Iran is world’s top jailer of journalists
New York, July 7, 2009–With at least 30 journalists currently in prison, Iran replaces China as the world’s worst jailer of journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. CPJ called on the Iranian authorities to release all journalists who have been detained following the country’s disputed June 12 presidential elections.
Young journalist held in Iran, ‘a country I love so much’
Iason Athanasiadis is still a young man at 30, but he’s an old school, shoe leather journalist. “Journalism’s deepest, most honest contributions inevitably spring from on-the-ground reporting, unencumbered by policy agendas in Washington, London, or other foreign capitals,” writes Sandy Tolan, author and University of Southern California journalism professor, today in Salon. “That’s what epitomizes the work of…
Thai press club’s board charged with lese majeste
New York, July 2, 2009–The Committee to Protect Journalists rejects the politically motivated lese majeste charges filed on Tuesday by a private citizen against board members of the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand (FCCT). Violations of lese majeste laws are a criminal offense in Thailand, punishable by three to 15 years in prison.
An Iraqi in America: How I became a refugee (Part I)
On a cold winter evening–Jan. 29, 2004–I was getting ready to start my first night shift as an interpreter for the U.S. Army in Baghdad. It wasn’t really that cold, but my whole body was chilled. It was around 6 p.m. but already dark. I was an 18-year-old freshman in the College of Arts studying…
In Ugandan courts, important press battles
In Uganda last week, four journalists from the leading daily Monitor filed notice that they would challenge the constitutionality of the criminal libel laws before the Supreme Court, the country’s highest court, according to the newspaper’s lawyer, James Nangwala.
Dagestan authorities try to close independent weekly
New York, June 17, 2009–Authorities in the southern Russian republic of Dagestan should immediately halt efforts to shut the Makhachkala-based independent weekly Chernovik and should drop extremism charges against editor Nadira Isayeva and four reporters, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Kosovo must probe death threats against BIRN staff
Dear Prime Minister Thaci: As an independent, nonpartisan organization defending press freedom worldwide, the Committee to Protect Journalists urges you to publicly condemn and thoroughly investigate a recent wave of threats against Jeta Xharra, head of the Kosovo office of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN), and her colleagues.