Internet writer tried on anti-state charges
New York, April 26, 2005 – The Committee to Protect Journalists calls for the immediate release of Zheng Yichun, who was tried today in Yingkou Intermediate Court on charges of inciting subversion. Zheng, a prolific Internet writer and poet, has been imprisoned since December 3 after writing articles critical of the Communist Party and Chinese…
in separate case
New York, April 25, 2005—An Iraqi cameraman working for Associated Press Television News was killed on Saturday while covering fighting in the Iraqi city of Mosul, bringing to 41 the number of journalists killed in Iraq since March 2003. Saleh Ibrahim was killed by gunfire near the city’s al-Yarmouk Circle, the scene of an earlier…
IRAQ
APRIL 23, 2005 Posted: April 25, 2005 Saleh Ibrahim, APTN KILLED—CONFIRMED Ibrahim was killed by gunfire near the city’s al-Yarmouk Circle, the scene of an earlier explosion that he and his brother-in-law, AP photographer Mohamed Ibrahim, had gone to cover, according to The Associated Press. The AP said Mohamed Ibrahim suffered shrapnel wounds to the…
Three journalists sentenced to prison
New York, April 18, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the sentencing of three Egyptian journalists to one year in prison. In a Cairo criminal court yesterday, Abdel Nasser al-Zuheiry, Alaa al-Ghatrifi, and Youssef al-Oumi, reporters for the independent daily Al Masry El Youm (The Egyptian Today) were found guilty of defaming Egypt’s Minister of…
IRAQ
APRIL 15, 2005 Updated September 29, 2005 Saman Abdullah Izzedine, Kirkuk TV KILLED—CONFIRMED Unidentified assailants gunned down Izzedine, a 33-year-old news anchor for the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK)-backed Kirkuk TV as he was driving on the main highway from Kirkuk to Baghdad. Kurdish journalists in Kirkuk said that Izzedine’s car was fired on by…
Two Iraqi journalists killed in Baghdad bombings
New York, April 15, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists mourns the deaths of two Al-Hurriya television journalists who were killed in suicide bombings while on their way to an assignment in Baghdad yesterday morning. The station’s Baghdad director, Nawrooz Mohamed, told CPJ today that producer Fadhil Hazem Fadhil and cameraman Ali Ibrahim Issa were killed…
British journalists face trial on accreditation charges
New York, April 4, 2005—Zimbabwean government prosecutors are pushing ahead with a criminal trial of two journalists from the London-based Sunday Telegraph on accreditation charges that could bring two years in prison, the journalists’ lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa, said today. Toby Harnden, the newspaper’s chief foreign correspondent, and photographer Julian Simmonds have been jailed since their…
ZIMBABWE
MARCH 31, 2005 Posted: May 10, 2005 Toby Harnden, The Sunday TelegraphJulian Simmonds, The Sunday Telegraph IMPRISONED, LEGAL ACTION Harnden, chief foreign correspondent for the London-based Sunday Telegraph, and photographer Simmonds were arrested at a polling station in Norton, a town near the capital, Harare, according to a statement from the newspaper. The journalists were…
Wave of violence against Bangladeshi press goes unchecked
Your Excellency: One year after the Committee to Protect Journalists conducted a fact-finding mission to Bangladesh in response to a pattern of violence against the press, death threats and deadly attacks against journalists continue at an alarming rate. You offered assurances last year that the press in Bangladesh “enjoys full press freedom,” but that freedom is at great risk today. We are deeply concerned about this press freedom crisis, and join with our Bangladeshi colleagues in calling for swift and decisive action to stanch this relentless tide of violence against journalists.