New York, May 21, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has learned that imprisoned Cuban journalist Normando Hernández González, who is jailed at Kilo 5 1/2 Prison in western Pinar del Río Province, has started a hunger strike to protest prison conditions. Hernández González, who is serving a 25-year sentence, is one of 29 journalists…
New York, May 21, 2004— Rashid Hamid Wali, assistant cameraman and fixer for the Qatar-based satellite channel Al-Jazeera, was killed by gunfire early this morning in the Iraqi city of Karbala, the station reported. According to a statement on Al-Jazeera’s Web site, Wali was killed by a single gunshot wound to the head when he…
New York, May 21, 2004—Nguyen Vu Binh, an imprisoned journalist who has been on a hunger strike since May 5, was moved from the Hoa Lo Moi Prison in the capital, Hanoi, to the Ba Sao Prison in Ha Nam Province, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Hanoi, on or around May 18, according to…
New York, May 21, 2004—Less than 48-hours after being arrested and released, Editor Bornwell Chakaodza and reporter Valentine Maponga, both with the independent weekly The Standard, were re-arrested early this morning. The two journalists were held at a police station until this afternoon, when they were taken to court for arraignment. They were formally charged…
New York, May 20, 2004—The European Court of Human Rights ruled yesterday that Russian authorities used a politically motivated criminal investigation in 2000 to try to take over the print and broadcast operations of Russian media mogul Vladimir Gusinsky. The Strasbourg, France–based court said that Russian authorities illegally harassed and arrested Gusinsky on charges of…
New York, May 20, 2004—Two journalists from Zimbabwe’s independent weekly The Standard were arrested yesterday afternoon and detained for six hours. Editor Bornwell Chakaodza and reporter Valentine Maponga were charged with “publishing false statements prejudicial to the State” under Section 15 of the draconian Public Order and Security Act (POSA). At least six police officers…
New York, May 19, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has confirmed that Abdishakur Yusuf Ali, editor of the independent weekly War-Ogaal, has been in jail without charge for almost one month in the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland in Somalia. Abdishakur was arrested on April 21 after War-Ogaal published an article accusing Puntland Finance…
New York, May 18, 2004—The death sentence of Burmese editor Zaw Thet Htway, who was convicted of high treason along with eight others in November 2003, was reduced to a three-year prison term on May 12 by Burma’s Supreme Court. Htway, editor of the sports magazine First Eleven, has been detained since July 17, 2003,…
New York, May 18, 2004—Prominent Chinese Internet writer Du Daobin went on trial today at the Intermediate People’s Court in Xiaogan, a city in the central Hubei Province, on subversion charges, according to international news reports. Du’s lawyer, Mo Shaoping, was only notified about the trial on Friday, May 14, and was therefore unable to…
New York, May 18, 2004—Reuters news agency revealed today that three of its Iraqi employees were subjected to sexual abuse and humiliation in January, when they were arrested by U.S. troops near Fallujah while covering the aftermath of the downing of a U.S. helicopter. According to Reuters, U.S. troops detained cameraman Salem Ureibi, journalist Ahmad…