New York, March 30, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns ongoing attempts by Niger authorities to repress independent media coverage of protests against a new tax on basic foodstuffs, including water and flour. Police in the capital, Niamey, shuttered the offices of the privately run Radio Alternative this morning. No reason was given for the…
New York, March 30, 2005—Journalists in Venezuela have no reason to fear physical retaliation for their work, a senior government official said in a letter to the Committee to Protect Journalists, but he continued to suggest that some members of the press are spreading U.S. propaganda. Andrés Izarra, the minister of information and communication, publicly…
MARCH 29, 2005 Posted: April 14, 2005 Fofana Mambé, Soir Info ATTACKED Mambé, a reporter for the private daily Soir Info, was viciously attacked while attempting to cover a street demonstration by police officers in the commercial capital, Abidjan. Local sources said police officers protesting non-payment of war-time bonuses in front of the Internal Security…
New York, March 29, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the reported abduction of three Romanian journalists in Baghdad Monday night, bringing to at least 30 the number of reporters, camera operators and photographers kidnapped in Iraq in the past year.
MARCH 28 , 2005 Posted: April 7, 2005 Wael Issam, Al-Arabiya HARASSED, IMPRISONED Iraqi forces detained Issam, a Palestinian cameraman working for the satellite news channel Al-Arabiya, at Baghdad International Airport, the station said. Issam was en route to the station’s headquarters in Dubai.
MARCH 28, 2005 Posted: March 30, 2005 Marie Jeanne Ion, Prima TV Sorin Dumitru Miscoci, Prima TV Ovidiu Ohanesian, Romania Libera ABDUCTED The three Romanian journalists were abducted in Baghdad about 8:30 p.m., according to international press reports. Petre Mihai Bacanu, managing editor of Romania Libera, told The Associated Press that the journalists went missing…
New York, March 28, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists today called for a prompt and thorough investigation into two gunfire attacks this month against the facilities of the daily newspaper La Nación in Costa Rica’s capital, San José. Three unidentified assailants fired several shots at the newspaper building from a moving vehicle about 4 a.m.…
New York, March 28, 2005—In a brazen attack last Thursday, a gunman walked into columnist Marlene Garcia-Esperat’s house in the city of Tacurong, and shot her in front of her family. Garcia-Esperat died instantly from the single bullet wound to her head, police told reporters. The gunman and his accomplice escaped from the scene on…
New York, March 25, 2005—At least one Kyrgyz journalist was hospitalized with injuries and another arrested as police tried to break up the escalating unrest that prompted President Askar Akayev to flee the country this week. The demonstrations, which toppled yet another authoritarian regime in Central Asia, came amid widespread anger over fraud-marred parliamentary elections—and…