Ex-pat Somali journalists reflect on hardships
In Somali, the crackdown on press freedom continues. To escape the threat of death and imprisonment, Somali journalists are moving into neighboring African countries like Kenya. This month, United Press International (UPI) speaks to CPJ’s East Africa Consultant, Tom Rhodes, in exploring the lives of exiled Somali journalists in Kenya and the challenges they face…
Despite pardon, Correa does lasting damage to press
New York, February 27, 2012–Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa announced today that he would pardon several news managers and journalists he had sued for libel, but his actions in the cases have done grave damage to free expression in his country, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Correa had won separate libel complaints against executives of…
Bangladeshi journalists call for justice in couple’s murder
On February 11, two Bangladeshi television journalists, Meherun Runi and her husband Golam Mustofa Sarowar, were murdered in their Dhaka home. Their 5-year-old son found their bodies. No arrests have yet been made and no motive has been publicly disclosed, although police claim they know why the couple was killed. Journalists have plenty of reason…
No joke: Malaysian cartoonist stands up to government
Tuesday marks the next step in a legal faceoff between Malaysian authorities and the well-known political cartoonist Zulkiflee Anwar Haque, also known as Zunar. Hearings will resume in civil lawsuit filed by Zunar that challenges the legality of his arrest and detention in September 2010. Malaysian police arrested him hours ahead of the scheduled launch…
Recalling Rémi Ochlik, ‘a man of great value’
I liked Rémi a lot. Rémi was fragile, yet he didn’t really try to conceal the fact. His fragility was his strength, a formidable one at that. Unlike so many journalists of today, Rémi was a true idealist, a rare mix of innocence and panache, compassion and bravery.
CPJ calls on Syrian authorities to halt violence
New York, February 24, 2012–Syrian authorities must heed the call issued by more than 60 countries today to stop the ongoing shelling in Syria, and allow medical access and safe passage to the wounded and dead journalists trapped in Homs, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Was letter to Haiti website just part of Martelly’s theatrics?
As a former entertainer better known as “Sweet Micky,” it is perhaps unsurprising that Haitian President Michel Martelly has been theatrical at times in his dealings with the press. At one media event in October, the President answered a critical question posed by a journalist by telling him, “I curse your mother,” according to press…