In Colombia, Telesur correspondent detained on terror charges
New York, November 21, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by the detention on Sunday night of Fredy Muñoz Altamiranda, Colombian correspondent for the regional television network Telesur. Agents of the Colombian national intelligence service, the Administrative Department of Security (DAS), detained Muñoz at 9 p.m. at Eldorado International Airport in Bogotá as he…
CPJ condemns continued imprisonment of journalists
New York, September 25, 2006—An appeals court in Niger today upheld 18-month jail sentences for two journalists convicted of defamation and spreading false information in an article criticizing Prime Minister Hama Amadou. The court in the capital Niamey rejected a defense motion which challenged the competence of the criminal court that convicted Maman Abou and…
Appeals court upholds jail sentence of Kurdish journalist
New York, September 15, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the ruling of an Iranian appeals court upholding a one-year prison sentence against Kurdish journalist and human rights activist Mohammad Sadiq Kabudvand. The court of appeals in the northwestern province of Kurdistan ordered him to serve the suspended jail term, the semiofficial Iranian…
Authorities close prominent critical daily and a monthly
New York, September 11, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalist condemns the closure of Iran’s most prominent critical newspaper today for failing to remove an executive accused of publishing blasphemous articles and insulting officials. Authorities shuttered the daily Sharq saying it had not replaced managing director, Mohammad Rahmanian, as ordered in a letter on August 10,…
In Niger, two journalists sentenced to 18 months in jail
New York, September 5, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by 18-month prison sentences and heavy fines handed down against the director and editor of the Niger private weekly Le Républicain on charges of defaming the government and publishing false news. A court in the capital, Niamey, found Director Maman Abou and Editor Oumarou…
CPJ condemns continued detention of two journalists
New York, August 14, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply troubled by Niger’s continued detention of Le Républicain Director Maman Abou and Editor Oumarou Keita following their trial today on charges of spreading “false news” and defaming the government. The two have been in jail since August 4 in connection with a July opinion…
CPJ condemns jailing of two journalists in Niger
New York, August 7, 2006—The director and editor of the private weekly Le Républicain have been held in police custody since Friday and questioned over a July opinion piece suggesting that Prime Minister Hama Amadou was “deserting the West for Iran.” Director Maman Abou said that he and Editor Oumarou Keita have been accused of…
In Iraq, two journalists slain
New York, August 2, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the murders of two Iraqi journalists who were killed in separate weekend attacks by masked assailants. Seventy-five journalists and 27 media support workers have been killed in Iraq since the war began on March 20, 2003, making it the deadliest conflict in CPJ’s 25-year history.…