June 2009

New York, June 30, 2009--The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on the Iranian authorities to immediately release all jailed journalists and to stop vilifying the foreign press. CPJ also welcomed the release of a number of employees of the reformist newspaper Kalameh Sabz who had been held since June 23.

China's Internet censors have blinked. In the face of opposition ranging from PC makers abroad to bloggers at home, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has backed away, at least for now, from a hastily conceived directive that all new PCs sold from July 1 should carry filtering software. 

New York, June 30, 2009--Honduran military personnel briefly detained seven journalists, temporarily shut down several local broadcasters, and intermittently blocked the broadcast signals of international news channels in the aftermath of the weekend coup that ousted President Manuel Zelaya. The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on those in power in Honduras to allow the press to report freely and without fear of reprisal.

Sri Lankan Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa ordered Britain's Channel 4 News Asia correspondent Nick Paton-Walsh, cameraman Matt Jasper, and producer Bessie Du, to leave the country on May 10, 2009, according to Channel 4 and international news reports. 

U.S. troops arrested radio journalist Noorajan Baheer on June 2, 2009, and detained him for two nights, according to Pajhwok Afghan News agency and Agence France-Presse. 

New York, June 29, 2009--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a Moroccan court decision today to impose fines and damages on three independent dailies for "publicly harming" Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, above, and "injuring his dignity."

New York, June 29, 2009--The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on national police Inspector General Mike Okiro to investigate reports that Delta state police harassed six journalists and attacked at least three of them last week. The Nigerian Union of Journalists Delta State Chapter said police attached to the state Ministry of Land prevented the journalists from reporting on the June 23 demolition of several buildings on government land. 

New York, June 29, 2009--The Committee to Protect Journalists calls for an independent investigation into the death of Vyacheslav Yaroshenko, editor-in-chief of the Rostov-on-Don newspaper Korruptsiya i Prestupnost, who succumbed today to head injuries suffered in an April attack, according to press reports. 

This week, in an exclusive interview with the Financial Times, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi suggested that the press in his country freely expresses dissent. In fact, that is hardly the case. The Horn of Africa nation remains one of the world's worst backsliders of press freedom.

There should be no doubt that the government is continuing its offensive against the media following its military victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). On Wednesday, Media Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena confirmed what had been rumored for more than a week: The defunct Press Council, which was put to rest in 2002, will be revived. 

On a cold winter evening--Jan. 29, 2004--I was getting ready to start my first night shift as an interpreter for the U.S. Army in Baghdad. It wasn't really that cold, but my whole body was chilled. It was around 6 p.m. but already dark. I was an 18-year-old freshman in the College of Arts studying my favorite language through the English literature program at Baghdad University.

Dear President Obama: In advance of your July 6-8 summit in Moscow with President Dmitry Medvedev, we'd like to draw your attention to the pressing issue of impunity in violent crimes against journalists in Russia. We ask you to place this issue on the agenda for your talks. Seventeen journalists have been murdered for their work or have died under suspicious circumstances since 2000. In only one case have the killers been convicted. In every case, the masterminds remain unpunished.

New York, June 24, 2009--The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the government of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to end censorship of independent newspapers and to identify and prosecute those who assaulted Al-Jazeera journalists on two occasions in the south of the country. 

New York, June 23, 2009--Iranian security agents arrested about 25 employees of Kalameh Sabz, the reformist newspaper owned by presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi, after raiding the paper's offices on Monday evening, according to local and international news reports. 

New York, June 22, 2009--The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Iranian authorities to release all journalists detained in the aftermath of the disputed presidential election and to lift the onerous press restrictions that are choking information at a time when the country and the world most need it. At least 13 journalists detained during a week of protests were still in government custody as of late today, including veteran Newsweek correspondent Maziar Bahari, according to CPJ research. 

New York, June 22, 2009--Seven Gambian journalists charged with sedition last week for criticizing the president have been freed on bail, while two other detainees were released without charge, local journalists and the press union told CPJ today.

My intention to remain in my home country, to use my pen to correct injustice, and to champion press freedom was aborted by security threats that forced me and my family into exile. I left behind my beloved country and editorial desk in the hands of perpetrators.  

