Alerts

New York, December 28, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the attacks on at least eight journalists on Saturday and Sunday by armed forces loyal to outgoing President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The clashes between pro-Saleh forces and protesters left nine people dead on Saturday, The Associated Press reported. 

New York, December 28, 2011--The director of the Quito-based daily Hoy has been convicted on charges of criminal libel for articles depicting the political influence of an Ecuadoran banking official who is a relative of President Rafael Correa, news reports said.

New York, December 27, 2011--In a highly politicized trial, two Swedish journalists have been sentenced in an Ethiopian court to 11-year jail terms after being convicted of supporting terrorism and entering the country illegally, according to news reports.

New York, December 23, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Mauritanian authorities' Wednesday decision to expel a Moroccan journalist from the country. The Mauritanian government gave no reason for their decision.

New York, December 23, 2011 --- The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns China's harsh sentencing of online journalist and activist Chen Wei, who was handed a nine-year prison term on Friday for "inciting subversion."

New York, December 22, 2011--Authorities in Tanzania have arrested and charged a columnist and an editor with inciting the police force to subordinate in connection with an editorial critical of the government, according to local journalists and news reports. The printer of the publication has also been summoned to court twice in relation to the article.

New York, December 22, 2011--An Indian court has ordered 22 Internet sites to remove content it said promoted hatred and communal disharmony, according to news reports. 

New York, December 21, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns an Ethiopian court's decision to convict two Swedish photojournalists today in what appears to be a politicized trial.

New York, December 20, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by reports of the arrests of journalists in a nationwide sweep today in Turkey, and calls on authorities to immediately disclose the names of those detained along with any charges being filed against them.

New York, December 20, 2011--Authorities in the Republic of Congo should immediately lift the months-long suspensions imposed last week against two private weeklies in reprisal for articles critical of government officials, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. 

New York, December 20, 2011--Today's ruling by Kyrgyzstan's Supreme Court upholding a life sentence for independent journalist Azimjon Askarov on fabricated charges is a lethal blow to press freedom and justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said.

New York, December 20, 2011--Authorities in the Mangistau region of western Kazakhstan have attacked and detained independent journalists and blocked access to news outlets to suppress coverage of unrest there, news reports said. The Committee Protect today called on Kazakh authorities to allow the media unfettered access.

New York, December 19, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Egyptian authorities to halt the assaults on journalists and attacks on news outlets which are effectively censoring coverage of ongoing protests in Cairo. In recent days, CPJ has documented at least 15 attacks on the press during clashes between security forces and protesters in central Cairo.

New York, December 19, 2011--Somali authorities must pursue all leads in investigating the murder on Sunday of a broadcast journalist who had reported receiving several recent threats. A gunman in a military uniform shot freelance reporter Abdisalan Sheikh Hassan, according to local and international reports.

New York, December 16, 2011--South African authorities announced on Thursday the launch of a criminal probe against international news agencies The Associated Press and Reuters for installing cameras outside the home of anti-Apartheid figure Nelson Mandela, according to news reports.

New York, December 16, 2011--Indonesian authorities should conduct a full investigation into Sunday's attack on the home of a journalist who reported on local corruption, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The journalist's one-month-old child died soon after the attack.

New York, December 14, 2011--The government of Ivory Coast should immediately lift its suspensions on the circulations of three newspapers that published critical commentaries on the country's five-month post-election conflict and its aftermath, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

New York, December 14, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release of jailed Chinese journalist Huang Jinqiu. The journalist was freed on October 20, but delayed the announcement until Tuesday because authorities had told him not to seek publicity at the time, according to news reports.

Johannesburg, December 8, 2011--South African authorities should heed widespread calls to drop a "secrecy bill" that opponents say will criminalize whistle-blowing and stifle investigative journalism, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

New York, December 7, 2011--Honduran journalist Luz Marina Paz Villalobos was shot and killed in the capital Tegucigalpa on Tuesday, according to local news reports. Delmer Osmar Canales Gutiérrez, a cousin who worked as her driver, was also killed in the attack. Investigators are looking into several possible motives, including Paz's journalism.

New York, December 6, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the targeting of media by supporters of various political factions in Kurdistan. Journalists have been attacked and arrested in Iraqi Kurdistan and six media offices have been attacked in the past four days, according to news reports.

New York, December 6, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns heavy-handed actions by Russian authorities who have detained at least six journalists covering the protests that followed Sunday's parliamentary election. International observers have cited irregularities in the voting, officially won by United Russia, the party headed by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

New York, December 6, 2011--The offices of Peruvian regional daily El Sol de los Andes were attacked and vandalized on November 30 after the newspaper reported on alleged links between local police and criminal gangs, according to local press reports. 

New York, December 5, 2011--The offices of Honduran daily La Tribuna, based in the capital, Tegucigalpa, were attacked by unidentified gunmen early this morning after the newspaper published reports that linked local police to recent murders, news reports said.

New York, December 5, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the detention of journalist and press freedom campaigner Razan Ghazzawi and calls on Syrian authorities to immediately release her. CPJ also urges the government to end the routine harassment and detention of journalists and to make public the names of all detained journalists and any crimes they may be charged with.

New York, December 2, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the fatal shooting of Rwandan journalist Charles Ingabire in Kampala, Uganda's capital, and calls on the police to identify the culprits and bring them to justice.

New York, November 30, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is gravely concerned by the ongoing detention of a radio journalist in Burundi since Monday.

New York, November 29, 2011--When delegates from more than 100 countries and international aid organizations meet in Bonn on December 5 at an international conference on Afghanistan's future, they must alter their tactics and aim more to support the professionalization and safety training of the country's emerging press corps, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. Though Afghan media outlets have expanded rapidly in the post-Taliban-rule era, journalists need to be better trained and must know how to survive the threats and dangers that are part of their daily lives in order to ensure that the country's fragile democracy has robust media.

New York, November 29, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists calls for an investigation into the November 25 attack on four journalists reporting on a protest in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

New York, November 28, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is dismayed by reports that an Ecuadoran journalist was sentenced to a six-month prison term after being found guilty of criminal defamation.

New York, November 28, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by reports of a cyberattack on Mexican weekly Ríodoce that forced its website offline on Friday. Ríodoce is one of the few publications to cover crime and drug trafficking in Mexico.

New York, November 28, 2011--Anonymous callers have repeatedly threatened Ugandan radio journalist Robert Ssembuusi over the past week after he aired a story implicating a former local mayor in corruption, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

New York, November 28, 2011--Authorities in Karachi should take stronger measures to protect reporters covering violent incidents, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today after a journalist was critically injured in crossfire on Sunday.

New York, November 28, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Gambian President Yahya Jammeh's public remarks on Thursday, in which he vilified members of the press. The following day, Jammeh won his fourth term in office as president.

Bangkok, November 28, 2011--A Philippine radio journalist who reported critically on local corruption and drug trafficking was shot and seriously wounded on November 24, a day after the International Day to End Impunity was commemorated.

New York, November 28, 2011--The administration of Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara has detained without charge three journalists from an opposition newspaper since Thursday, in violation of the country's own press law and constitution, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

New York, November 23, 2011--An editor of a Pakistani newspaper received threatening telephone calls and was followed by men he believed were government agents, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

New York, November 22, 2011--The South African National Assembly today passed an information bill which would sanction unauthorized possession and publication of classified state information with a prison term of up to 25 years, according to news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the upper house of parliament to reject the bill, which has been criticized by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former President Nelson Mandela, among others.

New York, November 22, 2011--Iranian authorities have engaged in a series of attacks against the press in the past two weeks, including raiding a news office, banning an independent newspaper, and arresting at least five journalists.

New York, November 21, 2011 - Clashes between security forces and protesters in Cairo and other Egyptian cities have led to at least 17 assaults on the press over the past couple of days, including a shooting, detentions, and a beating by unidentified security personnel while in custody. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the attacks and calls on authorities to bring them to an immediate end.

"Journalists must be allowed to carry out their work without threat of assault," said Mohamed Abdel Dayem, CPJ's Middle East and North Africa program coordinator. "Furthermore, prosecutors have an obligation to investigate claims of abuse by military and police against journalists."

New York, November 21, 2011--The spokesman for South African President Jacob Zuma filed a criminal complaint on Saturday against two journalists investigating his alleged role in a $US5 billion international arms deal that became embroiled in scandal, according to news reports.

Weekly investigative paper Mail & Guardian sought comment last week from presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj, also a member of the ruling African National Congress, regarding information leaked from a confidential 2004 police deposition about his role in an arms deal, editor Nic Dawes told the local press. Maharaj asked the journalists how they obtained the information and referred the inquiry to his lawyers, BDK Attorneys, according to news reports. The lawyers threatened the newspaper with criminal prosecution under a 1998 law punishing unauthorized disclosure of a suspect's testimony in an investigation with a prison term of up to 15 years, news reports said.

