Newspaper employees dragged from offices
New York, July 19, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is outraged by the violent removal of 31 employees from the offices of the Oaxaca-based daily Noticias. The employees had been confined to their offices for the last several weeks, due to a blockade erected by a striking, pro-government union. Around 8 p.m. Monday night, dozens…
CPJ condemns threats to media freedom in Thailand
Bangkok, Thailand, July 19, 2005—Thailand’s cabinet today imposed emergency rule empowering the prime minister to censor the media in the country’s three Muslim-dominated, insurgency-hit southern provinces. The measure also gives the government power to detain suspects without trial, tap telephones, monitor e-mail exchanges, and confiscate suspects’ property in Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani provinces.
Media commission refuses to license banned newspapers
New York, July 19, 2005—The government-controlled Media and Information Commission (MIC) yesterday refused, once again, to license the banned independent Daily News and its sister paper, the Daily News on Sunday, both of which were shut down in September 2003 for violating the country’s draconian press laws. According to the state-owned Herald newspaper, the MIC…
Two journalists imprisoned for articles critical of the president
New York, July 18, 2005—One journalist was sentenced to three years in prison and another to three months today for commentaries in the private weekly L’Observateur that criticized President Idriss Déby, according to local sources. The Committee to Protect Journalists deplores the court’s decision and calls on authorities to release the two immediately. The paper’s…
Immediate release is sought
New York, July 18, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists expressed deep concern today about the health of jailed Iranian journalist Akbar Ganji, who was reported hospitalized during his more than month-long hunger strike. Massoumeh Shafii, Ganji’s wife, told Reuters that Ganji had been taken to Tehran’s Milad Hospital, the news agency reported today. She said…
BURUNDI
JULY 15, 2005 Posted: July 18, 2005 Radio Publique Africaine HARASSED Burundi’s National Communications Council ordered the popular independent station Radio Publique Africaine off the air indefinitely, alleging that RPA’s recent election coverage was biased and that it had insulted the council. Alexis Sinduhije, RPA’s director, called the suspension unjust and said the station intended…
CHAD
JULY 18, 2005 Updated: October 17, 2005 Ngaradoumbé Samory, L’Observateur IMPRISONED, LEGAL ACTION Samory, editor of the private weekly L’Observateur, was sentenced to three months in prison and a fine of 100,000 CFA francs (about U.S.$176) on charges of defaming the president and “inciting hatred.”
IVORY COAST
JULY 15, 2005 Posted: July 18, 2005 Radio France Internationale CENSORED A media regulatory agency ordered Radio France Internationale (RFI) to halt its FM broadcasts in Ivory Coast until it retracted two disputed reports and paid a fine. The order was the latest incident pitting Ivoirian authorities against the France-based public broadcaster, whom President Laurent…
IRAQ
JULY 14, 2005 Posted: July 18, 2005 Al-Iraqiya news crew ATTACKED A gunman fired on a car carrying an Al-Iraqiya television crew in Baghdad, wounding three staffers, according to news reports. The crew was on its way to cover the funerals of car-bomb victims when a masked assailant walked up to its car in the…