CPJ calls on minister to reverse ABC decision
Dear Minister Lavrov: The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the Foreign Ministry’s pattern of using accreditation, visa and other regulations to control and intimidate journalists reporting on the war in Chechnya for foreign media. The Foreign Ministry escalated this campaign against foreign news media by moving this week to bar the U.S. television network ABC from reporting in Russia.
IRAQ
AUGUST 3, 2005 Posted: August 4, 2005 Steven Vincent, freelance KILLED—CONFIRMED Vincent, who had written for a number of U.S. publications and was working on a book, was abducted along with his translator, Noor al-Khal, on August 2. They were taken by armed men driving what initial press reports described variously as a pickup truck…
American journalist murdered in Basra
New York, August 3, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is shocked and alarmed by the murder of U.S. freelance journalist and author Steven Vincent, whose bullet-riddled body was found today in the southern Iraqi city of Basra. Vincent, who had written for a number of U.S. publications and was working on a book, was abducted…
CPJ condemns harassment of journalists by Royal Nepalese Army
New York, August 1, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the harassment and intimidation of three journalists by security forces in Nepal’s mid-western Dailekh district in retaliation for their reports alleging that the Royal Nepalese Army is recruiting children to work as informants. Harihar Singh Rathour, a reporter for Kantipur daily and Kathmandu Post; Pushkar…
Journalist freed two months after abduction by Maoists
New York, July 11, 2005—Maoist rebels on Saturday released Som Sharma, a reporter in eastern Nepal’s Ilam district who was abducted from his home nearly two months ago. Maoist leaders also called off the house arrest of Ilam-based reporter Umesh Gurung, calling their actions against him a “mistake,” according to local news reports Sharma, a…
French journalist, Iraqi interpreter freed after five months in captivity
New York, June 13, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release of a French journalist and her Iraqi interpreter who had been held captive in Iraq for more than five months. Florence Aubenas, a veteran foreign correspondent for the French daily Liberation, and her Iraqi interpreter Hussein Hanoun al-Saadi, were freed on Saturday. Hanoun…
Journalists injured as protests continue in Nepal
New York, June 10, 2005—Several Nepalese journalists were injured, at least one seriously, as police clashed with reporters and photographers demonstrating against government media restrictions and detentions in protests across the country yesterday, according to local news reports. Guru Prasad Gautum, secretary of a local chapter of the Federation of Nepalese Journalists, remained hospitalized today…
NEPAL
JUNE 3, 2005 Posted: June 15, 2005 Bikram Giri, Kantipur ABDUCTED Maoist rebels abducted Giri on June 3 while he was traveling near the village of Changru in the far western Darchula district, according to Kantipur. Giri was released June 10 after the Federation of Nepalese Journalists appealed to the Maoists.