Authorities launch criminal inquiry of Internews
New York, April 6, 2005—The prosecutor-general’s office in Uzbekistan said yesterday it was investigating the Tashkent bureau of the media training and advocacy group Internews Network on criminal charges of operating without a license, according to international reports. Witnesses have been questioned, “but at this stage nobody has been arrested,” the prosecutor’s spokeswoman, Svetlana Artikova…
MEXICO
APRIL 5, 2005 Posted: May 17, 2005 Dolores Guadalupe García Escamilla, Stereo 91 KILLED—CONFIRMED Crime reporter García Escamilla died April 16 from injuries she suffered in an April 5 shooting in front of her radio station in the border city of Nuevo Laredo. García Escamilla was hospitalized in critical condition after being struck by nine…
IRAQ
APRIL 5, 2005 Posted: April 7, 2005 Unidentified journalist, CBS News ATTACKED An Iraqi freelance journalist working for CBS News was wounded by U.S. fire in the northern city of Mosul. Troops from the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, mistook the journalist’s camera for a weapon, the U.S.-led Multi-National Forces in Iraq said in a…
IRAQ
APRIL 5, 2005 Posted October 18, 2005 Abdul Ameer Younis Hussein, CBS News IMPRISONED Hussein, an Iraqi cameraman working for CBS News, was taken into custody after being wounded by U.S. forces’ fire on April 5 while he filmed clashes in Mosul in northern Iraq. CBS News reported at the time that the U.S. military…
Judge acquits editor of criminal charges and creates new interpretation for media law
New York, April 5, 2005—The managing editor of the Nairobi-based East African Standard’s Sunday edition was acquitted of criminal charges yesterday. The charges against David Makali, pending since 2003, stemmed from an investigative article about the alleged murder of Dr. Crispin Odhiambo Mbai, a key player in Kenya’s constitutional reform process. Nairobi Chief Magistrate Aggrey…
Ukrainian prosecutor claims confessions in Gongadze case
New York, April 5, 2005—Ukraine’s prosecutor-general said yesterday that two former police officers arrested in March as suspects in the 2000 murder of Internet journalist Georgy Gongadze have confessed to the killing, according to local and international press reports. Vyacheslav Astapov, a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office, said the officers were cooperating with investigators in…
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
APRIL 4, 2005 Posted: April 13, 2005 Journaliste en Danger (JED) THREATENED Tshivis Tshivuadi, secretary-general of the Kinshasa-based press freedom organization Journaliste en Danger, received an email containing death threats against him and Donat M’baya Tshimanga, JED’s president, and their families. The threats sparked concern amongst JED staff as well as local media organizations.
HAITI
APRIL 4, 2005 Posted: April 8, 2005 Robenson Laraque, Tele Contact KILLED—CONFIRMED Laraque, a reporter with the private radio station Tele Contact, died in a Cuban hospital from injuries suffered while observing a March 20 clash between UN troops and members of the disbanded Haitian military in the city of Petit-Goâve. The confrontation began after…
NEPAL
APRIL 4, 2005 Posted: April 7, 2005 Prabhakar Ghimire, Kantipur Narayan Sharma, Kantipur Khuman Singh Tamang, Kantipur HARASSED, THREATENED The three reporters for Kantipur, the country’s largest circulation Nepali-language daily, were called in for questioning by police in the southern city of Chitwan after their April 3 article, citing unnamed police sources, described the torching…