CPJ condemns partial closure of private radio station
New York, August 21, 2006—Authorities in Burundi have stopped local broadcasts of the private radio station Radio Publique Africaine (RPA) in the northern province of Ngozi since Friday. The reason authorities gave for the closure was non-payment of broadcast license fees but several local sources told CPJ the move was in retaliation for RPA’s critical…
Sri Lanka: Tamil newspaper editor killed in Jaffna
New York, August 21, 2006—A Tamil newspaper editor and former member of parliament was killed outside his home on the besieged Jaffna Peninsula late Sunday, international and local media reported. Sinnathamby Sivamaharajah, managing director of the Tamil-language Namathu Eelanadu newspaper was shot dead in Vellippalai. Police are investigating the murder, according to news reports. The…
Independent journalist kidnapped in Chechnya
New York, August 21, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned about the fate of reporter Elina Ersenoyeva, who was seized by masked men in the southern Russian republic of Chechnya on Thursday. Ersenoyeva is Grozny correspondent for the independent weekly Chechenskoye Obshchestvo (Chechen Society), which is based in neighboring Ingushetia.
Arrest of a suspected mastermind in Ortiz Franco murder
New York, August 17, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists today urged Mexican authorities to investigate the suspected involvement of Arturo Villarreal in the 2004 killing of a Tijuana newspaper editor. Villareal was picked up as part of a drug sweep by U.S. security services on August 14. A Mexican prosecutor last year identified Villarreal, who…
Concern grows for kidnapped Fox News journalists
New York, August 17, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists voiced concern today for the safety of two Fox News Channel journalists seized in Gaza three days ago, and appealed to their kidnappers to release them. No group has claimed responsibility for the abduction of the journalists from the U.S. television network, and the kidnappers have…
Editor abducted in Baghdad
New York, August 16, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by the abduction of an Iraqi editor by unidentified assailants in Baghdad yesterday. Seif Abd al-Jabbar al-Tamimi, an editor for Al-Akha’ newspaper, which is affiliated with the Iraqi National Turkoman Party, was seized in Baghdad’s al-Adil neighborhood, according to Journalistic Freedoms Observatory, an…
Editor assaulted after critical articles
August 16, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns an attack on Igor Mosiichuk, editor-in-chief of the independent Ukrainian weekly Vecherny Vasilkov, which follows a series of articles he published on local land deals and a controversial oil tank farm. Two unidentified assailants beat Mosiichuk August 14 in a street in Vasilkov, 23 miles (37 kilometers)…
CPJ Update
CPJ Update Committee to Protect JournalistsAugust 16, 2006 CPJ Calls for Release of Kidnapped Fox News JournalistsAfter gunmen ambushed a Fox News Channel crew in the center of Gaza City on August 14, and abducted correspondent Steve Centanni, a U.S. citizen, and freelance cameraman Olaf Wiig of New Zealand, CPJ called for their immediate and…
In China, a Hong Kong journalist tried in closed-door proceeding
New York, August 15, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls for the release of Straits Times reporter Ching Cheong, who was tried today in a closed-door proceeding in Beijing. His trial on espionage charges began this morning and ended late this afternoon without an immediate verdict, according to Ching’s employer.
TV editor convicted in criminal defamation case
New York, August 15, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by a television editor’s court conviction on a criminal defamation charge. The municipal court in the southern city of Prokuplje upheld a lower court ruling against Slavko Savic, senior editor of the local television station RTV Kursumlija. The court, ruling on August 10, sentenced…