Request to NATO for clarification on Libya TV attack
On July 30, NATO warplanes attacked three transmission towers in Libya. The goal apparently was to knock Libyan state television off the air because, NATO alleged, “it was being used as an integral component of the regime apparatus designed to systematically oppress and threaten civilians and to incite attacks against them.”
Rwandan paper calls president a ‘sociopath’, apologizes
Sometimes when a paper produces a defamatory piece, an apology will be published on page two in the next edition along with the day’s news. In Rwanda, it would appear, a paper will use an entire edition to apologize–if the insults were directed at the president. The latest issue of Ishema, at left, is perhaps a…
Ivory Coast censors paper for column on Obama meeting
New York, August 4, 2011–The government of Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara, who pledged to uphold democracy in a Friday meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama, has suspended a newspaper over a reprinted opinion column criticizing the White House meeting, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Peru must take steps to decriminalize defamation
Dear President Humala: We congratulate you on your first week in office as president of Peru and would like to take this opportunity to urge you to sign into law a recent bill passed by Congress that eliminates prison terms for defamation, an important first step toward the decriminalization of libel in your country. At a time when archaic criminal defamation laws are being used by officials to punish critical reporters, we call on you to uphold your pledge to protect freedom of expression by signing this bill and promoting the necessary changes toward a complete decriminalization of libel, leaving redress for this offense to civil courts.
Burundi government harassing independent broadcasters
New York, August 3, 2011–The government of Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza is attempting to silence critical press coverage of his administration with incessant judicial harassment of two of the country’s leading independent broadcasters, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Iran continues to target journalists
New York, August 3, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists is dismayed by news reports in Iran indicating that furloughed journalists are being summoned back to prison while new journalists continue to be convicted on manufactured charges. Reports of journalists’ deteriorating physical and mental health are equally disturbing. “That the legal rights of accused and imprisoned journalists…
Critical journalist murdered in Dominican Republic
New York, August 3, 2011–The body of José Agustín Silvestre, a critical Dominican journalist who ran a magazine and hosted a television program, was found Tuesday morning shortly after he was seized by gunmen in the southeastern city of La Romana, according to local press reports.
Habeas corpus writ seeks Dawit Isaac, jailed for 3,600 days
Journalist Dawit Isaac, co-founder of Eritrea’s now-defunct leading newspaper Setit, has spent nearly 10 years in one of the reclusive Red Sea nation’s secret prisons with no charges ever placed against him. Isaac’s location and health status are currently unknown, as are those of at least 16 other journalists who CPJ believes are also being…
Afghan journalist’s death is a loss for press freedom
Ahmad Omaid Khpalwak covered violent news. His last two stories for Pajhwok Afghan News, before he died on July 28 in a major attack in Tarin Kot, capital of Uruzgan province, were about an attack on police checkpoints in which both Taliban and police were killed, and an interview with a would-be suicide bomber. Few of…
Chinese TV producer suspended for crash reportage
New York, August 2, 2011–The suspension of a state television producer for his coverage of last week’s fatal train crash sends a disturbing message to Chinese media outlets, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Information authorities intensified media restrictions at the end of last week in an effort to restrain the unusually probing media treatment of the July…