Police beat two photographers covering Kashmir unrest
New York, September 27, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Saturday’s attack on photographers Rafiq Maqbool of The Associated Press, and Amin War of the national newspaper The Tribune, who were beaten by police while covering a violent demonstration in Srinagar, the summer capital of war-torn Kashmir. Maqbool and War were photographing as many as…
KREMLIN PRESSURES LITHUANIA TO CLOSE PRO-CHECHEN WEB SITE
New York, September 21, 2004—Lithuania’s State Security Department (VSD) closed the pro-Chechen Web site KavkazCenter on Friday after coming under intense pressure from the Kremlin, according to local and international press reports. The closure came one week after Lithuanian Ambassador to Russia Rimantas Sidlauskas was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow for an…
Daily News directors cleared of publishing illegally
New York, September 21, 2004—On Monday, September 20, a magistrate’s court in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, acquitted four directors of the independent, banned newspaper the Daily News, who had been charged with publishing the newspaper illegally. The court ruled that the state had “failed to show a prima facie case against the accused,” according to international…
Reporter killed in ambush after broadcast about crime wave
New York, September 16, 2004—A Dominican reporter was ambushed and killed by gunmen this week, moments after a radio broadcast in which he reported on a bloody crime wave that has pitted gang members against police in the southern town of Azua, according to local news reports. Juan Emilio Andújar Matos, host of Radio Azua’s…
At least eight journalists attacked in Dhaka campus unrest
New York, September 14, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the violent attacks by pro-government activists on at least eight journalists covering demonstrations on the Dhaka University campus in the capital, Dhaka, last Saturday, September 11. Members of the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s youth wing, the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD), went on a rampage around…
DRC: Fragile Freedom
Unrest shatters press freedom gains in the Democratic Republic of Congo with attacks and imprisonments surging yet again.A Special report by Julia Crawford The fragile state of press freedom in the Democratic Republic of Congo was shattered when the eastern city of Bukavu fell briefly to Rwandan-backed rebels in early June. State-imposed restrictions and imprisonment,…
Government expels last foreign correspondent
New York, September 10, 2004—The last remaining foreign correspondent in Eritrea left the country yesterday after the government ordered his expulsion, he told the Committee to Protect Journalists in an interview today. Jonah Fisher, who worked in Eritrea for 18 months as correspondent for the BBC and Reuters, said authorities gave no reason for his…
Jakarta court delays Tempo verdict as international observers crowd courtroom
Jakarta, Sept. 7, 2004—Under intense scrutiny from the international media and press advocates from around the world, a court yesterday delayed its verdict in a criminal defamation case widely seen as a grave threat to press freedom in Indonesia. No official reason was given for delaying a verdict in the trial of Tempo editor Bambang…
Interim government imposes indefinite ban on Al-Jazeera
New York, September 7, 2004—Iraq’s interim government has imposed an indefinite ban on newsgathering by Al-Jazeera, extending a temporary suspension and saying the satellite news channel had failed to properly explain its coverage. The Committee to Protect Journalists has called on Iraqi leaders to reverse the ban immediately, saying it “amounts to censorship that further…
POLICE STORM NAJAF HOTEL, DETAIN AND THREATEN DOZENS OF JOURNALISTS
New York, August 26, 2004—Iraqi police, some masked and firing weapons, threatened and detained dozens of journalists Wednesday night at a hotel in the southern city of Najaf, where U.S. forces have battled with Shiite insurgents for several weeks. The Committee to Protect Journalists is outraged by this “thuggery,” Executive Director Ann Cooper said today.…