Beketov convicted of defamation, his assailants still at large
New York, November 10, 2010–A court in the Moscow suburb of Khimki today convicted Mikhail Beketov, the editor of the independent newspaper Khimkinskaya Pravda, of criminally slandering Khimki’s mayor, Vladimir Strelchenko, in a 2007 television interview. Beketov, who is in a wheelchair and unable to speak two years after a near-lethal attack, was wheeled into the courtroom for…
Egypt should free blogger held beyond his term
New York, November 10, 2010–Egyptian authorities must immediately release blogger Abdel Karim Suleiman, known online as Karim Amer, who completed his four-year prison sentence on November 5, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. CPJ also calls on authorities to investigate and punish a security officer who reportedly assaulted Amer on Tuesday.
That Nobel invite? Mr. Malware sent it
This weekend, staff at CPJ received a personal invitation to attend the Oslo awards ceremony for Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo. The invite, curiously, was in the form of an Adobe PDF document. We didn’t accept. We didn’t even open the e-mail. We did, however, begin analyzing the document to see was really inside…
Impunity on trial in the Philippines
The prosecution of dozens of defendants in the 2009 Maguindanao murders is testing a faltering judicial system in the Philippines. Bribes, intimidation, attacks, and flawed detective work already threaten to undermine the government’s case. Will this massacre go unpunished? A CPJ special report by Shawn W. Crispin
Audio report: Impunity on trial in the Philippines
In our special report, “Impunity on trial in the Philippines,” CPJ examines the troubled prosecution of defendants in the 2009 massacre of more than 30 journalists and media support workers in Maguindanao province. Among other problems, CPJ found that local investigators mishandled forensic evidence and failed to cooperate with federal prosecutors. Listen to the mp3…
Lauría interview on CNN Español
CPJ Senior Americas Program Coordinator Carlos Lauría was interviewed by CNN Español about the dangers facing journalists in Mexico. The interview took place in Washington where Lauría was participating in the event Silence or Death in Mexico’s Press at the Woodrow Wilson Center. The segment on press freedom in Mexico aired on November 8. Please…
Convictions are what are urgently needed
CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon was quoted in an article on CNN.com carried on November 6 about the nearly fatal attack against Russian journalist Oleg Kashin: “By failing to prosecute those who have carried out crimes against journalists in the past — including 19 murders committed in the Putin era — the Russian government has created…
Abdel Dayem quoted in New York Times
The New York Times quotes CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Mohamed Abdel Dayem in the article “Baghdad Studio of Feisty TV Station Shut Down in Dispute With Iraqi Government” carried on November 4:”The arrests and the forced closing are emblematic of the changing news environment, in which journalists are less likely than…
Moroccan authorities impeding Spanish journalists
New York, November 9, 2010–The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by an increasing climate of hostility for Spanish journalists in Morocco, highlighted by official measures to prevent Spanish journalists from covering clashes in the Western Sahara. CPJ calls on Rabat to allow journalists to do their work unimpeded.