Memory of Mexico’s investigative reporter Javier Valdez will live on through his work
Two months have passed since Javier Valdez Cárdenas, the Mexican investigative reporter and recipient of CPJ’s International Press Freedom Award, was murdered. The grief over his killing in Culiacán, the capital of Sinaloa state, has left many looking for answers as to why the investigation into his murder appears to have yielded few results so…
Gambia issues arrest warrants for suspects in Deyda Hydara murder
New York, May 17, 2017–A magistrate’s court in Banjul today issued arrest warrants for two people suspected of murdering Gambian editor Deyda Hydara in 2004, according to media reports. The two suspects are not in the country, according to reports.
Javier Valdez Cárdenas, brave and beloved Mexican journalist
When Mexican journalist Javier Valdez Cárdenas arrived in New York City in November 2011 to accept CPJ’s International Press Freedom Award, he and his staff had already suffered a grenade attack on the offices of their weekly, Ríodoce. Weeks after receiving the award, they were the victims of a denial of service (DOS) attack that…
Mexican president pledges to prioritize journalist safety and combat impunity
Mexico City, May 4, 2017– Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto today pledged to prioritize combating impunity in the murders of journalists for the remainder of his term, which ends next year. He said the safety and protection of journalists would also be a priority.
Edited by Drug Lords
Mexican journalists navigate threats and censorship by cartels By Elisabeth Malkin Adrián López Ortiz, the general director of Grupo Noroeste, a media group that owns the newspaper Noroeste in the northwestern Mexican city of Culiacán, was driving home from the airport in April 2014 when an SUV intercepted him. Two armed men got out and…
Ex-police commander jailed for 30 years for murder of Oaxaca journalist
New York, March 6, 2017–A court in the Mexican state Oaxaca convicted Jorge Armando Santiago Martínez of murdering Marcos Hernández Bautista, a reporter for the daily Noticias, Voz e Imagen de Oaxaca. The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomed the March 3 conviction and called on authorities to prosecute all involved in the crime.
Sri Lankan military intelligence officers suspected in journalist’s murder
New York, February 23, 2017–Sri Lankan authorities should fully investigate the 2009 murder of an editor and bring his killers to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Five military intelligence officers were arrested this week in connection with the murder of Lasantha Wickramatunga, the editor-in-chief of the weekly Sunday Leader and a fierce…
Ex-police official admits role in Filipino radio journalist’s murder
Bangkok, February 21, 2017–Former Philippine policeman Arturo Lascanas in a news conference yesterday acknowledged his role in the September 2003 assassination of radio journalist Juan “Jun” Pala, a crime he claimed was ordered and paid for by then Davao City mayor, now President Rodrigo Duterte.
Searching for answers in murder cases amid violence and corruption in Guatemala
On June 25, unidentified assailants shot and killed Álvaro Aceituno López, director of Radio Ilusión in Coatepeque, a town in southeastern Guatemala. López often criticized local government officials when presenting the news and during guest appearances on other programs. But to date, CPJ has been unable to determine if Aceituno was killed for his work…
CPJ welcomes UN Human Rights resolution on releasing jailed journalists, right to encryption
Washington, September 29, 2016–The United Nations Human Rights Council’s annual resolution on journalist safety for the first time urges all states to release arbitrarily detained journalists. The resolution, co-sponsored by 87 countries and adopted today in Geneva, raises new concerns about mounting attacks on journalists during elections and calls for states to protect the confidentiality…