Washington, January 22, 2008—In testimony today before the House Middle East and South Asia Subcommittee, the Committee to Protect Journalists raised concern about mounting press freedom abuses in U.S. ally nations in the Middle East and urged the U.S. government to prioritize press freedoms in its bilateral relations.
New York, January 22, 2008–Gambian authorities have shut down Radio France Internationale (RFI) broadcasts in Banjul, local journalists and the Gambian Press Union told CPJ. The RFI relay transmitter was blocked by Gambian authorities after the Paris-based station reported that three suspected murderers of four French tourists in Mauritania had fled south through The Gambia…
New York, January 22, 2008–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the one-day closed-door trial of imprisoned journalist Lü Gengsong that took place today in Hangzhou, southeast China, and calls on the Chinese government to release him and all journalists held under vague “national security” laws before the 2008 Olympics.
New York, January 22, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned that the government of President Pervez Musharraf unfairly pressured GEO TV, Pakistan’s largest and most popular independent broadcaster, to modify its editorial policies before the station was allowed to resume domestic cable distribution on Monday. The station has been off domestic cable since November…
Launch of Thai public broadcaster draws concern New York, January 22, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the establishment of the Thai Public Broadcasting Corporation (TPBS), but it is concerned that the military-appointed government closed Thailand’s only independent television station ahead of the move.
JANUARY 20, 2008 Posted February 15, 2008 Aziz al-Matni, Al-Anbaa ATTACKED Al-Matni, director-in-charge of the weekly newspaper Al-Anbaa, told CPJ he was surprised by a wildfire threatening his home in Matn district’s Qornet Shehwan, approximately 10 miles from the capital, Beirut, around 12:30 a.m. His car, a blue Mitsubishi Lancer, had been set on fire.…
JANUARY 19, 2008 Posted February 1, 2008 NDTV ATTACKED NDTV offices were vandalized and a staff member beaten by Hindu nationalist activists after the channel asked viewers to evaluate controversial painter M.F. Husein as a possible candidate for a prestigious national award in an text message opinion poll, according to NDTV photographer Anamitra Chakladar and…
New York, January 18, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a Tunisian appeals court’s ruling on Friday that upholds a one-year prison sentence against a journalist who had written articles critical of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and the first family. A court of appeal in Sfax, Tunisia’s second-largest city, confirmed a lower court’s…
New York, January 18, 2008—Minsk City Court in Belarus today imprisoned Aleksandr Sdvizhkov, an editor at the now-shuttered independent weekly Zgoda (Consensus) newspaper, for reprinting controversial Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in 2006. Sdvizhkov was charged with “incitement of religious hatred” and sentenced to three years in a high-security prison. Sdvizhkov was arrested on…