Defamation

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In Burundi, 2nd editor arrested in less than a month

New York, August 11, 2010–Burundian police on Tuesday arrested Thierry Ndayishimiye, chief editor of the private weekly Arc-en-Ciel, on defamation charges related to a story about alleged government corruption. Ndayishimiye is the second Burundian editor to be jailed in less than a month.

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Barzani's KDP wants a to shut a newspaper that raised questions about its activities. (AP/Thierry Charlier)

Barzani’s KDP targets paper that alleged oil smuggling

New York, August 5, 2010—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) led by Masoud Barzani, president of the Kurdish Regional Government, to drop a defamation complaint against an opposition weekly, Rozhnama. The complaint, filed under Saddam Hussein-era criminal statutes, seeks US$1 billion in damages and the closing of the newspaper.

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U.S. Senate passes ‘libel tourism’ bill

This week, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed a bill shielding journalists and publishers from “libel tourism.” The vote on Monday slipped past the Washington press corps largely unnoticed. Maybe it was the title that strove chunkily for a memorable acronym: the Securing the Protection of our Enduring and Established Constitutional Heritage (SPEECH) Act. Journalists and…

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Egyptian court imposes sentence in 1996 libel case

New York, July 13, 2010—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns an Egyptian court’s decision to sentence a jailed opposition leader to a year in prison for defaming a former minister more than 14 years ago.

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Freelance journalist sued and allegedly threatened in Iraq

New York, July 8, 2010—Shwan Ahmed, a freelance Iraqi journalist, is facing criminal defamation charges based on a series of articles he wrote alleging corruption in Sulaimaniyah, in northeastern Iraq. Ahmed told CPJ he was threatened by one of the parties in the case.

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(Estudio1panama.com)

Veteran Panamanian journalist jailed on defamation charges

New York, June 30, 2010—A 70-year-old Panamanian journalist arrested and jailed Saturday on a 2008 defamation conviction should be immediately released, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.The charges against Carlos Núñez López, at left, stemmed from a 2005 story in the now-defunct weekly newspaper La Crónica about environmental damage in the province of Bocas del Toro, his lawyer, Luis…

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Singapore twice fined the Dow Jones-owned Wall Street Journal Asia over its editorials. (AP)

CJR: Singapore not so modern on press freedom

Singapore is a rich country with a surprisingly poor press freedom record—so says a story out this week in the Columbia Journalism Review. CPJ’s own findings point to a series of court fines and damages awarded over slights to the country’s government by major international papers like The New York Times and The Wall Street…

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Peruvian Supreme Court frees editor jailed for defamation

New York, June 21, 2010—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes Friday’s decision by the Peruvian Supreme Court to release Alejandro Carrascal Carrasco, editor of the weekly newspaper Nor Oriente, who was sentenced on January 12 to one year in prison on defamation charges.

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Venezuelan columnist sentenced to prison for defamation

New York, June 14, 2010—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the nearly four-year prison term given to Venezuelan columnist Francisco “Pancho” Pérez on defamation charges, according to local news reports and CPJ’s interviews.

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Peruvian radio host jailed on defamation charges

New York, June 10, 2010—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Wednesday’s sentencing of radio journalist Oswaldo Pereyra Moreno to one year in prison on criminal defamation charges in San Lorenzo, northern Peru, according to local news reports and CPJ interviews.

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