Dozens of journalists beaten, arrested in Belarus crackdown
New York, December 20, 2010–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the violent government crackdown against journalists covering demonstrations in Minsk against Sunday’s flawed presidential vote won by President Aleksandr Lukashenko. Security police have arrested at least 20 journalists and beaten at least 20 more between the outbreak of rallies Sunday evening and their forcible dispersal…
The good times are gone for Burundi’s press
After 2006, Burundi’s government and media relations seemed promising. The airwaves had been open to private broadcasters for years; the president held frequent press conferences, and the government commended the unified press for its professional 2010 pre-election coverage. “The president had organized an open dialogue with the press before the elections,” Information Minister Concilie Nibigira…
Widespread Net disruption surrounds Belarus election coverage
As I mentioned last Friday, local journalists in Belarus were preparing for targeted disruption to Internet communications during Sunday’s presidential elections. The online news site Charter ’97, which has experienced more than its fair share of denial-of-service (DOS) attacks and police raids in the past, was already warning its readers last week to use their…
Deyda Hydara, a friend and colleague murdered in impunity
I can still vividly recall how the news of Deyda Hydara’s killing was relayed to me on the morning of December 17, 2004, after I returned from a trip to Zambia the previous night. Very early that morning, I called his childhood friend and partner at The Point, Pap Saine, who told me: “They shot…
CPJ urges US not to prosecute Assange
Dear President Obama and Attorney General Holder: We write because of deep concern about reports that you are considering the prosecution of WikiLeaks and Julian Assange for publishing classified cables and other documents. Based on everything we know about these events, we urge you to avoid such action. Our concern flows not from an embrace of Assange’s motives and objectives. Indeed, we wish that he would fully disclose his sources of financing and support. But the Constitution protects the right to publish information of important interest to the public. That right has been upheld through decades of American jurisprudence and has served the people well.
Journalist given 15 years for espionage in Transdniester
New York, December 17, 2010–The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned the 15-year prison sentence given to independent journalist Ernest Vardanian, who has been held on falsified espionage charges in the unrecognized separatist Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR) since April. The PMR is commonly known as Transdniester, and broke away from Moldova proper in 1990.
Indonesian editor dead under suspicious circumstances
New York, December 17, 2010–The Committee to Protect Journalists joins with Indonesian journalist groups in calling for a full and vigorous investigation into the death of an editor on Kisar, one of the eastern Maluku Islands. Alfrets Mirulewan, chief editor of the Pelangi Weekly, was found with bruises on much of his body at 3…
Pakistan deadliest nation for journalists
Reuters was one of several wire services and many news outlets from around the world who covered CPJ’s year-end analysis of killed journalists. Reuters quotes CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon: “The deaths of at least eight journalists in Pakistan are a symptom of the pervasive violence that grips the country, much of it spilling over from…