Attacks on the Press 2007: Zimbabwe
It’s the vacuum that illustrates the problem–all of the reporters who have fled, the news outlets that have closed, the stories that have gone unreported. Seven years of government intimidation and deteriorating economic conditions have prompted a steady flow of Zimbabwean journalists to leave the country. CPJ has documented at least 48 journalists as having…
CPJ asks Somali PM to end press freedom abuses
Dear Prime Minister, As a nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization of journalists committed to supporting our colleagues around the world, we are concerned about an ongoing pattern of arbitrary arrests and threats by government officials against Somali journalists. It is within your power to put an end to this harassment, which is contrary to international standards of press freedom. As you recently expressed, it is time to end these abuses.
AP photographer is latest in long list of U.S. detainees
New York, December 7, 2007—Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein, held by the U.S. military without charge for nearly 20 months, is scheduled to face unspecified charges in an Iraqi court on Sunday. Hussein is among a number of journalists who have been held by the U.S. military in Iraq for prolonged periods.
U.S. says AP photographer in Iraq will be charged
New York, November 20, 2007—The U.S. military has said it plans to prosecute an award-winning Associated Press photographer it has held for more than 19 months without charge for alleged links to Iraqi insurgents, but has not revealed evidence of the journalist’s alleged criminal wrongdoing. The U.S. military informed the AP on Sunday that it…
Somali government silences three radio stations in two days
New York, November 13, 2007—Somalia’s U.S. and Ethiopian-backed government has forced three prominent private radio stations off the air since Monday over their coverage of the bloody conflict centered in Mogadishu, according to news reports and local journalists. In a press conference today, Mogadishu Mayor Mohamed “Dheere” Omar Habeeb accused the private stations Radio Banadir…
Al-Jazeera cameraman’s health deteriorates at Guantanamo
New York, October 10, 2007—An Al-Jazeera cameraman held at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay for five years without charge is in deteriorating health as a result of a hunger strike, his lawyer told the Committee to Protect Journalists. The lawyer also revealed that the U.S. military, in a recent hearing, cited cameraman Sami…
Former BBC captive voices support for detained Al-Jazeera cameraman
New York, October 4, 2007—A BBC reporter kidnapped and held captive in the Gaza Strip for nearly four months this year is expressing his support for Al-Jazeera cameraman Sami al-Haj, who has been held for more than five years without charge at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Tunisian court evicts weekly from office
New York, October 2, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply disturbed by a Tunisian court decision to evict the weekly Al-Mawkif from premises it has been using in downtown Tunis since 1994. On Monday, a misdemeanor court in Tunis ordered the eviction of Al-Mawkif, published since 1984 by the opposition Progressive Democratic Party (PDP),…
Al-Jazeera cameraman’s health said to deteriorate
New York, August 24, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by reports that an Al-Jazeera cameraman held at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for more than five years without charge is in failing health. Sami al-Haj, an assistant cameraman for Al-Jazeera who has been on hunger strike since January, has lost…