New York, June 19, 2009--In his first public address to the nation since demonstrations erupted in many cities across Iran, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei today blamed foreign media, calling it "evil" for attempting to divide the people of Iran. Iranian authorities continue to crack down on journalists in an attempt to control information as demonstrations continue to grip the country following last Friday's disputed presidential elections, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

The unlawful detention of seven Gambian journalists since last Monday is serious cause for concern. These respected journalists were detained at the National Intelligence Agency headquarters in Banjul for "interrogation." They have been denied access by legal representation, family members, friends, or colleagues. On Thursday, they were charged with sedition for criticizing President Yahya Jammeh's televised comments about the unsolved 2004 murder of editor Deyda Hydara.

New York, June 19, 2009--A journalist in the Iraqi Kurdistan town of Dukan said he is concerned about his safety after a confrontation with a security officer for the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) on Tuesday evening.   

Being director general of UNESCO is the definition of a plum diplomatic job. Headquartered in Paris, UNESCO's mandate is to promote cultural exchanges and scientific research, or, as its charter more grandly puts it, "peace in the minds of men." With the term of the current UNESCO head coming to an end, the diplomatic battle to choose a successor is heating up. 

Mr. President: We are alarmed by the government's decision to indefinitely ban FM broadcasts of Radio France Internationale (RFI) in the eastern cities of Bunia and Bukavu. We call on you to use your influence to reverse these rulings, which we believe deprive residents of eastern Congo of access to diverse sources of information about the conflict in their region.

I am from Afghanistan, but I have lived in exile in Sweden for almost a year and a half. I spent my teenaged life in Pakistan, where I moved in 1997 to escape the savage regime of the Taliban.

New York, June 18, 2009--With street demonstrations continuing in Tehran, Iranian authorities expanded censorship, banning the publication of two newspapers. The Committee to Protect Journalists called on the authorities to lift the bans and to allow international reporters to return to the country. 

New York, June 18, 2009--A journalist in Equatorial Guinea, facing a criminal libel charge over a flawed story, was imprisoned on Wednesday, according to local journalists. 

News from the Committee to Protect Journalists

New York, June 17, 2009--The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on North Korean authorities to demonstrate greater transparency in their treatment of imprisoned U.S. television reporters Euna Lee and Laura Ling. 

Dear Prime Minister Thaci: As an independent, nonpartisan organization defending press freedom worldwide, the Committee to Protect Journalists urges you to publicly condemn and thoroughly investigate a recent wave of threats against Jeta Xharra, head of the Kosovo office of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN), and her colleagues.

New York, June 17, 2009--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns an Israeli court decision to sentence two television journalists on charges of breaching the military censorship law during the offensive in Gaza in December and January.

Sri Lankan journalists flee under severe pressure in the past year. Iraq and Somalia, two deadly countries for the press, also rank high in numbers of journalists forced into exile. Hundreds of journalists have been driven into exile this decade. By Karen Phillips

New York, June 16, 2009--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the Iranian government's decision to bar foreign journalists from leaving their offices to report, film, or take photographs--a restriction intended to prevent news coverage of protests over the disputed presidential election.  

New York, June 16, 2009--The Committee to Protect Journalists called today for Gambia's national security agency to release seven journalists it arrested on Monday. The detainees include leaders of the country's press union and editors of newspapers that published a union press release criticizing President Yahya Jammeh's recent comments about the unsolved 2004 murder of editor Deyda Hydara. 

New York, June 15, 2009--Intelligence officials at the National Directorate of Security (NDS) in Kabul should immediately release two Afghan journalists detained on Sunday, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. 

New York, June 15, 2009--The Committee to Protect Journalists called today for an end to the Iranian authorities' ongoing crackdown on media following the disputed re-election of incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad. 

New York, June 15, 2009--The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by defamation charges filed against a Moroccan editor by a group that represents close relatives of King Mohammed VI. A Casablanca court has summoned the editor to appear on Tuesday.

Dear Sirs: The Committee to Protect Journalists urges you, as the president of the European Council and President of the European Commission, to take concrete steps to ensure that Cuba complies with the 2008 EU human rights conditions by immediately releasing the 22 journalists currently jailed and by granting freedom of expression and information to all Cubans.

New York, June 12, 2009--The editor of a private newspaper in the Gambia has been in police custody since Wednesday because of a story that falsely reported the sacking of two government officials, according to local journalists.

