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,…
In Niger, two journalists sentenced to 18 months in jail
New York, September 5, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by 18-month prison sentences and heavy fines handed down against the director and editor of the Niger private weekly Le Républicain on charges of defaming the government and publishing false news. A court in the capital, Niamey, found Director Maman Abou and Editor Oumarou…
CPJ condemns continued detention of two journalists
New York, August 14, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply troubled by Niger’s continued detention of Le Républicain Director Maman Abou and Editor Oumarou Keita following their trial today on charges of spreading “false news” and defaming the government. The two have been in jail since August 4 in connection with a July opinion…
CPJ condemns jailing of two journalists in Niger
New York, August 7, 2006—The director and editor of the private weekly Le Républicain have been held in police custody since Friday and questioned over a July opinion piece suggesting that Prime Minister Hama Amadou was “deserting the West for Iran.” Director Maman Abou said that he and Editor Oumarou Keita have been accused of…
In Iraq, two journalists slain
New York, August 2, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the murders of two Iraqi journalists who were killed in separate weekend attacks by masked assailants. Seventy-five journalists and 27 media support workers have been killed in Iraq since the war began on March 20, 2003, making it the deadliest conflict in CPJ’s 25-year history.…
Pakistan: Missing journalist found killed
New York, June 16, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is greatly distressed by reports that abducted Pakistani journalist Hayatullah Khan has been found dead. International news agencies reported that Khan’s body was found today by villagers in the North Waziristan town of Mir Ali, from where he was abducted on December 5.
Two journalists freed on bail
June 15, 2006 Original Alert: February 16, 2006 Elham Afroutan and Mohsen Dorostkar, Tammadon-e Hormozgan IMPRISONED On January 29, Mohsen Dorostkar, editor-in-chief of Tammadon-e Hormozgan, and Elham Afroutan, a journalist for the weekly, were among seven journalists jailed after publishing a satirical article written by an Iranian Web blogger in Germany, and likening Iran’s 1979…
State paper closed, editor and cartoonist charged
New York, May 23, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by the closure today of an Iranian state newspaper, and the arrest of its editor-in-chief and a cartoonist who published a cartoon that sparked riots by ethnic Azeris in the northwestern city of Tabriz. Tehran’s chief prosecutor, Saeed Mortazavi, ordered the arrest of Mehrdad…