State Department replies to CPJ on Tunisia
As we noted in a recent special report, Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali relies on spying and intimidation to keep his citizens in line. The United States has been a friend and supporter of Ben Ali and not at all consistent in calling attention to ongoing human rights abuses, particularly the harassment, intimidation,…
CPJ welcomes release of Moussa Kaka
New York, October 7, 2008–The Committee to Protect Jounalists welcomes today’s provisional release of veteran Nigerien journalist Moussa Kaka after more than a year behind bars on anti-state charges. An appeals court in the capital, Niamey, ordered Kaka’s release on bail pending trial by a magistrate court on amended charges of “undermining national territorial integrity…
Press freedom in the news 10/08/08
The Associated Press has coverage today of our letter to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez expressing concern at the growing violence Venezuela. The Spanish-language Web site of Univision is also running the AP story. The South Africa-based Web site Daily Dispatch Online has a story today about the troubled Zimbabwe media. Also making news today is the institution of a telephone hotline to help endangered journalists in Iraq. Reuters has…
Two years without Anna
I met Anna Politkovskaya in person only once, in 2005. She was in New York to collect yet another journalism award, and stopped by CPJ one October afternoon. I remember her crossing the lobby with an even, determined step. She had an urgency about her–that rare focus that comes only with absolute clarity about one’s…
Press freedom in the news 10/07/08
The Web site of news channel France 24 is reporting that today, on the two-year anniversary of the murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, more than 200 people gathered in Moscow for a vigil. The story cites our alert from yesterday that criticized Russia’s decision to try three men accused in the murder case in a military, rather than civilian, court. Web…
Two years after Politkovskaya’s murder, three suspects will go to trial
New York, October 6, 2008–Three men will soon go to trial in the October 2006 assassination of Novaya Gazeta journalist Anna Politkovskaya, according to local news reports. Russia’s Prosecutor-General’s Office approved the indictments on Wednesday, and sent the case to court on Thursday.
In Sri Lanka, CPJ saddened by death of journalist
We issued this statement today after learning of the death of Rashmi Mohamed, a provincial correspondent for Sirasa TV. He was one of 27 people who died when a suspected rebel suicide bomber blew himself up today inside a crowded opposition party office in Anuradhapura in northern Sri Lanka. “We join with our Sri Lankan…
Press freedom in the news 10/06/08
Agence France-Presse has coverage of the arrest and subsequent release of Ali Ilyas Abdullahi, a Somali radio journalist. Abdullahi was detained by police in the Somali capital Mogadishu over the weekend after reporting on a mortar attack at the home of a government official. Also making news today is an interview with recently released Yemeni…