New York, June 11, 2009--The Committee to Protect Journalists urges the Canadian and Australian governments to work for the immediate release of two freelance journalists who have been held captive in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, since August.

New York, June 11, 2009--The Committee to Protect Journalists commends the Uruguayan Congress' approval on Wednesday of a bill that repeals criminal defamation on issues of public interest involving officials. The bill is now under consideration of President Tabaré Vázquez for signing it into law.

New York, June 11, 2009--The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by the ‎passage of a Sudanese press law on Monday that falls short of ‎international standards for freedom of expression‎. 

New York, June 11, 2009--Following the wounding of a journalist and a driver by Pakistan security forces on Tuesday, the Committee to Protect Journalists called on Pakistan's military today to institute training to prevent such incidents and to discipline troops who fire unwarrantedly. 

Last week, President Yahya Jammeh, at left, discussed the unsolved 2004 murder case of editor Deyda Hydara in an interview on "One on One," a weekly program on The Gambia Radio and Television Service. The government "has for long been accused by the international community and so-called human rights organisations for the murder of Deyda Hydara, but we have no stake in this issue," media reports quoted Jammeh as saying. "And up to now one of these stupid Web sites carries 'Who Killed Deyda Hydara'? Let them go and ask Deyda Hydara who killed him," The Point newspaper quoted him as saying. 

New York, June 10, 2009--Following an attack on Friday on the deputy editor of the pro-opposition Kyrgyz-language biweekly Achyk Sayasat (Open Politics), the Committee to Protect Journalists called today on Kyrgyz authorities to ensure that their investigation is prompt and thorough. 

On May 9, 2009, four police officers in masks arrested Simón Tiburcio Chávez, publisher of the monthly newspaper Nuevo Amanecer in Alvarado, a city in the southeastern state of Veracruz. The journalist told CPJ that he was held for 25 hours without charge. Tiburcio said he believes his arrest was retaliation for two photographs published the day before in Nuevo Amanecer comparing local mayor Bogar Ruíz Rosas to a hyena.

Dear Prime Minister al-Maliki: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and the Journalistic Freedoms Observatory (JFO) would like to bring to your attention several issues that harm press freedom in Iraq. In recent months, our organizations have documented a number of assaults and instances of harassment committed by government officials against journalists in various parts of the country under the control of Iraq's central government.

New York, June 9, 2009--Police in Mindoro Occidental province should immediately investigate the shooting murder of Philippine radio commentator Crispin Perez for possible links to his reporting, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. 

Journalism conferences discussing global trends often
inflate the real but intermittent risks faced by foreign correspondents from
wealthier nations who travel to and report from less stable regions of the
world. They do so at the expense of downplaying if not plain ignoring the much
greater risks faced by local journalists who live in such areas with their
families and report daily for homegrown, regional media. The Deutsche Welle
annual Global Media Forum in Bonn is not one of them.

New York, June 8, 2009--Following the attack by unidentified gunmen on two staff members of Radio Shabelle on Sunday that left one dead and one injured, the Committee to Protect Journalists called today for all sides in the ongoing conflict to allow journalists to carry out their work without fear of retribution.

New York, June 8, 2009--An unidentified gunman shot and killed Guatemalan television reporter Marco Antonio Estrada on Saturday night in the eastern city of Chiquimula, the local press reported. 

New York, June 8, 2009--International pressure from all countries involved in the Six Party Talks should be leveraged to ensure the release of U.S. journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling after a North Korean court sentenced them today to 12 years hard labor, the Committee to Protect Journalists said. The countries in the talks are North and South Korea, China, Japan, Russia, and the United States.

On April 16, 2009, police in Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon, arrested James Mbouma, deputy managing editor of the weekly L'indépendant, in connection with a legal dispute over ownership of photographs he published.

In conjunction with the International Freedom of Expression Exchange general meeting, the Norwegian government hosted a Global Forum on Freedom of Expression featuring three days of discussions, seminars, and lectures from leading experts. For me, a highlight was finally meeting Sami al-Haj, at left, the Al-Jazeera correspondent who was held for six years at Guantanamo Bay. 

