Editor imprisoned for criminal libel, insult
New York, March 2, 2006—A judge in the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, has convicted Boyuk Millat Editor-in-Chief Samir Adygozalov of criminal libel and insult and sentenced him to one year in prison, according to local press reports. Adygozalov was immediately taken into custody after the verdict was read in Nizami District Court on February 23. The…
Police beat journalists covering police assault of opposition candidate
New York, March 2, 2006—Police today turned on journalists in Belarus trying to cover an attack by plainclothes police officers on an opposition candidate in March 19 presidential elections. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the assault. Aleksandr Kozulin, one of three candidates challenging president Aleksandr Lukashenko, was beaten and detained by police in the…
Newspaper reporter flees after death threat
TEMPLATE New York, March 2, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by death threats against a reporter for the Colombian newspaper Vanguardia Liberal which says it is also the target of government surveillance. Jenny Manrique said she fled the city of Bucaramanga, in the western province of Santander, in January after receiving death threats…
Journalist escaped unharmed after his car was shot
New York, March 1, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Paraguayan authorities to fully investigate an attack against newspaper reporter Juan Augusto Roa, whose car was fired on by unidentified gunmen on Monday night near the southern city of Encarnación. The reporter was unharmed. Roa, a correspondent for the Asunción-based daily ABC Color, told…
A year after editor’s murder in Baku, case appears to grow cold
New York, March 1, 2006—One year after the founder and editor of the opposition weekly Monitor was slain in the entrance of his apartment building in Baku, Azerbaijan, no suspects are in custody and many colleagues and relatives believe the government’s investigation is on the wrong track. The Committee to Protect Journalists called today for…
Seven journalists held
February 28, 2006 Original Alert: February 16, 2006 Elham Afroutan and six other journalists, Tammadon-e Hormozgan IMPRISONED Elham Afroutan, one of seven journalists jailed after publishing a satirical article that criticized the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, has been transferred from prison in Bandar Abbas to Tehran’s Evin Prison after she attempted suicide in custody, according to…
Four Miami reporters harassed
FEBRUARY 7, 2006 Mario Vallejo, Univisión Channel 23 ATTACKED, HARASSED Osvaldo Duarte, Univisión Channel Alberto Tavares, Telemundo Channel 51 Lázaro Abreu, Telemundo Channel 51 HARASSED A guard at an immigration jail in Nassau attacked Vallejo, and police detained Abreu, Duarte, and Tavares as the four Miami-based journalists were covering the story of seven Cubans rescued…
‘Secret’ presidential meeting lands Kenyan journalists in custody
New York, February 28, 2006—Police detained three journalists with the independent East African Standard for questioning today in connection with a story of political intrigue that ran in Saturday’s edition, the paper’s chief executive officer, Tom Mshindi, told the Committee to Protect Journalists. The weekend edition’s managing director, Chaacha Mwita, sub-editor Dennis Onyango, and reporter…
Burma: Government agents threaten journalist
New York, February 28, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns harassment and death threats by Burmese security officials against Maung Maung Kyaw Win, a senior reporter and editor at the Burmese-language Myanmar Dana economics magazine. The threats have prompted the journalist to flee the country, and he is now seeking political asylum. Maung Maung Kyaw…
Computer, phone taken, bloody print left in Moscow slaying
New York, February 28, 2006—A laptop computer and cell phone were stolen from the Moscow apartment of slain NTV correspondent Ilya Zimin, and a bloody fingerprint belonging to someone other than the victim was found on a light switch, local news outlets reported today. Authorities continued to say that the weekend killing was probably not…