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New York, October 18, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls for the release of a Gabonese journalist who was imprisoned today on defamation charges even as his appeal was still pending. The jailing comes three years after the sentence was first imposed—which a defense lawyer said contravenes Gabonese law—and follows a politically charged debate over…

Robert Tanner Associated Press October 17, 2006 The Pentagon has brushed off a request from a journalist organization seeking more information and a decision on Bilal Hussein, an Associated Press photographer held for six months in Iraq without formal charges.

Nicholas D. Kristof Op-Ed Columnist The New York Times October 17, 2006 There is no public evidence that Sami al-Hajj committed any crime other than journalism for a television network the Bush administration doesn’t like.

New York, October 17, 2006—A court in northern China’s Hebei province today sentenced Guo Qizhen to four years in prison on charges of “inciting subversion” for writing essays on U.S.-based Web sites that criticized the Communist Party leadership. Guo is one of a number of critics and human rights activists to be jailed recently. “More…

New York, October 17, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is disappointed that the legal battle to win justice in the case of murdered Russian journalist Dmitry Kholodov has come to an end with the decision of the European Court of Human Rights not to pursue the case. Kholodov was killed 12 years ago today. The…

October 16, 2006 Posted: October 20, 2006 Voice of Tigers radio station ATTACKED Sri Lankan Air Force planes destroyed the broadcasting towers of the Voice of Tigers radio station operated by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Killinochchi, an LTTE- held town in northern Sri Lanka. The LTTE said two workers, whom it did…

New York, October 16, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the reported abduction of freelance Italian photojournalist Gabriele Torsello on Thursday. The independent Afghan news agency Pajhwok said Torsello was seized by five gunmen on the highway from Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province, to neighboring Kandahar province. Pajhwok said the information…

McClatchy-Tribune News Service Chicago Tribune October 13, 2006 If freedom of the press is the backbone of a democracy, then Russia is growing crippled.

 UPDATE  October 13, 2006 Original Case: September 29, 2006 Les Echos du Nord CENSORED The state-controlled National Council on Communications’ (CNC) three-month ban on private weekly Les Echos du Nord over an article critical of government policy expired after the CNC reduced the ban by two months, according to local journalists.

New York, October 13, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the finding of a British inquest that ITN journalist Terry Lloyd was unlawfully killed by U.S. troops in southern Iraq three years ago. CPJ called on the U.S. military to reopen its own investigation into the shooting. A coroner in Oxford ruled today…