CPJ calls on Mexico to investigate reporter’s killing
New York, May 26, 2009–The Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement in response to the killing of Mexican crime reporter Eliseo Barrón of the Torreón-based daily La Opinión that belongs to the Milenio media group. Barrón was abducted by unidentified hooded gunmen Monday and found dead this morning in the town of Gómez…
Six senators call for Ebrima Manneh’s immediate release
Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) leads a group of six senators to call for the immediate release of the former state Daily Observer newspaper, “Chief” Ebrima Manneh today. Colleagues at the newspaper say they witnessed two plainclothes Gambian National Intelligence Agency officers whisk Manneh, right, away in July 2006. He has not been seen since despite repeated calls…
Petition seeks a ‘soft law’ ruling in Manneh disappearance
Eyewitnesses saw him being led away. “We were in our Banjul newsroom on July 7, 2006, working on the next issue of the Daily Observer, when two plainclothes officers with the Gambian National Intelligence Agency approached Chief,” wrote Observer editor and correspondent Ousman Darboe. “I knew one of the officers as a Corporal Sey. They…
TV reporter gunned down, cameraman injured in Guatemala
New York, April 2, 2009–The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Guatemalan authorities today to conduct an immediate and thorough investigation into the shooting of a two-man TV crew in Guatemala City on Wednesday. Unidentified gunmen killed veteran reporter Rolando Santiz and injured cameraman Antonio de León.
Getting Away With Murder 2009
CPJ’s Impunity Index spotlights countrieswhere journalists are slain and killers go free New York, March 23, 2009 — The already murderous conditions for the press in Sri Lanka and Pakistan deteriorated further in the past year, the Committee to Protect Journalists has found in its newly updated Impunity Index, a list of countries where journalists…
CPJ presses Tunisia on poor press freedom record
Dear Mr. President: The Committee to Protect Journalists urges you on the eve of the 53rd anniversary of Tunisia’s independence from France to end an ongoing cycle of repression of critical journalists and media outlets. We ask that you abide by the commitment you have made repeatedly since coming to power in 1987 to promote freedom of expression. The last time you reiterated this commitment was in November 2008 at a rally in Tunis marking the 21st anniversary of your ascent to power.
Egypt must halt campaign against bloggers
Dear Mr. President: CPJ is writing to protest the relentless campaign of persecution against Internet journalists and bloggers by Egypt’s various security services. Regrettably, the routine harassment and detention of bloggers, according to CPJ research, is only one element of an overall decline in press freedom in Egypt in recent years.
CPJ concerned about rise in unpunished attacks in Nepal
Dear Prime Minister Dahal: On December 29, your government signed an agreement with local press freedom group the Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ), ending a week of protest by journalists against a series of attacks on media outlets which peaked in late December. That agreement promised that those attacks would be addressed.
CPJ urges Zimbabwe to improve media climate
Dear Prime Minister: The decision to form a unified government in Zimbabwe has created a welcome opportunity to address oppressive government decrees and media laws that have long stifled press freedom. Your party, the Movement for Democratic Change, has long made freedom of the press a central policy and you have repeatedly stated your aspirations to privatize the state-controlled media.