Sami al-Haj: From Gitmo Detainee Back to Al Jazeera as Liberties/Human Rights Advocate
Sami al-Haj has now returned to Al Jazeera, an organization he previously worked for a decade ago as a cameraman covering the then nascent war in Afghanistan. While on assignment in December 2001 he was delayed by a passport problem during a routine over land crossing into the country from Pakistan. Quickly named an ‘enemy combatant’ by the U.S.…
Olympics-Chinese Media Watch: Silence on human rights, pollution reassurances
A report on human rights violations in China is being ignored in the government-controlled media. Human rights organization Amnesty International reported that China has failed to keep Olympic-related promises regarding the treatment of its citizens. The report highlights China’s high number of death penalty cases. Neither central nor provincial media cover the report today. But a handful of bloggers do.…
Tunisian government denies passport to CPJ representative
New York, January 2, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned the Tunisian government’s denial of a passport to Kamel Labidi, a freelance Tunisian journalist and CPJ’s Middle East representative. On July 17, Labidi, a Tunisian national, applied for a new passport at the Tunisian Embassy in Washington after losing his old one. A representative…
Authorities seize independent publisher’s passport
New York, December 9, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the seizure of the passport of Trevor Ncube, owner and director of Zimbabwe’s two remaining independent newspapers and of South Africa’s Mail and Guardian. Ncube was ordered to hand over his passport on Thursday when he landed in Zimbabwe at Bulawayo airport from South Africa…
Correspondent detained, passport seized
New York, June 20, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the continued harassment of Tulkin Karayev, a correspondent for the London-based Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR). Police in the southern Uzbek city of Karshi stopped Karayev last Thursday as he was trying to travel to the capital, Tashkent, to seek medical treatment, Karayev…
Moscow court upholds denial of travel passport to Grigory Pasko
New York, August 12, 2003—The Moscow City Court upheld an earlier July 24 district court ruling today denying a foreign passport to Russian journalist Grigory Pasko. Ivan Pavlov, Pasko’s attorney, told CPJ in a telephone interview today that Pasko plans to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France. Pasko was convicted…
Court rejects journalist’s appeal for travel passport
New York, July 24, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply disappointed with today’s ruling by Moscow’s Lyublinsky District Court to uphold Moscow’s Southeastern District Visa and Registration Authorities (OVIR) decision to deny a foreign passport to journalist Grigory Pasko. Pasko was convicted of treason and sentenced to four years in prison on December…
Journalist Grigory Pasko denied travel passport
New York, July 10, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is dismayed that Moscow’s southeastern district visa and registration authorities (OVIR) have denied a foreign passport to journalist Grigory Pasko, who was released from prison in January after serving more than two years in prison. Pasko told CPJ in a telephone interview that officials denied…
CPJ and Human Rights Watch Protest Ongoing Harassment of Tunisian Journalist
New York, April 5, 2000–In a joint letter sent today to Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Human Rights Watch (HRW) strongly protested the Tunisian authorities’ continued harassment of journalist Taoufik Ben Brik, who is being persecuted solely for exercising his internationally guaranteed right to freedom of expression.…
CPJ joins calls for Azerbaijan to release Khadija Ismayilova
In a statement to mark the one-year anniversary of the imprisonment of Azerbaijani journalist Khadija Ismayilova, Sport for Rights –a coalition of international press freedom groups that includes the Committee to Protect Journalists–called for the immediate and unconditional release of Ismayilova and all other journalists and rights activists jailed in Azerbaijan for their work. The…