serving his six-year sentence on “disrespect” charges. In a phone interview with the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), he described physical and psychological torture at the hands of prison authorities. “The allegations of torture are extremely troubling and warrant…
Nova York, 18 de novembro de 2003 —O jornalista cubano, Bernardo Rogelio Arévalo Padrón, foi libertado na semana passada depois de cumprir sua sentença de seis anos, por acusação de “desrespeito”. Em uma entrevista por telefone ao Comitê de Proteção aos Jornalistas (CPJ) ele descreveu a tortura física e psicológica que sofreu nas mãos das…
November 14, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed that unidentified Iraqi gunmen opened fire on a convoy of Portuguese journalists and abducted one reporter today in southern Iraq. According to news reports and Portuguese editors who spoke with CPJ, the gunmen—who were armed with Kalashnikov rifles and other small arms—attempted to intercept a…
New York, November 13, 2003—The Chelyabinsk Regional Court today amended the sentence of imprisoned journalist German Galkin from one year in jail to one year of probation, according to local press reports. Authorities immediately released Galkin from prison in the Urals city of Chelyabinsk. Galkin, publisher of Rabochaya Gazeta and deputy chief editor of Vecherny…
New York, November 12, 2003—Selim Jahangir, a photojournalist for the national Bengali-language daily Janakantha, was released from the Rajshahi Central Jail in northwestern Bangladesh on November 10 after being held 10 days and denied bail. According to local journalists, Jahangir is still charged with obstructing an official from his duty and threatening an official’s life.…
New York, November 12, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is investigating the motives behind a bomb attack on five journalists in Feni in southeastern Bangladesh on November 10. Police suspect that the assailants targeted one of the journalists, Bakhtiar Islam Munna, the local Feni correspondent for the daily Ittefaq and for the wire service…
New York, November 12, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is extremely concerned about the lack of information regarding the situation of imprisoned Cuban journalists Mario Enrique Mayo Hernández, Adolfo Fernández Saínz, and Iván Hernández Carrillo, who began a hunger strike on October 18. A week after a failed attempt by a group of family…