ETHIOPIA
JUNE 30, 2005 Posted: July 12, 2005 Tadesse Kabede, Lisane Hezeb Fassil Yenalem, Addis ZenaDaniel Gezahegne, Moged LEGAL ACTION The editors of three private weeklies were arrested and charged in connection with their work, according to CPJ sources and the Addis Ababa-based Ethiopian Free Press Journalists’ Association (EFJA). Kabede, Yenalem, and Gezahegne were released after…
NIGERIA
JUNE 30, 2005 Posted: July 7, 2005 Haruna Acheneje, The Punch HARASSED State Security Service (SSS) agents arrested Acheneje, a correspondent in Nigeria’s southern Akwa Ibom State for the independent daily The Punch, at his office. The agents detained and questioned Acheneje for about eight hours before releasing him without charge.
CHINA
JUNE 30, 2005 Posted: July 28, 2005 Li Jianping, freelancer IMPRISIONED The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the imprisonment of Internet journalist Li Jianping on suspicion of defamation. Authorities detained Li on May 27 in Zibo, a city in northeastern China’s Shandong Province, and formally arrested him for defamation on June 30, according to ChinaEForum,…
CPJ calls on Mexican governor to end newspaper blockade
Dear Mr. Ruiz Ortiz: The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned about the safety of 31 employees of the Oaxaca-based daily Noticias who have been held inside the newspaper’s facilities for nearly two weeks after supporters of a pro-government union staged a strike outside the newspaper. We call on you to use the power of your office to bring an immediate end to this situation and allow the publication to resume its normal work.
CPJ alarmed about President Uribe’s comments
New York, June 30, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed at recent comments by Colombian President Álvaro Uribe Vélez that could endanger journalists in his country. In a June 27 interview with radio station W Radio, Uribe suggested that leftist guerrillas told a foreign news organization in advance about an impending attack in southern…
CPJ condemns harassment of journalists covering opposition protests
New York, June 30, 2005—Security forces today harassed and detained several journalists covering opposition protests in the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, and at least one camera operator was still being held at the end of the day, according to local sources. A presidential spokesperson told the Committee Protect Journalists that any journalists detained while doing their…
Knight Ridder correspondent killed
New York, June 30, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists mourns the death of Yasser Salihee, an Iraqi reporter for Knight Ridder Newspapers who was killed in Baghdad last Friday on his day off from work. Knight Ridder reported yesterday that Salihee was driving alone in his neighborhood of Amariyah and approaching a joint patrol of…
Russian journalist assassinated in Dagestan
New York, June 30, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the murder late Tuesday of Magomedzagid Varisov, a prominent journalist and political analyst, who was gunned down in a contract-style assassination in Makhachkala, capital of the Russian republic of Dagestan.
ZAMBIA
JUNE 29, 2005 Posted: July 22, 2005 Fred M’membe, The Post HARASSED Police questioned M’membe, editor-in-chief of Zambia’s leading daily The Post, and threatened to charge him with defaming the president in editorial commentaries published by the newspaper. According to local sources, The Post had published a recent series of editorials accusing President Levy Mwanawasa…