Imprisoned

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.

Among the dozens of journalists detained in Iran is Majid Saeedi, a freelance photographer working for Getty Images. Jonathan Klein, the photo agency’s co-founder and CEO, describes Saeedi as a “dedicated photojournalist” who was simply trying to document events in Iran. Below are examples of Saeedi’s work, courtesy of Getty.

New York, July, 17, 2009– During a speech and sermon delivered at Tehran University today, former president and cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani called for reconciliation, the release of imprisoned protesters, and an end to restrictions on the press and free speech. The Committee to Protect Journalists had this statement:

My friend and colleague Iason Athanasiadis spent three weeks in an Iranian prison last month. In the ongoing roundups of journalists since the June 12 election, Iason has seen his own friends and colleagues thrown in jail, including Majid Saeedi, a freelance photographer for Getty Images. 

New York, July 16, 2009–The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on the Yemeni court of appeals to overturn a jail sentence it handed down on Wednesday against journalist Anis Mansour from the suspended independent daily Al-Ayyam. 

New York, July 16, 2009–North Korea should grant amnesty to U.S. journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who have now been jailed four months following their arrest on the North Korean-Chinese border, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

More than 100 prominent journalists from 47 countries sent a petition to the Iranian government today calling for the immediate release of Maziar Bahari, Newsweek’s Tehran correspondent, who has been held without charge in an Iranian jail since June 21. Compiled by CPJ, Index on Censorship, and Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, the petition was…

Your Excellency: We are writing to express our grave concern at the detention of our esteemed fellow journalist Maziar Bahari and to request his immediate release. Mr. Bahari has been detained since June 21. No charges have been brought against him, and he has not been granted access to a lawyer. As one of the most impartial and committed journalists in his field, he has reported regularly over the past decade from the Middle East, principally from Iran and Iraq, and provided consistently balanced and insightful reports. As an award-winning documentary filmmaker, he has earned global respect for his work.