New York, November 21, 2011--Dawit Kebede, managing editor of Awramba Times, one of Ethiopia's two remaining independent Amharic-language newspapers offering critical analysis of local politics, announced today that he was forced to leave the country after he received a tip last week about alleged government plans to re-imprison him. Kebede also said that the paper was unlikely to continue publishing.

Kebede, whom CPJ honored a year ago for perseverance in pursuing independent journalism in Ethiopia despite ongoing government intimidation, told CPJ from Washington, D.C., that official sources warned him on Thursday of preparations by the Ministry of Justice and Government Communication Affairs to revoke the conditional pardon that authorities offered in 2007 to him and other imprisoned journalists rounded up in a brutal November 2005 crackdown.

New York, November 21, 2011--A Syrian cameraman was found dead Sunday with his eyes gouged out in the town of al-Qasir, according to several news reports. Ferzat Jarban, who was last seen being arrested, is the first journalist to be killed in Syria since CPJ started documenting journalist fatalities in 1992.

New York, November 17, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by reports that a Bolivian TV channel and its sister radio station were vandalized and forced off the air on Monday by supporters of a local mayor. 

New York, November 16, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by reports that two newspaper employees in Mexico have been missing since Monday and that in their last communication, the men said they were being followed by police cars.

New York, November 15, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by today's reports of New York City police mistreating and detaining journalists and obstructing them from covering events at the Occupy Wall Street protests.

New York, November 15, 2011--A group of unidentified gunmen attacked the premises of the Mexican daily El Siglo de Torreón early this morning, setting a car on fire and shooting at the building several times.

Around 2:40 a.m., at least three assailants parked two vehicles in front of the newspaper's offices in the city of Torreón in the northern state of Coahuila, the paper reported. They set one of the cars on fire in front of El Siglo's main door and left in the other. Before fleeing, the gunmen used assault rifles to spray the premises with about 20 bullets that police recovered at the scene, editor Javier Garza told CPJ. One of the offices suffered some damage, but there were no injuries, he said. Federal and state police, as well as members of the Mexican army, arrived at the scene shortly after the attack.

New York, November 11, 2011--A judge in Ethiopia's federal high court charged six journalists with terrorism on Thursday under the country's antiterrorism law, bringing the number of journalists charged under the statute since June to 10, CPJ research found. 

New York, November 10, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by Israel's continued detention of Hassan Ghani, a correspondent for Iran's Press TV.

Ghani was arrested with four other journalists on Friday when soldiers boarded two humanitarian aid ships sailing toward Gaza, news reports said. The other journalists included Lina Attallah, of Al-Masry al-Youm's English edition; Jihan Hafiz, of Democracy Now!; Casey Kauffmann of Al-Jazeera English; and Ayman Al-Zubair of Al-Jazeera. The four journalists, a few of whom had equipment and footage confiscated by the Israeli authorities, have all been released and deported except Ghani, news reports said. 

New York, November 10, 2011--A Bangladeshi editor was rearrested on the same day he was released on bail, as he was leaving the gate of the prison, news reports said. 

Police detained Ekramul Haque, editor of Sheershanews website and Sheersha Kagoj weekly, on extortion charges on July 31. On October 25, the High Court in the country's capital, Dhaka, granted the journalist bail, and he was released on November 1. But he was arrested again at the gate of the jail as he was leaving, news website bdnews24 reported. 

New York, November 10, 2011--A Peruvian provincial journalist was found guilty of defamation by a regional court on Monday and received a suspended prison sentence and fine for his reports about alleged corruption, news reports said. 

New York, November 10, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by the Sri Lankan government's announcement of an upcoming set of guidelines and code of conduct for journalists and media organizations, and believes these regulations will only increase the government's control of the media.

The announcement, which appeared Thursday in the government-owned Daily News, said the government would "soon introduce a set of guidelines and a code of conduct for media to be adhered to by all media institutions and media persons in the country." The announcement also stated that the government would set up the guidelines, which would be enforced under the relevant laws.

New York, November 8, 2011--The administration of incumbent Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf silenced on Monday three Liberian broadcasters that have covered the campaigning of the opposition Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) party in the run-up to today's runoff presidential vote, according to news reports.

New York, November 7, 2011--Brazilian television cameraman Gelson Domingos da Silva was shot and killed Sunday during a confrontation between state police and suspected drug traffickers in Rio de Janeiro, according to press reports. 

New York, November 7, 2011--A group of unidentified gunmen stormed into the newsroom of the daily El Buen Tono in the state of Veracruz on Sunday, vandalized equipment, and set the premises on fire, according to local press reports.

New York, November 7, 2011--The body of missing Pakistani journalist Javed Naseer Rind was found on Saturday morning in Khuzdar, 186 miles (300 kilometers) south of the city of Quetta, local and international news reports said. The journalist had been shot multiple times in the head and chest, and his body showed multiple signs of torture, the local media reported. 

New York, November 7, 2011--A Peruvian provincial reporter was shot and wounded on Saturday while resisting an attempted kidnapping that his colleagues believe may have been in reprisal for his coverage of police corruption, news reports said. 

New York, November 7, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the conviction and sentence on defamation charges of Valery Surganov, a reporter with the independent news website Guljan, and calls for his full acquittal on appeal.

New York, November 7, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by reports that access to at least five Sri Lankan websites has been blocked by the country's government.

New York, November 4, 2011--Israeli forces arrested an unidentified number of journalists today after a group of soldiers boarded two humanitarian aid ships sailing toward Gaza and forced them to redirect to the Israeli port of Ashdod, according to news reports. 

New York, November 2, 2011--Authorities in northern Somalia banned two private broadcasters from operating in Puntland Tuesday, blaming independent media coverage for undermining national security as they grapple with potentially destabilizing violence in the region, according to local journalists and news reports.

The Information Ministry in semi-autonomous Puntland banned the local operations of Universal TV and Somali Channel TV, accusing the stations of "working with the peace haters who are always against the Puntland security," according to CPJ's translation of the directive.

New York, November 1, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the prosecution and imprisonment of Avaz Zeynally, editor-in-chief of the independent daily Khural, and calls on Azerbaijani authorities to release him immediately.

New York, November 1, 2011--A Guatemalan newspaper columnist has faced intimidation and harassment after writing a piece that raised questions about the disappearance of a person in the western city of Panajachel. The journalist, Lucía Escobar, said she fled the city on Friday after growing fearful.

New York, October 31, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the continued disappearance of Syrian journalists and bloggers.

New York, October 31, 2011-- Authorities in the Angolan enclave of Cabinda should take all steps necessary to ensure the safety of independent journalist José Manuel Gimbi, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today following reports that unidentified armed men raided Gimbi's residence Thursday and threatened to harm him.

New York, October 31, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release on Saturday of Peruvian journalist Paul Segundo Garay Ramírez, a television and radio news show host who had been imprisoned for more than six months. Citing flawed evidence, the Supreme Court on Friday overturned Garay's conviction on charges of defaming a prosecutor in Coronel Portillo, according to news reports.

New York, October 31, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the imprisonment of two Tibetan writers, one of whom was sentenced after a year of detention without trial, according to reports.

New York, October 31, 2011--Egyptian blogger Alaa Abd el-Fattah, jailed Sunday after he objected to interrogation by military prosecutors, should be released immediately and without condition, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

New York, October 26, 2011--Authorities in the western Mangystau region of Kazakhstan must thoroughly investigate a brutal attack today against two journalists for the Internet-based opposition broadcaster Stan TV, the Committee to Protect Journalists said.

Bangkok, October 25, 2011 - The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by reports that Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's government has tried to censor the citizen-journalist website Thaiflood, which has provided crucial news and information about massive flooding that has inundated one-third of the country's provinces. At least 350 people have been killed and millions dislocated by the natural disaster.  

New York, October 24, 2011--Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi last week accused journalists in the country of being "messengers" with "terrorist" groups, while a state newspaper accused the chief editor of an independent publication of having terrorist ties and called on security forces to "take action" against him. The Committee to Protect Journalists today said it condemns this campaign of intimidation against the private press.

New York, October 24, 2011--Authorities in northeastern Nigeria must urgently take steps to ensure the safety of media workers, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today following Saturday's assassination of a journalist in a shooting claimed by Islamist militants.

New York, October 20, 2011--Authorities in Mauritius today imprisoned a journalist for contempt of the Supreme Court and levied two fines over coverage of a case, according to local journalists and news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the sentences.

