TV presenter murdered, station attacked and threatened for its reporting
New York, March 9, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the killing of presenter Munsuf Abdallah al-Khaldi of the Iraqi television station Baghdad TV which has been threatened and shelled by insurgents. Unidentified gunmen shot al-Khaldi, 35, as he was driving from Baghdad on Tuesday with three passengers to interview poets in the northern city…
Ethiopian prime minister pledges fair trials for jailed journalists
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, March 9, 2006—Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, facing international criticism for cracking down on the press, pledged today that his government would give journalists charged with treason and genocide “their day in court” and a fair and proper trial. In a two-hour meeting with a delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists,…
Canadian freelance journalist prevented from returning
New York, March 9, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the expulsion today of a Canadian freelance journalist who reported from Uganda for more than two years for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the London-based magazine The Economist, and other outlets. Blake Lambert told CPJ that authorities at Kampala airport prevented him from re-entering Uganda and…
Filmmakers sentenced to prison for espionage
New York, March 9, 2006—A court in the breakaway region of Abkhazia has sentenced three Georgian filmmakers to three months in prison for espionage and illegally entering the self-declared republic in the northwest Caucasus, according to local and international press reports. The filmmakers were tried and convicted on Tuesday evening by the Sukhumi City Court…
Broadcaster loses contact with other reporters RFE/RL correspondents held in Turkmenistan
New York, March 9, 2006—Two correspondents for the Turkmen service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty are being held incommunicado after being arrested on Tuesday, and the U.S. government-funded broadcaster said today it has lost contact with its entire network of correspondents in the country. The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply alarmed by the developments…
Editor of independent newspaper attacked
JANUARY 15, 2006 Posted: March 8, 2006 Bonaventure Bizumuremyi, Umuco ATTACKED Four unidentified intruders carrying clubs and knives came to the Kigali home of Bizumuremyi, editor of one of Rwanda’s few independent newspapers, Umuco. CPJ sources said the intruders broke the door, awakening neighbors who intervened before the intruders could get inside. Bizumuremyi, who had…
CPJ urges Kabila to scrap criminal sanctions for critical reporting
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply troubled by the continued use of criminal statutes to jail Congolese journalists for reporting on allegations of corruption and other violations. Jean Pierre Phambu Lutette, managing director of the small private newspaper La Tolérance, was arrested on Friday on charges of insulting a local government official and “inciting tribal hatred,” according to the local press freedom organization Journaliste en Danger (JED). He has since been transferred to the central prison in the capital, Kinshasa, where he joins publishers Jean-Louis Ngalamulume, in jail since January 27, and Patrice Booto, behind bars since November 2, 2005.
Ugandan police harass journalists over political talk show
New York, March 7, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is very troubled by the recent harassment of journalists at the independent radio station Choice FM in the town of Gulu, in Uganda’s war-scarred north. Police accused the station of being a security threat after a talk show last Wednesday featuring opposition and ruling party candidates…
Nepalese journalist detained after report of explosion
New York, March 7, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Nepalese authorities’ detention of journalist Jay Gupta, editor and publisher of the Kathmandu-based Uptyaka Daily and the weekly Dishanirdesh. Police arrested Gupta on Friday after his publications reported that a bomb went off near a royal vacation retreat that King Gyanendra and his wife were…