Imprisoned

We issued the following statement in response to reports today from the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) that imprisoned U.S. journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling have been pardoned and will be released:

The Committee to Protect Journalists is encouraged by news reports that former U.S. President Bill Clinton traveled to North Korea to negotiate the release of two American television journalists, Euna Lee and Laura Ling. They were convicted on June 8 of entering North Korea illegally and planning “hostile acts” and were sentenced to 12 years’…

New York, July 31, 2009–Iran’s official news agency claimed that a prominent filmmaker arrested Thursday has been released, but there is no independent confirmation. Two other documentarians detained at the same time remain in custody, according to international news reports.

New York, July 30, 2009–After more than a month of detention, several journalists may face trial beginning on Saturday on charges of “sending pictures to enemy media.” Three documentary filmmakers were arrested today, bringing the total of journalists currently held in Iranian jails to 42, the highest count in the world.

New York, July 29, 2009–The Committee to Protect Journalists rejects the alleged confessions by two detained Iranian photographers held incommunicado in Iran since their arrests earlier this month. The two allegedly confessed to sending pictures to the “enemy” following the country’s disputed June 12 presidential elections, according to the official Iranian News Agency (IRNA).

New York, July 24, 2009–The Committee to Protect Journalists called on the Egyptian authorities today to explain why they have detained three bloggers this week without charge.  

CPJ will be collecting signatures until July 31 on a Facebook petition in support of Maziar Bahari, Newsweek’s Tehran correspondent, who is being held without charge in Iran.

Dear Prime Minister: We are writing to express our serious concerns about legislation that would further restrict press freedom in Ethiopia and about an ongoing pattern of criminal prosecutions, administrative restrictions, and Internet censorship. We are concerned that these measures, which official rhetoric has publicly justified as policies to safeguard the “constitutional order,” actually criminalize independent political coverage and infringe on press freedom as guaranteed by the Ethiopian Constitution. We call on you to use your influence to reverse this trend.

New York, July 22, 2009–The Committee to Protect Journalist condemns the government’s growing crackdown on the independent press in the northern breakaway republic of Somaliland as September presidential elections near. 

New York, July 22, 2009–The ‎Committee to Protect Journalists has confirmed the detentions of another four journalists in Iran. CPJ research shows the continuing arrests have solidified Iran’s dishonorable standing as the world’s leading jailer of journalists.