Editor-in-Chief Dharmanand Dooharika of the private weekly Samedi Plus was incarcerated in the main prison in the town of Beau-Bassin, even though his appeal is pending against the three- month jail sentence handed down Monday by Justice Keshoe Parsad Matadeen of the Mauritius Supreme Court, defense lawyer Ravi Rutnah told CPJ.

New York, October 19, 2011--Venezuela's telecommunications regulator has fined Globovisión, the country's last remaining critical network, more than US$2 million for its coverage of deadly prison riots in June and July, news reports said.

New York, October 19, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Tuesday's grenade attack on a Puntland radio station and calls for authorities to take immediate steps to identify and prosecute the perpetrators. This was the third local radio station hit with a blast in three months, CPJ research showed.

On Tuesday evening, a grenade was hurled into the studios of Radio Galkayo, a community radio station covering local news and current affairs based in the city of Galkayo in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland. The blast destroyed the back wall and a window to the office of Managing Director Abdullahi Hersi, local reports said. No one was hurt in the attack, but the station's staff was working in fear, the reports said. In January 2010, Radio Galkayo was damaged by a grenade that destroyed one studio and a roof, local journalists said.

New York, October 19, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by reports that access to anti-government news website Lanka eNews has been blocked inside Sri Lanka, according to the site's exiled editor and users inside the country. All three language versions of the site, English, Sinhala, and Tamil, have not been available since Tuesday. 

New York, October 19, 2011--A radio commentator and anti-mining tribal activist who was scheduled to launch a new radio station program in a few days was gunned down in the southern Philippines on October 14, news reports said. 

New York, October 18, 2011--Iranian authorities arrested four journalists who work for reformist newspapers and are expected to charge them with antistate crimes, according to news reports. 

New York, October 18, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Monday's arson attack against a Liberian radio station and threats made against another radio station's journalists in response to their coverage of Liberia's presidential elections.

New York, October 14, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is relieved by today's release of two Tajik journalists, but condemns their convictions on extremism and insult, among other charges, and calls for the quashing of the convictions on appeal.

New York, October 13, 2011--A court in Cundinamarca state handed Luis Agustín González, founder and editor of Colombian monthly newspaper Cundinamarca Democrática, a 20-month suspended sentence and a fine of approximately US$5,500 on charges of criminal libel, news reports said today. The sentence stemmed from an editorial González wrote in 2008 that questioned the candidacy of a local politician. 

New York, October 12, 2011--Police in Nigeria arrested six journalists and one staff member from independent daily The Nation on Tuesday concerning the publication of a purported private letter from former head of state Olusegun Obasanjo to President Goodluck Jonathan about administrators of government agencies, local journalists reported.

On the front page of its October 4 edition, The Nation published a letter, allegedly written by Obasanjo, that recommended Jonathan replace five CEOs of several government agencies, news reports said. Obasanjo filed a complaint last week, accusing the newspaper of publishing the letter with a forgery of his signature, Olusola Amore, the national police spokesman, told CPJ. The Nation, widely perceived as an opposition paper, said in a statement that they stand by their story and the letter's authenticity.

New York, October 12, 2011 -- A demonstration Sunday against religious persecution by Coptic Christians and their supporters turned into fatal confrontations between the military and civilians that left dozens dead, including a journalist. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns raids on two television studios and the cutting of electricity, telephone, and Internet service to a leading independent newspaper that occurred at the same time. CPJ is also alarmed by what appears to constitute incitement to violence on Egypt's state-owned television during the same period.

New York, October 12, 2011--An Angolan judge handed a suspended prison term and a fine to the editor of an independent newspaper on Monday in connection with stories that alleged corruption and abuse of power by five senior officials close to President José Eduardo Dos Santos, according to news reports and local journalists. 

Judge Manuel Pereira da Silva convicted William Tonet, editor of the private weekly Folha 8, of criminal libel and sentenced him to a year in prison, suspended for two years, and a fine of 10 million kwanza (US$105,000), news reports said. In a highly unusual move, the public prosecutor withdrew the charges in court and demanded the acquittal of the journalist, local journalists told CPJ. The judge ignored the request.

Bangkok, October 12, 2011 - The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes today's release of Burmese blogger and comedian Maung Thura, but reiterates its call for the immediate and unconditional release of at least 13 other journalists on CPJ's imprisoned list.

New York, October 11, 2011--Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's public accusations on Monday against two imprisoned Swedish journalists compromise the presumption of their innocence and predetermine the outcome of their case, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The journalists were arrested in Ethiopia in July and charged with terrorism for associating with armed separatists.

In July, Johan Persson and Martin Schibbye, contributors to the Sweden-based photo agency Kontinent, were arrested after they crossed with rebels of the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) into Ogaden, an oil-rich province where the media is barred independent access. Earlier this year, the Ethiopian government formally designated the ONLF a terrorist group under an anti-terrorism law. Under this 2009 law, journalists risk up to 20 years in prison if the government deems their reporting favorable to groups designated as terrorists. Both journalists were charged without their lawyers present, CPJ research shows.

New York, October 7, 2011--A Lahore-based editor for a political news website was found dead early this morning, according to Pakistani news reports and the journalist's brother.

New York, October 7, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the fatal shooting of newspaper editor Johnson Pascual and calls on Philippine authorities to investigate the case and prosecute the perpetrators.

New York, October 6, 2011--Guyanese president Bharrat Jagdeo has suspended television station CNS6 from broadcasting for four months in the period leading up to the presidential elections, according to local news reports. The suspension stemmed from a May 4 broadcast that aired comments about a local bishop who is a close associate of the president, news reports said.

"We are alarmed that President Bharrat Jagdeo has decided to suspend television station CNS6," said CPJ's Americas Senior Program Coordinator Carlos Lauría. "All Guyanese media must be allowed to report the news freely before the presidential election so that citizens can access information from multiple sources."

New York, October 5, 2011 -- The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the sentencing today of Dovletmurad Yazguliyev, a local correspondent for the Turkmen service of the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), to five years in prison on charges of inciting a relative's suicide attempt.

New York, October 3, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the recent crackdown on freedom of expression in Vietnam and calls on the government to immediately and unconditionally release all of the journalists detained in the country.

New York, September 30, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is disheartened by the passage in Jordan's lower chamber of Parliament of a draft anti-corruption law which would allow heavy fines for publishing information on corruption, and calls on the upper chamber to reject the bill. 

New York, September 29, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by reports that Mexican journalist Manuel Gabriel Fonseca Hernández has gone missing from the city of Acayucán, in Veracruz state. Fonseca's friends first reported him missing on September 20, police records show.

New York, September 29, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the ongoing imprisonment of journalist Makhmadyusuf Ismoilov and is dismayed by prosecutors' call for a hefty prison term on defamation and other charges.

New York, September 29, 2011--Egyptian plainclothes police stormed the office of an Al-Jazeera affiliate today for the second time this month, detaining a journalist. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the raid and calls on the authorities to end what has become a policy of censorship and intimidation of the media.

New York, September 28, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns today's decision by the appeals chamber of Bahrain's Court of National Safety to uphold lengthy prison terms for 21 individuals, including two online journalists and a prominent human rights defender. In separate press freedom violations, authorities prevented a newspaper from covering Saturday's parliamentary by-election, and an independent journalist has faced persistent harassment.

New York, September 27, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the censorship of two newspapers in the past four days, the first instances of their kind since the ouster of former president Hosni Mubarak in February. Production of the Saturday edition of the independent weekly Sawt al-Umma was halted, while the daily Rose al-Youssef was prevented from printing a page in today's paper that was to feature a controversial story.

New York, September 26, 2011--Four African Union soldiers deployed in Somalia have been suspended and returned to their home country of Burundi for potential trial after an internal investigation found them responsible for the shooting death of a Malaysian journalist this month. In a statement issued today, the African Union Mission in Somalia, or AMISOM, apologized for the shooting, which injured a second Malaysian journalist.

The troops fired on a Malaysian humanitarian aid convoy traveling to its base at the Mogadishu airport, according to witnesses cited in international news reports. Killed in the September 2 gunfire was Noramfaizul Mohd, 39, a cameraman for Malaysia's national Bernama TV who was accompanying the humanitarian mission. Aji Saregar, 27, a camera operator for Malaysia's TV3, was struck in the right hand by gunfire.

New York, September 26, 2011--The decapitated body of Mexican journalist Maria Elizabeth Macías Castro was found on a road near the city of Nuevo Laredo on Saturday, news reports said.

New York, September 26, 2011--The Thai government must bring to justice the perpetrators of the September 16 bomb attacks that killed a journalist and five other people in the country's insurgency-plagued southern region, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. 

New York, September 26, 2011--A Yemeni cameraman died in a Sana'a hospital on Saturday, five days after being struck by sniper fire while covering an anti-government protest in the capital, according to local and international news reports. Hassan al-Wadhaf, who filmed his own shooting, is the second journalist to be killed in Yemen since demonstrations began in February.

