New York, February 28, 2008—Police in the capital, Yaoundé, today forced a popular radio station off the air and confiscated its equipment over commentary critical of the government during a call-in program, according to local journalists. Magic FM is the third broadcaster summarily closed by authorities within a week in response to critical coverage of…
New York, February 27, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists mourns the loss of Shihab al-Tamimi, head of the Iraqi Journalists Syndicate, who died today from injuries he sustained from a targeted shooting in Baghdad on Saturday. Jabbar Tarrad al-Shimmari, deputy head of the Iraqi Journalists Syndicate, told CPJ that al-Tamimi, 74, died from a stroke…
Washington, February 27, 2008—Conditions for domestic journalists remain poor in China despite the government’s promises to improve the press freedom environment before the Beijing Olympics, the Committee to Protect Journalists told the Congressional-Executive Commission on China today. Bob Dietz, CPJ Asia Program Coordinator, told the commission in Washington that China is holding at least 25…
New York, February 27, 2008—Authorities at Moscow’s Domodedovo International Airport denied re-entry today to Natalya Morar, an investigative reporter with the independent newsweekly The New Times, the journalist told the Committee to Protect Journalists. Morar, speaking to CPJ by telephone from the airport, said guards stopped her at a passport checkpoint, confiscated her travel documents,…
Newspaper director imprisoned over critical editorials FEBRUARY 26, 2008 Posted March 14, 2008 Aboubacar Gourouza, L’Eveil Plus IMPRISONED, LEGAL Police in the capital, Niamey, arrested Aboubacar Gourouza, director of the bimonthly L’Eveil Plus, and took him into custody over two separate complaints triggered by critical editorials published on January 29, according to news reports…
New York, February 26, 2008—U.S. authorities should disclose evidence and specify charges against Afghan journalist Jawed Ahmad, who has been held by the military since late October, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. In a February 22 letter to CPJ, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said Ahmad had been designated an “unlawful enemy combatant” but…
MEXICO: New York, February 25, 2008—Members of the Mexican Federal Preventive Police (PFP) detained and assaulted photographer Gabriel Huge Córdoba after he sought to cover a fatal Sunday afternoon car accident involving police in the eastern port city of Veracruz, the journalist said today. The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Mexican federal authorities to…
New York, February 25, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns an assassination attempt in Baghdad on Saturday against Shihab al-Tamimi, head of the Iraqi Journalists Syndicate. Unidentified gunmen in a white Opel intercepted and opened fire on a car carrying al-Tamimi, his son and driver, Rabie, and an unidentified colleague riding in the backseat. The…
BELARUS: New York, February 25, 2008—The Belarusian Supreme Court has ordered the early release of Aleksandr Sdvizhkov, former deputy editor of the now-shuttered independent newspaper Zgoda, who was sentenced in January to three years in a high-security prison for reprinting controversial Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in 2006.
UPDATE FEBRUARY 23, 2008 Posted March 14, 2008 Original alert: January 29, 2008Faustin Bambou, Les Collines de l’OubanguiIMPRISONEDDirector Faustin Bambou of the private biweekly Les Collines de l’Oubangui was released from prison on a partial presidential pardon, according to news reports and local journalists. Bambou told CPJ he contracted the flu and malaria while sharing a cell…