Prominent Afghan reporter attacked with acid
New York, January 19, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists is greatly concerned about the acid attack on Afghan journalist and author Razaq Mamoon, which left him disfigured. Local and international media reports say Mamoon was attacked as he was walking outside his apartment in Kabul on Tuesday evening.
Obama urged to press Hu for release of jailed Chinese journalists
Yahoo News ran a story on the letter CPJ sent to U.S. President Barack Obama this week. In the letter CPJ urges Obama to ensure that upcoming talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao include China’s persistent record of censorship and media repression. Yahoo News quotes part of the letter written by CPJ Executive Director Joel…
Jailed Chinese journalist, freed on medical parole, dies
New York, January 13, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists mourns the death on December 31 of Zhang Jianhong, the founder of Aiqinghai (Aegean Sea), a popular website closed by the Chinese government in 2006, according to several human rights groups. Zhang had been sentenced to six years in prison by a court in Ningbo in…
CPJ asks Obama to raise jailed Chinese journalists with Hu
Dear President Obama: The Committee to Protect Journalists is writing to you in advance of Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit to the United States in January to urge you to raise press freedom issues during your talks. We ask that you make clear the depth of U.S. concern that China is the world’s leading jailer of journalists.
For Cuban dissidents, prison is the only destination
I was born beneath the yoke of a tyranny, now more than 50 years old, in which prison is the only destination for its deterrents. I first came across this destination in 1997, when I was sentenced to five years in prison for the alleged crime of committing an outrage “against state security.” In Cuba,…
CPJ Impact
News from the Committee to Protect Journalists, December 2010 2010: Setting records and strengthening protection of the pressAs the Committee to Protect Journalists nears its 30th anniversary in 2011, the organization has made strides in expanding its reach, solidifying concrete assistance to journalists in emergency situations, confronting impunity and advocating for justice around the world so…
CPJ skeptical of official line on Chinese reporter’s beating
New York, December 22, 2010–The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the vicious beating of reporter Sun Hongjie and doubts official reports that the attack occurred because of an online dispute with a social media acquaintance. Sun, a reporter for the Northern Xinjiang Morning Post (known locally at the Beijiang Morning Post) was attacked by a group…
Committee sees sharp rise in jailed journalists
The Associated Press ran a story about CPJ’s 2010 prison census on December 8 along with several other media outlets around the world. CPJ’s analysis concludes Iran’s sustained crackdown on critical voices and China’s brutal suppression of ethnic journalism have pushed the number of journalists imprisoned worldwide to its highest level since 1996. Click here…
Internet Blotter
Venezuela prepares law to regulate media, including the Internet. Iranian blogger Hossein Derakhshan briefly released from jail on $1.5 million bail… …but fellow Iranian-Canadian anti-censorship software designer Saeed Malekpour still faces death penalty. Syrian telecom minister says awareness of the dangers, not censorship of the Internet is the solution.