New York, September 26, 2011--A Sweden-based journalist was publicly threatened Friday in connection with her reporting on the case of Dawit Isaac, a Swedish-Eritrean journalist who has been imprisoned in Eritrea for a decade without charge, according to news reports and CPJ interviews. A day earlier in New York, bodyguards for the Eritrean leader Isaias Afewerki pushed and threatened two Swedish journalists seeking to speak to the president about the Isaac case, the journalists said. 

Bangkok, September 23, 2011--Philippine authorities should launch an investigation into the abduction of radio commentator Louie Larroza's daughter, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Larroza told reporters the kidnapping was a "warning" for his radio broadcasts, news reports said. The journalist's daughter, unharmed, was freed eight hours later.

New York, September 22, 2011--Farhad Taqaddosi, a cameraman for Iran's Press TV, died in a Kabul hospital on Tuesday of injuries he sustained in the Taliban's September 13 attack on prominent international buildings in Kabul, the station reported.

New York, September 21, 2011--An Indian journalist who covered police violence in the state of Chhattisgarh was recently arrested on antistate charges that human rights groups say are retaliatory, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

New York, September 21, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by reports that Nicaraguan journalist Silvia González fled the country last week after receiving repeated threats that referred to her work, news reports said.

New York, September 20, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Saturday's fatal stabbing of a TV journalist and calls on Chinese authorities to conduct a thorough investigation into possible journalism-related motives.

New York, September 20, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is relieved by Monday's decision by the parliamentary majority of South Africa's ruling party to withdraw a controversial bill from consideration pending further consultation with public interest groups over its contentious clauses.

New York, September 19, 2011--Iranian authorities have arrested six independent filmmakers on vague accusations that they engaged in a foreign conspiracy in connection with a critical new documentary about Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to news accounts. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the arrests and calls for the journalists' immediate release.

New York, September 16, 2011--Authorities in Ethiopia arrested two independent journalists this week on accusations of involvement in a terrorism plot, bringing the total number of journalists imprisoned since June under the country's far-reaching antiterrorism legislation to six, CPJ research shows.

New York, September 16, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Peruvian authorities to fully investigate the murder of journalist José Oquendo Reyes, who was shot to death on Wednesday, and bring those responsible to justice.

Bangkok, September 16, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak's vow to abolish the Printing Presses and Publishing Act, and urges his administration to follow through with additional press freedom-related reforms.

On Thursday, during an Independence Day national address, Najib vowed to dismantle two harsh security-related laws--the Internal Security Act and the Emergency Ordinance--and ease legal restrictions on civil liberties, including the right to assembly, international press reports said. He has also vowed to abolish the Printing Presses and Publications Act so that newspapers do not have to reapply annually for permission to publish. The Home Ministry previously had sole discretion over whether to renew newspapers' operating licenses, and its often arbitrary decisions could not be legally appealed.

New York, September 15, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the growing censorship of newspapers in Sudan. In the past two weeks alone, the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) halted the distribution of four different opposition newspapers without cause.

Bangkok, September 15, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the 10-year jail sentence handed down to Burmese journalist Sithu Zeya, a photographer with the Norway-based, exile-run Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), and calls on the government to reverse the ruling and stop its retaliation against exile-affiliated journalists.

New York, September 14, 2011--U.S. diplomatic cables disclosed last month by WikiLeaks cited an Ethiopian journalist by name and referred to his unnamed government source, forcing the journalist to flee the country after police interrogated him over the source's identity, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. It is the first instance CPJ has confirmed in which a citation in one of the cables has caused direct repercussions for a journalist.

New York, September 13, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the new measures taken by Egypt's ruling military council. In recent days, the military announced that it would actively enforce the Hosni Mubarak-era Emergency Law, which allows civilians, including journalists, to be tried in state security courts. Other recent anti-press measures include an Al-Jazeera bureau being raided and shut down, the military announcing a "temporary freeze" on issuing licenses to satellite television stations, and a foreign blogger being denied entry into the country.

New York, September 12, 2011--Brazilian authorities must thoroughly investigate the September 1 murder of a Brazilian radio journalist who was known for his criticism of local authorities and had allegedly been threatened with death by a local mayor, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

New York, September 12, 2011--Authorities in the semi-autonomous republic of Somaliland are obstructing independent journalists from covering government politics, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Four reporters have been harassed and arrested while on assignment since early September.

New York, September 12, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by the repeated death threats and harassment of a journalist who exposed corruption in the Bolivian government's Institute of Forensic Investigations this April.

New York, September 12, 2011--A lawsuit alleging invasion of privacy brought by Argentina's former president, Carlos Saúl Menem, against two journalists with the local newsweekly Noticias violates Article 13 of the American Convention on Human Rights, the Committee to Protect Journalists said in a legal brief filed Friday before the Costa Rica-based Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

This is the first case brought in the Inter-American system that involves a privacy claim stemming from a report on matters of public concern. CPJ believes it is vital for the court to set a precedent of protecting journalists' rights at a time when leaders in Latin America and around the world are using a barrage of legal actions to stifle critical reporting.

In July and August, Shahrvand-e Emrooz (Today's Citizen), a reformist weekly, ran two covers depicting President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a satirical light. The paper was banned indefinitely under Article 6 of the Iranian Press Law, which prohibits "insulting legal or real persons who are lawfully respected, even by means of pictures or caricatures," the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran (ICHRI) reported.

New York, September 9, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Thursday evening's killing of Iraqi journalist, filmmaker, and playwright Hadi al-Mahdi in Baghdad and calls on Iraqi authorities to immediately take steps to bring the perpetrators to justice.  

Al-Mahdi, radio show host and critic of the government, was shot dead in his home on Abu Nawas Street in the Baghdad neighborhood of al-Jidida on Thursday evening, Agence France-Presse reported. The Associated Press reported that a police officer said the journalist had been shot by gunmen using pistols outfitted with silencers. Witnesses at the crime scene told Human Rights Watch that they saw no evidence of a struggle or theft and that the journalist's valuables were left untouched. CPJ is investigating to determine whether the death was work-related.

New York, September 9, 2011--CPJ is relieved that fighters loyal to Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara relinquished control last week of offices belonging to newspaper publishers who supported ousted President Laurent Gbagbo, local journalists and news reports said.

New York, September 9, 2011--Thieves broke into the offices of the Nairobi Law Monthly early this morning, stealing computers containing critical information for the magazine's October issue, Editor Dennis Ben Musota told CPJ. The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on authorities to conduct an immediate and thorough investigation.

Khpalwak, 25, died in violence between insurgents and security forces when gunmen and suicide bombers targeted the governor's office and police headquarters in Tarin Kot, capital of Uruzgan province in central Afghanistan.

New York, September 7, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is disturbed by Monday's attack on two Yemeni journalists by a group of armed men. Reports of other attacks on journalists point to a worsening situation for press freedom in the country.

New York, September 7, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the Cuban government's decision to not renew press credentials held by a 20-year veteran correspondent for the Spanish daily El País and radio network Cadena SER. Mauricio Vicent, whose access to official events had been restricted by the government for the past year, is now prohibited from reporting stories from Cuba, according to El País. 

New York, September 7, 2011--Ethiopia filed terrorism charges on Tuesday against four independent journalists detained in the country since June and July, along with the editor of a U.S.-based news forum critical of the Addis Ababa government, according to local sources and news reports.

New York, September 5, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the African Union to ensure the safety of civilians operating in Somalia after witnesses reported that AU forces fired on a Malaysian humanitarian convoy in Mogadishu on Friday, killing one journalist and injuring another. Calling the shootings "deeply regrettable," the African Union Mission in Somalia said in a statement that it has undertaken an investigation and would publicize its findings.

New York, August 31, 2011--A former general with the Ukrainian Interior Ministry testified in a Kyiv court on Tuesday that he killed journalist Georgy Gongadze in 2000 in a plot orchestrated by former President Leonid Kuchma and other top officials, according to news reports and CPJ interviews.

New York, August 31, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by anti-press violence by supporters of Julius Malema, youth leader of South Africa's ruling African National Congress, and is relieved that the party leader has urged restraint.

New York, August 25, 2011--Charges against prominent Omani journalist and filmmaker Youssef al-Haj should be dropped immediately, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.  Al-Haj's trial over an article he wrote that allegedly accused the Ministry of Justice of corruption began on August 14 but was postponed until this Sunday. At the August 14 hearing, the judge ordered that the newspaper that published al-Haj's story, Al-Zaman, not print any details of the case, local human rights activists told CPJ. 

The suspect, retired Lt. Col. Dmitry Pavlyuchenkov, is said to have formed a criminal group tasked with killing her, and the journalist's colleagues hope he can help lead to the mastermind of the slaying.