The English-language version of the state newspaper Global Times raised eyebrows on Tuesday with an article headlined, "Evolution of Chinese intellectuals' thought over two decades." The opinion piece included a quote from an academic referencing the "June 4 incident"--a departure for domestic, state-run media, which never refer explicitly to the peaceful demonstrations that were crushed by government troops in 1989. The article was not carried in the Chinese version of Global Times. The publication, which launched the English version this year, is affiliated with the party stalwart People's Daily.

I couldn't say anything. I didn't want to blink and waste a single moment of looking at the beach and the Pacific. I had never seen an ocean. If I could set up a tent on the sand, I thought, I could stay there forever. I have loved the seas, rivers, and oceans since I studied them when I was a child. Now here I was standing on the beach at Santa Monica, watching the waves of the biggest ocean shattering on the California coast.    

New York, June 4, 2009--The opening of two government investigations into private television network Teleamazonas and threats of legal action by Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa against critical media outlets are an attempt by the government to stifle dissent, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

It's hot in Beijing this time of year. An umbrella can serve as a convenient protection from the sun. Back in the spring of 1989, hundreds of umbrellas filled Tiananmen Square like makeshift shelters--until the army deployed tanks and guns against the anti-government protesters holding them. 

New York, June 3, 2009--The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the arrests of three additional suspects in the October 2008 murders of Ivo Pukanic, owner and editorial director of the Zagreb-based political weekly Nacional, and Niko Franjic, the publication's marketing director. Three other suspects had been arrested in November 2008. 

Forty members of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX) have signed on to a letter calling on the international community to press for the release of journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling...

New York, June 3, 2009--The Committee to Protect Journalists offered condolences today to the family and colleagues of Philippine journalist Jojo Trajano, who was killed in crossfire during a police raid of an alleged organized crime den near Manila. 

New York, June 3, 2009--On the eve of the June 4 criminal trial date for U.S. television journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling in North Korea, the Committee to Protect Journalists calls for all countries involved in the Six Party Talks to work together to ensure their freedom. The countries in the talks are North and South Korea, China, Japan, Russia, and the United States.

Last week, President Isaias Afeworki of Eritrea, Africa's leading jailer of journalists, discussed press freedom during an extensive interview with Swedish broadcaster TV4. Afeworki, a revered guerrilla commander who led this Red Sea country to nationhood in 1993, banned Eritrea's budding private media in 2001 and threw journalists in secret prisons without charge or trial. Speaking to Swedish journalist Donald Boström from his palace in the capital, Asmara, Afeworki, at left, took questions on the fate of long-held journalist Dawit Isaac, an Eritrean with Swedish citizenship, and lashed out at critics of the country's press freedom record. 

On April 24, 2009, journalist El Malick Seck, who was serving a three-year prison sentence over an editorial implicating President Abdoulaye Wade and his son in an alleged money laundering scandal, was released on presidential pardon, according to local journalists and news reports. The sentence had been upheld in February. He was first imprisoned on August 28, 2008.

Carlos Serrano, director and radio host for the Bogotá-based Radio Diversia, left Colombia on May 11, 2009, after receiving death threats against him and other reporters from the radio station, according to local news reports and CPJ interviews 

"Twitter is a new thing in China. The censors need time to figure out what it is. So enjoy the last happy days of twittering before the fate of YouTube descends on it one day," veteran Chinese blogger Michael Anti told the media blog Danwei in a May 27 interview.

New York, June 1, 2009--The Committee to Protect Journalists mourns the death of‎ an Al-Baghdadia television correspondent killed by a bomb attached to his car in Mosul, in northern Iraq, on Sunday.

New York, June 1, 2009--On the eve of the fourth anniversary of the murder of Lebanese journalist Samir Qassir, the Committee to Protect Journalists is outraged that those behind the crime are still at large.

New York, June 1, 2009--The general secretary of the Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association, Poddala Jayantha, was abducted in Sri Lanka today, beaten, and dropped by the side of a road in a Colombo suburb, according to a release by the association and two colleagues who spoke to him. 

Dear Mr. President: The Committee to Protect Journalists is writing ahead of your scheduled speech in Cairo on June 4 to bring to your attention important matters that are crucial to the long-term success of your stated goal of engaging the people--and not just the regimes--of the Arab and Muslim worlds.