Radio station closed, editor and technician arrested
January 14, 2006 Radio Las Anod CENSORED Faysal Jama’ Adan, Radio Las Anod Jamal Suleyman Warsame, Radio Las Anod HARASSED Police closed Radio Las Anod, arresting director Adan, editor Warsame, and an unidentified technician, according to the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) and local news media monitored by the BBC. NUSOJ quoted the local…
CPJ condemns campaign to silence dissent
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the arrests and detentions of Cambodian journalists Mam Sonando, Hang Sakhorn, and Pa Guon Tieng. These detentions come as Cambodia wages an alarming campaign to stifle the voices of numerous government critics and human rights activists. In the cases of the three journalists, your government resorted to charges of criminal defamation to justify imprisonment.
Defamation bill threatens free press
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists urges you to refrain from signing a bill before you that threatens freedom of the press and free expression by imposing harsh penalties for defamation. As you know, Prime Minister Mari bim Altakiri approved on December 6, 2005, a bill revising the penal code, which had been passed by the National Parliament. The penal code revisions now before you allow for up to three years imprisonment and unlimited fines for publishing statements deemed defamatory of public officials.
Critical radio station closed in dispute over music royalties
New York, January 13, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the closure of Radio Mwangaza, a community station in the northern Congolese city of Kisangani, which has aired programs criticizing local authorities. Court officials sealed its studios on January 11 in a dispute over alleged non-payment of music royalties, station director Jean-Pierre Lifoli told CPJ.…
CPJ urges Mexico’s Fox to move on special prosecutor for free expression crimes
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is disappointed that a special prosecutor has not been appointed to investigate crimes against free expression despite your pledge to seek the position in response to a wave of murderous violence against the media in northern Mexico.
Prosecutor threatens legal action against two editors
New York, January 12, 2006—The top prosecutor in the Kyrgyzstani capital, Bishkek, said today he had issued formal warnings to two newspaper editors and may take legal action against them for allegedly slandering President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, according to press reports. “Recently some media have published articles distributing unreliable information, some of it slanderous with regard…
Polish journalist to be jailed in rare criminal libel prosecution
New York, January 12, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the imminent jailing of Andrzej Marek, editor-in-chief of the weekly newspaper Wiesci Polickie in the northwestern town of Police. Convicted of libeling a local official in articles published in 2001, Marek is due to begin serving a three-month sentence on Monday, according to…