Attacks on the Press 2006: Niger
NIGER Authorities used a repressive press law to jail journalists despite President Mamadou Tandja’s 2004 pledge to abolish prison terms for so-called press offenses. Three journalists spent months behind bars, prompting demonstrations and international outcry. In a country suffering from chronic food shortages, the private press frequently accused public figures of corruption and the mismanagement…
Attacks on the Press 2006: Countries That Have Jailed Journalists
ALGERIA: 2 Djamel Eddine Fahassi, Alger Chaîne III IMPRISONED: May 6, 1995 Fahassi, a reporter for the state-run radio station Alger Chaîne III and a contributor to several Algerian newspapers, including the now-banned weekly of the Islamic Salvation Front, Al-Forqane, was abducted near his home in the al-Harrache suburb of the capital, Algiers, by four…
Court extends journalists’ pretrial detention
New York, January 12, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists deplores a Baku court’s decision to extend by two months the pretrial detention of two journalists accused of insulting the Prophet Muhammad. Editor-in-Chief Samir Sadagatoglu and reporter Rafiq Tagi of the independent newspaper Senet were arrested on November 15, after publishing an article that alleged Islam’s…
Jailed Internet journalists on the rise?
Rukmini Callimachi Associated Press Newswires December, 8 2006 NEW YORK (AP) – When Iranian journalist Mojtaba Saminejad was sentenced to two years in prison for insulting the country’s Supreme Leader, it was not for an article that appeared in a newspaper. His offending story was posted on his personal Web blog.
In Colombia, Telesur correspondent detained on terror charges
New York, November 21, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by the detention on Sunday night of Fredy Muñoz Altamiranda, Colombian correspondent for the regional television network Telesur. Agents of the Colombian national intelligence service, the Administrative Department of Security (DAS), detained Muñoz at 9 p.m. at Eldorado International Airport in Bogotá as he…
CPJ condemns continued imprisonment of journalists
New York, September 25, 2006—An appeals court in Niger today upheld 18-month jail sentences for two journalists convicted of defamation and spreading false information in an article criticizing Prime Minister Hama Amadou. The court in the capital Niamey rejected a defense motion which challenged the competence of the criminal court that convicted Maman Abou and…
Appeals court upholds jail sentence of Kurdish journalist
New York, September 15, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the ruling of an Iranian appeals court upholding a one-year prison sentence against Kurdish journalist and human rights activist Mohammad Sadiq Kabudvand. The court of appeals in the northwestern province of Kurdistan ordered him to serve the suspended jail term, the semiofficial Iranian…
Authorities close prominent critical daily and a monthly
New York, September 11, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalist condemns the closure of Iran’s most prominent critical newspaper today for failing to remove an executive accused of publishing blasphemous articles and insulting officials. Authorities shuttered the daily Sharq saying it had not replaced managing director, Mohammad Rahmanian, as ordered in a letter on August 10,…