New York, August 22, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by the continuing deterioration of conditions for journalists operating in Yemen. On August 12, authorities detained Ahmed Firas, a cameraman for Suhail TV. According to one local journalist, Firas' detention may be related to his work at the pro-revolution news station. 

New York, August 22, 2011--A midday attack on three Khyber TV personnel in central Peshawar underscores the vulnerability of Pakistan journalists as the country's security situation grows more precarious, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

New York, August 16, 2011--The Pechersky District Court in Kyiv must open to the public the ongoing trial against Aleksei Pukach, a former interior ministry general charged with the notorious 2000 killing of independent journalist Georgy Gongadze, the Committee to Protect Journalist said today. 

New York, August 15, 2011--Alarm continues to mount for the safety of Pakistani journalists with the assassination of a reporter on Sunday in restive Baluchistan, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Also, a senior reporter remains missing in Waziristan, after being abducted on August 11.

New York, August 15, 2011--Information authorities in China should cease censorship of environmental protests in Liaoning province, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. 

New York, August 12, 2011--Concern is mounting for the safety of journalist Rahmatullah Darpakhel, who was seized by a group of armed men in North Waziristan on Tuesday and remains missing, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

New York, August 5, 2011--Angolan authorities should explain Tuesday's arrest and incommunicado detention of a radio journalist for reporting on a nationwide wave of mass fainting of people, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. 

New York, August 5, 2011--The logistics manager and driver for Radio Simba, Farah Hassan Sahal, died from bullet wounds early Thursday evening just outside the station's compound in the restive Bakara Market in the capital, Mogadishu, Radio Simba Director Abdullahi Ali Farah told CPJ. Hassan was helping the station move damaged radio equipment when a sniper shot him three times, Farah said. Hassan, 45, is survived by his wife and eight children, he said.

New York, August 4, 2011--The government of Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara, who pledged to uphold democracy in a Friday meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama, has suspended a newspaper over a reprinted opinion column criticizing the White House meeting, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

New York, August 3, 2011--The government of Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza is attempting to silence critical press coverage of his administration with incessant judicial harassment of two of the country's leading independent broadcasters, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. 

New York, August 3, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is dismayed by news reports in Iran indicating that furloughed journalists are being summoned back to prison while new journalists continue to be convicted on manufactured charges. Reports of journalists' deteriorating physical and mental health are equally disturbing. 

"That the legal rights of accused and imprisoned journalists in Iran are disregarded with regularity has been established beyond a doubt by scores of individual cases documented by CPJ and others," said Mohamed Abdel Dayem, CPJ Middle East and North Africa program coordinator. "Multiple legal analyses have also outlined how the authorities are indifferent to the letter and the spirit of Iranian law in their vindictive pursuit of journalists who are viewed as political adversaries to be silenced or eliminated."

New York, August 3, 2011--The body of José Agustín Silvestre, a critical Dominican journalist who ran a magazine and hosted a television program, was found Tuesday morning shortly after he was seized by gunmen in the southeastern city of La Romana, according to local press reports. 

New York, August 2, 2011--The suspension of a state television producer for his coverage of last week's fatal train crash sends a disturbing message to Chinese media outlets, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. 

Information authorities intensified media restrictions at the end of last week in an effort to restrain the unusually probing media treatment of the July 23 disaster. But their initial propaganda directives were widely ignored and the railway ministry's response to the crash launched a flood of online criticism.

New York, August 1, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the decision by authorities in Puntland, Somalia's northeastern semiautonomous region, to set free reporter Faysal Mohamed Hassan on Sunday. Mohamed, who wrote for the private news site Hiiraan Online, was serving a prison sentence over a story claiming that two murdered men belonged to Puntland's security personnel.

New York, August 1, 2011--Chinese propaganda authorities renewed their orders to media groups late Friday not to report on last week's train crash or its aftermath after their initial bans on coverage were widely disregarded, according to international news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists said today that popular outcry in China at the crash is a sign that propaganda orders cannot suppress public opinion.

New York, August 1, 2011--Police in Bangladesh should either charge or release a news editor arrested Sunday, whose detention may be linked to his writing on government corruption, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

New York, July 26, 2011--Security services in Uganda are in flagrant violation of a 48-hour constitutional limit on pretrial detention with their imprisonment of a journalist for 13 days without charge, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

New York, July 26, 2011--The decapitated head and body of veteran reporter Yolanda Ordaz de la Cruz was found early this morning, according to officials in the Mexican state of Veracruz. The journalist was abducted on Sunday by armed men as she left her house.

New York, July 26, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a hacking attack on a Chinese journalist's e-mail account reported by her employer on Saturday. The attack originated from a region of China where the journalist was investigating child trafficking. 

New York, July 25, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes Thursday's ruling in Ethiopia to release on bail two journalists imprisoned on pre-trial detention for the last 15 months on vague criminal charges.

New York, July 25, 2011--Information authorities should allow open reporting on Saturday's high-speed rail crash in Zhejiang province, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

New York, July 22, 2011--Authorities in Ivory Coast detained a journalist on Thursday for moderating a TV talk show favorable to ousted former ousted president Laurent Gbagbo, according to local journalists. 

New York, July 21, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns sweeping arrests and attacks on journalists, as well as censorship by the administration of Malawi President Bingu Wa Muthiraka against media outlets reporting on nationwide antigovernment protests that erupted on Wednesday.

New York, July 21, 2011--An editor and three executives from the Ecuadoran news daily El Universo were sentenced to three years in prison and $40 million in fines on Wednesday for defaming President Rafael Correa, according to local news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the sentence today and called on Ecuadoran authorities to bring the country's press law into compliance with international standards on freedom of expression. 

New York, July 20, 2011--Zambian law enforcement and judiciary officials must ensure that justice is fully served in Monday's attack against three television journalists and their driver, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Two officials of the ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) have been arrested in connection with the attack.

New York, July 20, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is dismayed to learn that veteran Iranian journalist Mashallah Shamsolvaezin has been summoned to serve a 16-month prison term that was unjustly levied in 2010.

Shamsolvaezin is a journalist, political analyst, deputy chairman of the now-defunct Iranian Journalists Association, and spokesman for the Committee for the Defense of Freedom of the Press. In December 2010, he was sentenced to 16 months in prison on charges of "insulting the president" and "weakening the Islamic Republic regime."

New York, July 19, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by intimidation of the private Zodiak Broadcasting Station (ZBS) on Sunday and Monday by masked assailants as protests were planned for Wednesday in the capital.

New York, July 19, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Bahrain to end harassment and contrived legal proceedings against critical journalists. Since February, critical journalists have been intimidated, interrogated, smeared in government-owned and -aligned publications, and harassed and sued by government supporters. 

New York, July 19, 2011--Reports that the Beijing-based China Economic Times has closed its investigative news unit are a concerning sign that pressure is mounting on hard-hitting media outlets in China, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. 

New York, July 18, 2011--Journalist Nery Geremías Orellana was shot and killed Thursday in the western state of Lempira, near Honduras' border with El Salvador, according to local news reports. Orellana was the manager of the local radio station Radio Joconguera and a correspondent for Christian-oriented station Radio Progreso. He was also an active member of the National Front of Popular Resistance (FNRP), an organization that formed in opposition to the 2009 coup d'état in Honduras, the group said. 

New York, July 18, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists called on the government of Jordan to do more to prevent attacks on journalists who cover demonstrations and other forms of civil unrest. On Friday, security forces beat 16 journalists in identifying orange vests during a demonstration and planned sit-in that rapidly devolved into clashes between security personnel and government supporters with demonstrators.

New York, July 14, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the sentencing of Peruvian television journalist Hans Francisco Andrade Chávez to two years in prison on criminal defamation charges stemming from a March 2 report concerning a local government official.

New York, July 14, 2011--The Syrian government has detained a local journalist who contributes to pan-Arab news outlets and expelled an international reporter, according to news reports, continuing a crackdown designed to silence global news coverage of the nation's political crisis.

New York, July 13, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists urges Tajik prosecutors in Khujand, northern Tajikistan, to drop politicized extremism charges against BBC reporter Urinboy Usmonov, and calls for his immediate release. The journalist is being charged with failing to report the activities of the Islamist group Hizb-ut-Tahrir to Tajik law enforcement agencies, Usmonov's lawyer, Faiziniso Vokhidova, told the Tajik service of the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (Radio Ozodi).

New York, July 13, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the Democratic Republic of Congo's ban of a private broadcaster favorable to opposition presidential candidate Etienne Tshisekedi. The blocking and ban of the broadcaster since Saturday is in violation of the country's press laws. 

