VENEZUELA: New York, August 20, 2008—Military personnel and officials from the National Telecommunications Commission (Conatel) shut down two radio stations in the central Guárico province Monday night. The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned that the stations appear to have been singled out and subjected to disproportionate enforcement.
Israel: New York, August 20, 2008—Israeli authorities should disclose charges against a Palestinian soundman detained since July 15 or release him immediately, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Ibrahim Hamad, a soundman with the Gaza-based Ramattan news agency was arrested during a 4 a.m. raid by Israel Defense Forces at his home in the Kalandia…
GEORGIA: New York, August 19, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists today urged the Georgian government to stop blocking Russian broadcasts and Web sites. According to the Moscow-based radio Ekho Moskvy, Russian Television International (RTVi) broadcasting was cut after it aired Ekho Moskvy’s interview with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the conflict in South Ossetia…
Hong Kong, August 20, 2008–Despite appeals from his employer and questions from the International Olympic Committee, Chinese authorities have continued to bar Radio Free Asia reporter Dhondup Gonsar from traveling to Beijing to cover the Games. Gonsar, an American citizen of Tibetan ethnicity, was one of two journalists for the U.S. government-funded broadcaster whose applications…
Buried in the celebration of China’s now inevitable dominance of the Olympic Games, Xinhua News Agency today reported the death of a former national leader and Mao Zedong’s brief successor with these few words: The Chinese Communist Party’s outstanding party member, a warrior for Communism long tested in his loyalty, a revolutionary for the proletariat, who…
China returns to the forefront this morning as the Olympic Games are nearing an end. The Associated Press has a story about human rights groups’ frustration at the lack of outcry, along with protests against myriad rights abuses. The story quotes CPJ’s Asia program coordinator, Bob Dietz, who is working out of Hong Kong. “In…
We released another alert about Dhondup Gonsar today. He’s the Tibetan RFA reporter who is stuck in Hong Kong waiting for a visa that RFA was told had been set aside for him and RFA’s Mandarin service reporter Jill Ku Martin. We first raised Dhondup’s case on August 7, and have stayed in touch with…
In the Senegalese capital, Dakar, speculation surrounded Air Transport Minister Farba Senghor after unidentified men using a government vehicle ransacked the newsrooms of 24 Heures Chrono and L’As, two independent newspapers. The attacks came just three days after Senghor threatened unspecified retaliation against the papers over critical stories. CPJ issued an alert on Tuesday, calling…
New York, August 19, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by reports that a government vehicle was used to ransack the offices of two Senegalese independent newspapers on Sunday. The attacks came just three days after a top official threatened unspecified retaliation against the papers over critical stories. A dozen unidentified men stormed the…
New York, August 19, 2008—Research published today by OpenNet Initiative says that more than 50 Web sites related to news, human rights, and pro-Tibet groups were blocked in Beijing and in the Olympics’ Main Press Center as the Games were about to begin. Those sites included the Web site of the Committee to Protect Journalists,…