Sport for Rights

Journalists in prison as of December 1, 2008 Read the accompanying report: “Online and in jail”

New York, November 21, 2008–A Burmese court sentenced entertainer, blogger, and activist Maung Thura–known by his stage name, “Zarganar”–to 45 years in prison today for violations of the Electronics Act, according to Burmese rights groups and international news reports. Sports journalist Zaw Thet Htwe, and two other defendants were also sentenced to at least 15…

New York, November 3, 2008–Croatian police have charged five men in the October 23 murder of two employees of the Zagreb-based political weekly Nacional, according to international news reports.

New York, October 15, 2008–Nguyen Viet Chien, a reporter for the Vietnamese daily newspaper Thanh Nien who broke major stories on high-level government corruption in 2006, was sentenced today to two years in prison after being found guilty of “abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the state,” according to news reports.

Dear President Medvedev, The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned that Russia has recently denied entry to international journalists who have worked in the country regularly. We are especially concerned that Russian authorities have used a law that implies the journalists represent a threat to the country, but gives no explanation as to how.

Tunisia wants you to believe it is a progressive nation that protects human rights. It is, in fact, a police state that aggressively silences anyone who challenges President Ben Ali.

Dear Secretary Rice: The Committee to Protect Journalists is writing to express its deep concern about the safety of Slim Boukhdhir, a Tunisian Internet journalist who has faced increasing harassment since he echoed your recent call to President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to take further steps toward media and Internet reform.

New York, September 22, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the abduction for nearly two hours on Saturday of Internet journalist Slim Boukhdhir, who has been continuously harassed since he was freed in July after a politically motivated imprisonment. Boukhdhir, who spent eight months in prison for writing articles critical of President Zine…

As the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing came to an official close yesterday, many news outlets are looking at back what the Games mean for human rights in China. The Canadian Press has a piece arguing that nothing has changed, despite the pleasant face China put on for its international visitors. The Ottawa Citizen  is…