New York, July 12, 2011--The reinstatement of Egypt's Information Ministry that was abolished in February constitutes a substantial setback for media freedom in Egypt, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. 

New York, July 12, 2011-- Two Central African Republic journalists were fined and released from custody Monday after being jailed for weeks in connection with their coverage of public protests by retired military officers who say the government failed to direct European Union funds to them as intended, according to news reports and local journalists.

Bangkok, July 11, 2011--Authorities must stop harassing journalists reporting on public demonstrations in Vietnam, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On Sunday, police detained and interrogated three reporters who were covering anti-China protests in Hanoi where around a dozen demonstrators were arrested.    

New York, July 8, 2011---The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the arrest on Saturday of five suspects in the murder of Brazilian newspaper editor, politician, and blogger Edinaldo Filgueira, who was shot and killed by unidentified gunmen on June 15 in the town of Serra do Mel in the northeastern state of Rio Grande do Norte.

New York, July 8, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is disturbed by the Iranian government's persistent mistreatment of detained journalists as well as news reports that authorities have arrested two additional journalists in recent days. 

"We are profoundly disturbed by media reports and testimonies indicating that Iran's prison and judicial authorities continue to engage in abusive and retaliatory tactics against detained journalists," said CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Mohamed Abdel Dayem. "Making matters worse, the authorities continue to detain new journalists at an alarmingly steady pace." 

New York, July 7, 2011--Belarusian authorities must immediately cease their ongoing crackdown against the independent press and release all journalists in state custody, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Police in Minsk and other cities across the country detained at least 28 journalists on Wednesday who were covering protest rallies that opposition activists have been holding weekly since late May, according to the Minsk-based Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) and reports in the local and international press. 

New York, July 7, 2011--Diana Markosian, a freelance photographer for Bloomberg Markets magazine was denied entry to Azerbaijan last week by authorities who cited her ethnicity as a reason, international news reports said. 

Moscow, July 7, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Moscow police to thoroughly investigate today's incident involving Vadim Rechkalov, a political commentator with the popular daily newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets, in which an unknown man threatened him with a gun. 

Bangkok, July 7, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the raid and seizure of broadcasting equipment by police at six community radio stations in Thailand's northeastern Nakhon Ratchasima province. The raids were staged two days after caretaker Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's government lost to the opposition Peua Thai party in general elections held on July 3. 

New York, July 6, 2011--The closed-door sentencing of a Tibetan magazine editor jailed without charge for over a year is another disturbing indicator of the lack of due process allowed to ethnic minority journalists in China, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

New York, July 6, 2011--Gambian President Yahya Jammeh must clarify his March 16 comments suggesting that detained journalist "Chief" Ebrima Manneh has died, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. CPJ's call comes ahead of the fifth anniversary of the July 7, 2006, arrest of Manneh, left, who disappeared after being taken into government custody.

New York, July 6, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the defamation conviction of Andrzej Poczobut, a Grodno correspondent for the largest Polish daily, Gazeta Wyborcza, and calls for it to be overturned on appeal.

New York, July 5, 2011--Two Swedish journalists reporting on the activities of armed separatists operating in an oil-rich province of eastern Ethiopia have been detained without charge since Thursday in the Horn of Africa nation, according to news reports and government officials.

Ethiopian security forces arrested photojournalist Johan Persson and reporter Martin Schibbye, contributors to the Sweden-based agency Kontinent, along the border with neighboring Somalia, government spokesman Bereket Simon told CPJ.

New York, July 5, 2011--Luis Eduardo Gómez, a Colombian freelance journalist who was a witness for an investigation into links between politicians and paramilitary groups, was shot and killed on Thursday in the town of Arboletes, in the northwestern province of Antioquia, according to news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Colombian authorities today to thoroughly investigate his murder and bring those responsible to justice. 

New York, July 5, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a prison sentence given to a reporter of an online news Web site on Saturday in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland. 

Bangkok, July 1, 2011--Ross Dunkley, founder and editor of the Myanmar Times newspaper, was convicted of assault and set free for time already spent in detention by a Burmese court on Thursday. 

New York, June 30, 2011--In a new crackdown against the independent press, Belarusian police briefly detained and beat more than a dozen reporters, and broke their equipment at a Wednesday protest rally in Minsk and Brest, according to news reports and CPJ sources in Belarus. 

New York, June 30, 2011--Police arrested Faysal Mohamed, at left, a reporter for the Hiiraan Online website Wednesday morning in the port town of Bossasso in the semi-autonomous republic of Puntland, local journalists told CPJ. No official charges have been brought against him, although the deputy commander of the Bossasso District Police told journalists that Mohamed was arrested for publishing a "false news report" on Hiiraan Online. He is currently being held in the Bossasso Central Police Station. 

New York, June 29, 2011--The Sudanese government continues to aggressively target individual journalists and publications through contrived legal proceedings, politicized criminal charges, and confiscations, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. 

New York, June 29, 2011--The Ethiopian government today publicly today accused an editor and a columnist of involvement in a terrorism plot, according to news reports and local journalists. Woubshet Taye, deputy editor of the leading Awramba Times newspaper and Reeyot Alemu, columnist for the weekly Feteh, have been held incommunicado under Ethiopia's far-reaching anti-terrorism law since last week. 

New York, June 29, 2011--Eighteen months after their abduction in Afghanistan, the Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release of France 3 television crew members Hervé Ghesquière, Stéphane Taponier, and Reza Din.

New York, June 27, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Israeli authorities to allow journalists covering a Gaza-bound humanitarian aid flotilla to do their work without interference or reprisals. 

New York, June 27, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes news today that police in Mumbai have arrested seven suspects in the June 11 slaying of veteran crime reporter Jyotirmoy Dey. But CPJ is concerned that the alleged mastermind remains at large and that police have not identified a motive in the killing.

New York, June 23, 2011--Ethiopian authorities have been holding a newspaper columnist incommunicado since Tuesday, local journalists told the Committee to Protect Journalists. Reeyot Alemu, a regular contributor to the independent weekly Feteh, was expected to spend the next four weeks in preventive detention under what appears to be Ethiopia's sweeping anti-terrorism law.  

New York,  June 23, 2011--Jailed Indonesian publisher Erwin Arnada was acquitted by the Supreme Court Wednesday of the public indecency charges against him, according to local and international media reports. Arnada was also the editor of the now-dormant Playboy Indonesia, which had appeared for six issues on Indonesia's newsstands in 2006.  

New York, June 23, 2011--Authorities in Shandong should overturn a second prison sentence handed down to freelance journalist Qi Chonghuai just days before the end of his term, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Two of three Chinese journalists scheduled for release this month are out of jail. Artist Ai Weiwei was unexpectedly freed from extrajudicial detention on Wednesday. 

New York, June 23, 2011-- Press freedom, particularly free expression online, will be a priority for newly re-elected U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the U.N. chief pledged today in a meeting with the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders.

New York, June 23, 2011--Gunmen from pro- and anti-government militias raided and shuttered two radio stations in Somalia in separate attacks on Wednesday, local journalists reported. 

New York, June 23, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Ulster authorities to investigate the shooting of photographer Niall Carson and ensure the safety of journalists covering sectarian violence in Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland.

New York, June 23, 2011--Tajik authorities must drop trumped-up charges against Urinboy Usmonov, a BBC World Service correspondent in Tajikistan, and release him immediately, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

New York, June 23, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists and the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information today called on the Syrian government to produce immediate evidence showing that unjustly imprisoned blogger Tal al-Mallohi is alive and well. The demand follows several recent news reports saying that al-Mallohi died in a Syrian prison a month ago. 

New York, June 23, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists mourns the death of cameraman Alwan al-Ghorabi, who died in the southern city of Diwaniyya when a car bomb exploded in the city center on Tuesday. 

New York, June 22, 2011--Authorities in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo town of Kirumba must thoroughly investigate the murder of radio journalist Witness-Patchelly Kambale Musonia, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The reporter's bullet-ridden body was discovered early this morning in Congo's North Kivu province.

New York, June 22, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns today's politicized verdict in which 21 bloggers, human rights activists, and members of the political opposition were found guilty of plotting to topple the monarchy. Today's court ruling further cements 2011 as the worst year for press freedom in Bahrain since the island kingdom declared its independence in 1971. 

New York, June 22, 2011--Artist and filmmaker Ai Weiwei's release from prison leaves questions unanswered about his illegal detention and other missing activists and journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The whereabouts of Ai's associate, freelance journalist Wen Tao, missing since April 3 and presumed detained, is still unknown.

New York, June 21, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Ethiopian authorities today to immediately release journalist Woubshet Taye, at left, who has been held since Sunday.

