‘The mob turned on us’: Foreign reporters in Xinjiang
Chinese authorities have, unusually, welcomed foreign reporters to Xinjiang since ethnic rioting broke out on Sunday in Urumqi between the Uighur minority and Han Chinese. A Beijing-based agency has even offered to facilitate travel, according to one writer who blogs from Shanghai. (CPJ hasn’t confirmed his story. Have any other reporters been approached in this…
Skewed coverage has followed Honduran coup
The ongoing political crisis following the ouster of President Manuel Zelaya on June 28 has damaged the press freedom climate in Honduras. Complying with orders by caretaker leader Roberto Micheletti, Honduran security forces shut down local broadcasters, blocked transmissions of international news networks, and briefly detained journalists in the aftermath of the coup, CPJ research…
China: Some surprises, some old news in Xinjiang
Security forces were protecting, rather than harassing, international journalists covering riots in northwestern Xinjiang this week–a welcome change. A few have reported official interference since Sunday. But during previous outbursts of ethnic unrest in China’s Tibetan and Uighur autonomous regions, security forces have repeatedly antagonized and expelled the foreign press corps. Foreign reporters this week…
Iran is world’s top jailer of journalists
New York, July 7, 2009–With at least 30 journalists currently in prison, Iran replaces China as the world’s worst jailer of journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. CPJ called on the Iranian authorities to release all journalists who have been detained following the country’s disputed June 12 presidential elections.
CPJ seeks release of Ebrima Manneh in Gambia
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalist urges you to end an unprecedented level of intimidation and detention of Gambian journalists by national security forces. Today marks the third anniversary of the disappearance of journalist “Chief” Ebrima Manneh–his whereabouts, health, and legal status are unknown. Manneh, a former reporter for the Daily Observer, was taken into government custody by security agents in July 2006.
Two kidnapped journalists escape captors
Tahir Ludin, David Rohde, and their driver, Asadullah Mangal, were kidnapped on November 10, 2008, after Rohde was invited to interview a Taliban commander in Logar province outside Kabul. Ludin, an Afghan journalist, was acting as Rohde’s translator. Rohde was on book leave from The New York Times at the time of their abduction. According…
Restrictive draft press law in hands of Kazakh president
Dear President Nazarbayev: As an independent, nonpartisan organization defending press freedom worldwide, the Committee to Protect Journalists calls on you to veto a severely restrictive draft Internet law, which will further curb press freedom conditions in Kazakhstan and is inconsistent with your country’s democratic aspirations.
Honduran journalist shot to death
New York, July 6, 2009–An unidentified gunman shot and killed Honduran journalist Gabriel Fino Noriega on Friday in the town of San Juan Pueblo, according to local press reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Honduran authorities today to conduct a thorough investigation into Noriega’s killing and bring those responsible to justice.