Pro-government group threatens Venezuelan media outlets
New York, February 9, 2009–In an interview published on Friday, the leader of the Venezuelan pro-government group La Piedrita took responsibility for a series of attacks against local journalists and media outlets, and threatened to attack the 24-hours news channel Globovisión and RCTV Director Marcel Granier. The Committee to Protect Journalists called today on Venezuelan…
After mysterious fire, online columnist dead in Congo
New York, February 6, 2009–An online columnist known for criticizing the government and alleging high-level corruption was buried in the Republic of Congo today following his death in a military hospital on Monday, according to local journalists. Bruno Ossébi, left, was badly burned in a late-night fire at his residence on January 21, although he…
Pro-opposition journalist severely beaten in Kazakhstan
New York, February 6, 2009–Following a vicious attack in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on a reporter for a pro-opposition weekly, the Committee to Protect Journalists called today for the Kazakh authorities to conduct a thorough and transparent investigation and to bring the assailants to justice.
Journalists allege assault aboard ship near Gaza
New York, February 6, 2009–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Israel to return confiscated news footage of its navy allegedly firing on and boarding a ship on Thursday. Journalists who were on board say they filmed Israeli soldiers assaulting a passenger, and that they were later beaten after their equipment had been confiscated, a…
Newspaper editor attacked in Moscow region
New York, February 5, 2009–Russian authorities must launch a serious investigation into an evident attack on Yuri Grachev, editor of pro-opposition weekly Solnechnogorsky Forum, who is hospitalized with a concussion, broken nose, and lacerated cheek, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. An initial statement from authorities, which suggested the injuries might be the result…
Riot police assault Al-Jazeera crew in Jordan
While covering a demonstration in Amman, Jordan, on January 9, 2009, against Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip, riot police attacked an Al-Jazeera crew, the network reported. Bureau Chief Yassir Abu Hilala, and cameramen Malik al-Laham, Muhammad al-Huwaiti, and Safwan al-Awawida were all treated at a local hospital.
Anti-government protests burn two TV stations
New York, January 26, 2008–Angry opposition supporters burned down two pro-government television stations in the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar today, a few hours after authorities destroyed the antenna of an opposition radio station, according to news reports and local journalists.
Editor injured in latest media assault
New York, January 23, 2009–President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government must act to stem a worsening security crisis in the media in the wake of another attack on a Sri Lankan newspaper editor outside the capital, Colombo, this morning, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
How diamond rings silence Zimbabwe’s foreign press
The Hong Kong police announced on Monday they would investigate the alleged assault on photographer Richard Jones by Zimbabwe’s first lady, Grace Mugabe, while she was on vacation. On January 15, Jones claimed Mugabe ordered her bodyguard to hold the photographer down while she punched him repeatedly in the face near Hong Kong’s exclusive Shangri-la…
Internet journalist beaten in Almaty
New York, January 20, 2008–Several unidentified assailants attacked Yermek Boltai, a reporter and editor for the Web site of the Kazakh service of the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, in Kazakhstan’s financial capital of Almaty on Sunday, the broadcaster reported. The assailants reportedly did not take any of the editor’s valuables, including his money…