Police picked up Taye, deputy editor of the leading independent weekly Awramba Times, at his home in the capital, Addis Ababa, at 3 p.m. and confiscated several documents, cameras, CDs, and selected copies of Awramba Times, local journalists told CPJ. The newspaper covers politics in-depth.

New York, June 21, 2011--On the heels of an attack on Agence France-Presse's Amman offices, the Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the Jordanian government to hold to account those who threaten or attack journalists.

New York, June 20, 2011--A prominent Mexican newspaper columnist, his wife, and a son were shot to death in their home in Veracruz, according to state investigators, a shocking assault that underscores the country's ongoing crisis. The administration of President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa must take decisive action to end to the cycle of violence undermining Mexico's democracy, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.    

New York, June 20, 2011--Waqar Kiani, a Pakistani journalist who was assaulted Saturday night by men in police uniforms, told the Committee to Protect Journalists that he fears for his safety and the safety of his wife and two young children. The attack came five days after Kiani, 32, had written a story the U.K. Guardian newspaper about being abducted and tortured in 2008.

New York, June 20, 2011--Video footage of a Tamil journalist apparently executed in the final stages of Sri Lanka's bloody civil war underscores the need for an urgent international inquiry, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. 

New York, June 20, 2011--Four employees of the Wajir District Hospital attacked journalist Abdi Hassan Hussein at the hospital on Saturday, the reporter told the Committee to Protect Journalists. Hassan, a reporter for the Wajir Community Radio Station in the far northeastern corner of the country, said he visited the hospital with three colleagues to investigate complaints from patients.

New York, June 17, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists joins with our colleagues in Pakistan in mourning the death of of reporter Shafiullah Khan, who died Friday of injuries he had sustained in a June 11 suicide bombing in Peshawar, the administrative center for Pakistan's strife-torn Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) along the border with Afghanistan. 

New York, June 17, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Zimbabwean authorities to thoroughly investigate a suspicious break-in at a newspaper's office on Thursday.

New York, June 17, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the detention of a German television crew and the destruction of their footage by authorities in Equatorial Guinea.

New York, June 16, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the vicious beating in Baku of international journalists Amanda Erickson and Celia Davies, and calls on the authorities to bring their attackers to justice.

New York, June 16, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the detention and reported beating in custody of Urinboy Usmonov, a local correspondent for the BBC Central Asia service, and calls for his immediate release.

New York, June 15, 2011--Iran's ongoing assault against independent and opposition media has recently gained momentum, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. In recent weeks, a journalist died in custody for what his family said was a lack of adequate medical care, the government sentenced another journalist to 20 years in prison, arrested one more, and confirmed a 19 and a half year prison term for a blogger known as the "Blogfather." 

New York, June 15, 2011--Police in Sierra Leone have arrested three suspects, including a police officer, for the killing of a reporter this Sunday during violent clashes over a land dispute on the outskirts of the capital, Freetown, according to local journalists. 

Ibrahim Foday, 38, a reporter at the private daily newspaper The Exclusive, was beaten and stabbed by assailants during an outbreak of violence between neighboring villages Kossoh and Grafton, 16 miles (25 kilometers) southeast of the capital, Freetown, according to Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ). Foday, a resident of Grafton, was attacked for taking photographs of Kossoh rioters. 

New York, June 15, 2011--Pakistani journalist Shafiullah Khan is in critical condition after suffering extensive burns in a double bombing in Peshawar on Saturday. CPJ erroneously reported on Monday that Khan had died in the attack.

New York, June 14, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a growing number of detentions by the Somali government's security forces against journalists covering weeklong protests in the KM4 area of the capital, Mogadishu. On Monday morning, security agents arrested 20-year-old reporter Mohamed Amin, of the privately owned Radio Kulmiye. He had been covering ongoing protests that started last Friday. These protests had erupted in Mogadishu following the announcement to ouster the popular prime minister, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, Radio Kulmiye Deputy Director Mohamed Odowa told CPJ. 

New York, June 14, 2011--Belarusian authorities must end the retaliatory prosecution of Andrzej Poczobut, a Grodno-based correspondent for the largest Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza, and release him immediately, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. 

New York, June 13, 2011 -- Romeo Olea, a provincial radio commentator in the Philippines, was shot dead on his way to work Monday morning. Local and international media reports, quoting police sources, say Olea was shot twice in the back while riding his motorcycle to work in Iriga City in Camarines Sur province, about 480 miles (300 kilometers) from Manila.

New York, June 13, 2011--Jyotirmoy Dey, a senior journalist and special investigations editor at Mumbai's afternoon daily Midday, was killed last week, in broad daylight. His murder must be fully investigated as soon as possible, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday.

New York, June 10, 2011--Two Pakistani journalists who captured images of apparent military violence against unarmed foreigners and a local man are being threatened, their colleagues told CPJ. The threats have come amid calls from high-ranking Pakistani military leaders to quell public criticism of their policies, made at a Thursday meeting of top level commanders. 

New York, June 10, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Mexican authorities to conduct a thorough investigation into the abduction of news editor Marco Antonio López Ortiz, who appears to have been kidnapped on Tuesday in Acapulco, Guerrero state.

New York, June 8, 2011--It has been exactly 500 days since Sri Lankan journalist Prageeth Eknelygoda disappeared. He has not been seen by his wife Sandhya Eknelygoda or by the couple's two teenage sons, Sanjay and Harith, since he left for work around 7:30 a.m., on the morning of January 24, 2010. Sandhya filed a complaint with the local police office at 11:30 a.m. the next day but so far no government official has given her information about her husband's whereabouts. His family and colleagues at the Lanka eNews website where he worked have no idea what has become of Eknelygoda.

New York, June 7, 2011--Central African Republic authorities have charged the director of the independent weekly The Hills of Bangui, Faustin Bambou, with inciting hatred and disorder among the military forces and insulting the government, Bambou told CPJ. The director was sent directly to Ngaragba Prison in the capital, Bangui. Four military policemen arrested Bambou at his office on May 27 and detained him at their Research and Investigations Department for 10 days before they presented him with any official charges, according to local journalists.   

New York, June 7, 2011--The Committee to Protect journalists is disturbed by the June 1 declaration by Afghanistan's Ulema Shurab, or the Council of Religious Scholars, criticizing two media outlets, Hasht-e-Subh Daily newspaper and Tolo Television, for what it reportedly called "immorality" and "animosity against Islam," according to Afghan media owners. The council is a powerful force in Afghan politics and meets frequently with President Hamid Karzai to advise him on religious and cultural affairs.

New York, June 6, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Sudan to drop criminal charges and abandon all other tactics of harassment employed against at least 10 journalists who have reported on the alleged rape and torture of a youth activist. The activist said she was raped after participating in a demonstration in January.

New York, June 6, 2011--The Supreme Court sentenced the exiled online editor of Umuvugizi, Jean Bosco Gasasira, on Friday to a two year and six month term in prison. Gasasira received this sentence for allegedly insulting Rwanda's president and inciting civil disobedience, local journalists told CPJ. Gasasira believes the new sentence may stem from an online article he wrote that compared Rwanda's President Paul Kagame to Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, he said. The opinion piece concluded that the Rwandan president was more tyrannical than the Zimbabwean leader.

New York, June 6, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomed the life imprisonment of the two men who murdered journalist Birendra Shah. CPJ also calls for the arrest of three local Maoists accused of masterminding the 2007 killing.

New York, June 6, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Colombian authorities today to thoroughly investigate the attempted murder of the director of a provincial television station in Colombia. Mario Esteban López Ortega, known for his criticism of local authorities, escaped an assassination attempt on Tuesday after he was abducted in the city of Ipiales, Nariño province.

New York, June 2, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Egypt's ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) to stop its harassment of journalists who report critically on the military. Officers and military prosecutors have censored, harassed, or otherwise intimidated numerous critical journalists since February, and particularly in recent weeks.

New York, June 2, 2011--With the news that the body of Noel López Olguín, a Mexican reporter who went missing in March, was found on Tuesday, the Committee to Protect Journalists called on Mexican authorities to thoroughly investigate his murder. López was found Tuesday buried in a clandestine grave in the city of Chinameca, in the state of Veracruz, according to local news reports.

New York, June 1, 2011--In the last month, at least eight Peruvian journalists were physically attacked, threatened, or verbally harassed in response to their coverage of the June 5 presidential race, according to regional press groups and local media. Most of the culprits appear to be supporters of each of the presidential candidates.

New York, June 1, 2011--A drug gang leader confessed on Sunday to killing Mexican reporter Noel López Olguín, a columnist for a small newspaper in the state of Veracruz who went missing in March, according to local press reports. Gustavo Salas, the Mexican federal attorney general's special prosecutor for crimes against freedom of expression, told CPJ on Tuesday that his office is taking up the case.

New York, June 1, 2011--Authorities in the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region must allow journalists to report on protests that have been ongoing for more than a week, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. 

