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…
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…
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.
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…
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…
In response to Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega’s decision to investigate prominent journalist Carlos Chamorro Barrios for alleged money laundering through the Center for Media Investigation, of which Chamorro is a board member, we issued the following statement: “We are concerned that the investigation into Carlos Chamorro Barrios, a harsh critic of Ortega’s administration, could be…
Voice of America takes an extensive look at free speech in Malaysia on its Web site this morning. Focusing on the recent sentencing of high profile blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin, the article looks at how the government is using various laws, including the Internal Security Act, to silence critics. CPJ reported on Raja Petra’s case…
On Wednesday, the U.S. State Department announced it decided to issue visas to two Cuban journalists who had previously been denied reentry into the U.S. As a footnote to the transcript of spokesman Sean McCormack’s discussion about the case of Cuban journalists Ilsa Rodriguez Santana and her husband, Tomas Anael Granados Jimenez, which was reviewed…