AFGHANISTAN
APRIL 1, 2005 Posted: April 11, 2005 Abdul Jabbar Bazar, Aina TV ATTACKED, THREATENED Government officials in the city of Shibirghan in the northern Jawzjan Province threatened and attacked reporter Bazar after his story exposing local corruption aired on the private television channel. Local sources tell CPJ that officials threatened to attack Bazar again if…
IRAQ
APRIL 2005 Posted: June 29, 2005 Ahmed al-Rubai’i, Al-Sabah KILLED—CONFIRMED Al-Rubai’i, a reporter and editor at the U.S.-backed daily Al-Sabah who also worked in the media department of the Iraqi National Assembly, was abducted and apparently murdered by unknown perpetrators in Baghdad mid-April. The circumstances of his abduction and apparent murder are not clear. No…
IRAQ
APRIL 1, 2005 Posted: November 29, 2005 Ahmed Jabbar Hashim, Al-Sabah, Baghdad KILLED—CONFIRMED Hashim, a reporter working for the Baghdad-based daily Al-Sabah, part of the U.S.-backed Iraq Media Network, was kidnapped on March 25 by an unidentified armed group. His decapitated body was discovered on April 1.
Doctor says journalist in Iranian custody was tortured and raped before her death
New York, April 1, 2005—Canadian-Iranian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi was tortured and raped during her detention in Iran, claims a former Iranian army doctor. The doctor, Shahram Azam, says that he was the first to examine Kazemi in a Tehran hospital before her death on July 10, 2003. His allegations were presented yesterday at a press…
ZIMBABWE
MARCH 31, 2005 Posted: May 10, 2005 Toby Harnden, The Sunday TelegraphJulian Simmonds, The Sunday Telegraph IMPRISONED, LEGAL ACTION Harnden, chief foreign correspondent for the London-based Sunday Telegraph, and photographer Simmonds were arrested at a polling station in Norton, a town near the capital, Harare, according to a statement from the newspaper. The journalists were…
CPJ protests arrests of journalists
Your Majesty: In the Royal Proclamation of February 1, Your Majesty dismissed the government, declared a state of emergency and curtailed civil liberties. In early February, we visited Nepal’s ambassador to the United States, Kedar Bhakta Shrestha, who assured us that restrictions on the press were temporary and that Your Majesty was committed to democracy and free expression.
Supreme Court rejects editor’s appeal
New York, March 31, 2005—Azerbaijan’s Supreme Court has upheld the October 2004 conviction of Rauf Arifoglu, editor-in-chief of the opposition newspaper Yeni Musavat, on charges of organizing anti-government riots, according to local and international press reports. The criminal conviction was widely considered to have been politically motivated. “The many irregularities in Rauf Arifoglu’s 2004 trial,…
European Court faults investigation in case of murdered journalist
New York, March 31, 2005—The European Court for Human Rights ruled today that Turkish authorities did not conduct an effective investigation into the July 1996 murder of journalist Kutlu Adali in Cyprus and ordered the government to pay 20,000 euros (US $26,000) in damages to his wife. Ilkay Adali sought damages in 1997 from the…
Romanian journalists and translator appear on videotape
New York, March 31, 2005—Three missing Romanian journalists appeared in a videotape that was broadcast yesterday on the Arabic satellite channel Al-Jazeera. According to press reports, the unnamed militant group holding the journalists has not made any public demands. On the tape, the captives are shown seated on the ground, with two masked men on…
NIGER
MARCH 30, 2005 Updated: April 15, 2005 Radio Alternative CENSORED Police in the capital, Niamey, shuttered the offices of the privately run Radio Alternative. No reason was given for the closure, according to a source at the station reached by CPJ, but employees believed it was linked to the March 26 arrest of Moussa Tchangari,…