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,…
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…
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…
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,…
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.