New York, June 1, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the deportation of Rodion Marinichev, a special correspondent for the Moscow-based online broadcaster Dozhd (The Rain), from Belarus, and the ban on his reentry into the country. CPJ calls upon Belarusian authorities to remove their sanctions against the journalist.

New York, May 31, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed and angered by the targeted killing of senior Pakistani journalist Saleem Shahzad, the Pakistan bureau chief of the Asia Times online website. Shahzad, considered an expert on Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants, disappeared on Sunday night as he was on his way to participate in a talk show on Dunya Television, media reports said. His body, showing signs of torture, was later found outside Islamabad, according to local and international media reports.

New York, May 31, 2011--Vanguardia, the oldest and largest newspaper in the city Saltillo, in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila, was the target of a hand grenade attack on Sunday, according to local press reports. No injuries were reported.

New York, May 26, 2011--Military forces loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh shelled Yemeni satellite broadcaster Suhail TV Wednesday as they exchanged fire with forces loyal to the political opposition and tribal gunmen. A similar incident occurred at the official Saba news agency on Tuesday. The offices of the news website Al-Sahwa Net were also hit multiple times in the ongoing exchanges of fire, according to local journalists.

New York, May 26, 2011--The government of Southern Sudan must immediately release radio reporter Mohamad Arkou, who has been in detention for 15 days with no official charges, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Security agents arrested Arkou, a reporter with the U.S.-backed Sudan Radio Service and the Darfur News and Information Service, on May 11 in Wau, the capital of Western Bahr-el Ghazal State in southern Sudan, the Sudan Radio Service reported.

New York, May 25, 2011-- In two recent shooting attacks, a Honduran media owner has been killed and a newspaper manager wounded. Honduras authorities must put an end to the record level of violence against the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.   

New York, May 25, 2011--Uzbek authorities must stop harassing Abdumalik Boboyev, a stringer for the U.S. government-funded broadcaster Voice of America, and allow him to leave Uzbekistan, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

New York, May 25, 2011--Police raided the offices of the independent, Luganda-language weekly, Gwanga, Tuesday, arresting two senior editors and two other staff members on criminal libel charges, local journalists told CPJ. Twelve officers came to their offices in a suburb of the capital, Kampala, arresting Managing Editor Kizito Sserumaga, Coordinating Editor Alex Lubwaga, reporter Patricia Serebe and security guard, James Lukyamuzi. Police released the journalists and their guard from the Old Kampala Police Station at 8:30 p.m. on police bond. They reported back today, local journalists told CPJ.

New York, May 24, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists called on the governments of Yemen and Bahrain to end all intimidation and harassment of and physical violence against journalists. In Yemen, on Saturday, a journalist was attacked and repeatedly stabbed by unidentified assailants. In Bahrain, the authorities continue to detain and abuse journalists.

New York, May 24, 2011--The new government of freshly sworn-in Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara must launch a serious investigation into alleged harassment of journalists, including the killing of a reporter, by the republican forces of the Ivory Coast (the French acronym is FRCI), the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The FRCI backed Ouattara against his political rival Laurent Gbagbo.

New York, May 23, 2011--The recent sidelining of an outspoken journalist in Guangzhou and the disappearance on Friday of a Beijing lawyer and activist known for his blog writings are the latest signs of China's deteriorating press freedom, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

New York, May 20, 2011--The Libyan government should immediately release the body of South African photographer Anton Hammerl, at left, and investigate the role of the armed forces in his death, Human Rights Watch and the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. 

Hammerl, 41, was shot and killed by government forces near Brega in eastern Libya on April 5. Three journalists traveling with him were detained by Libyan authorities until May 18 and announced Hammerl's death after their release.

New York, May 20, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Guatemalan authorities to launch a thorough investigation into the death of television journalist and teacher Yensi Roberto Ordoñez Galdámez, at left, who was found dead Thursday in southern Escuintla province.  

According to press reports, Ordoñez's body was discovered Thursday in a black vehicle parked outside the primary school where he taught. He had knife wounds in the neck and chest, according to the volunteer firefighters who found him. 

New York, May 20, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists joins with our colleagues in India in condemning the arrest of Tarakant Dwivedi, who writes under the pen name Akela, under India's Official Secrets Act. According to local media reports, Dwivedi was arrested Tuesday by the Government Railway Police and charged with criminal trespass. He will be held in police custody until Saturday. 

New York May 20, 2011--The Committee to protect Journalists is concerned by reports that a Philippines provincial radio announcer, Jun Albino of Magnum Music and News Radio 99.9 FM in Cagayan de Oro City, has received a text-message death threat. 

New York, May 19, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes today's court ruling in the southern republic of Dagestan, which acquitted Editor Nadira Isayeva and four reporters with the Makhachkala-based independent weekly Chernovik of long-standing, politicized extremism charges. 

New York, May 18, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Israel today to investigate the shooting of Palestinian photographer Mohammed Othman. Othman was shot and seriously wounded by an Israeli soldier on May 15 near the Erez Crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip, while on assignment for the U.K.-based citizen journalism site and photo agency Demotix, according to local and international news reports.

New York, May 18, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns President Yoweri Museveni for publically criticizing local and foreign media outlets. Museveni expressed anger over the outlets' coverage of protests by the opposition over rising fuel prices. In a letter published Tuesday in the state-owned daily New Vision, Museveni accused Al-Jazeera, the BBC, the Kenyan broadcaster NTV, and the local independent Daily Monitor of being supporters of recent opposition protests and "enemies of Uganda's recovery."

New York, May 17, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release of online editor Jean-Claude Kavumbagu of Net Press on Monday but still questions the original charges placed against him. The High Court dropped charges of treason on May 13 but sentenced Kavumbagu to eight months in prison and a fine of 100,000 Burundian francs (US$80) for publishing "information that discredits the state and economy," according to defense lawyer Gabriel Sinarinzi. Authorities released Kavumbagu on Monday since he had already spent 10 months at Mpimba Prison in the capital, Bujumbura. 

New York, May 17, 2011--Bahrain's crackdown against journalists continues unabated with five new detentions in less than a week, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Syria and Iran, one of which is holding Al-Jazeera English journalist Dorothy Parvaz, continue to make intentionally vague or misleading remarks about her whereabouts and physical condition. Meanwhile, Libya announced today that four detained journalists would be released imminently. 

New York, May 17, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is appalled by the refusal of a regional prosecutor in Uralsk, western Kazakhstan, to investigate a threatening call against Alla Zlobina, a regional correspondent for the embattled independent weekly Golos Respubliki. Zlobina's daughter was also intimidated. CPJ calls upon regional authorities to thoroughly probe the incidents and bring those responsible to justice.

New York, May 16, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns today's conviction and sentencing of Irina Khalip, the Minsk-based correspondent for the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, and calls on Belarusian authorities to acquit her on appeal. 

Today, the Zavodskoi District Court in Minsk declared Khalip guilty of "organizing and preparing activities severely disruptive of public order," and gave her a two-year suspended prison term, local and international press reported. The charges stem from her critical reporting on the December 19 protests in Minsk against the rigged presidential vote held the same day.

New York, May 13, 2011--Investigators in Kabale must thoroughly investigate an arson attack on the home of Goodluck Musinguzi, contributor to the state-owned daily, New Vision, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Someone poured gasoline on the house and set it on fire while Musinguzi, his wife, and his newborn child were inside, he told CPJ. Musinguzi, a correspondent for the daily in the southwest border town Kabale, escaped the 2 a.m. blaze with his family but part of his house was destroyed.

New York, May 13, 2011--Security and military personnel attacked local and foreign journalists and confiscated their equipment on Thursday as they covered the return of opposition leader Kizza Besigye to Uganda.  Besigye returned to Uganda Thursday from Nairobi, where he was treated for injuries received when security forces assaulted him and his colleagues during demonstrations on April 28 in Kampala. 

New York, May 13, 2011--Amid a harsh media crackdown, Chinese authorities censored discussion of the May 12, 2008, Sichuan earthquake anniversary that referenced independent investigations into the damage, according to international news reports. CPJ interviewed filmmaker Alison Klayman about activists imprisoned for documenting official negligence which contributed to the destruction, including detained artist Ai Weiwei, to mark the anniversary. 

New York, May 13, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Kyrgyz authorities today to drop trumped-up criminal charges against the founder and director of the largest regional television channel, Osh TV, and the founder, owner, and director of three now-defunct media outlets--the independent broadcaster Mezon TV, and newspapers Itogi Nedeli and Portfel.

New York, May 12, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists called today for the Belarusian government to drop all charges against Irina Khalip, the Minsk-based correspondent for the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, who has been imprisoned since December. 

Bangkok, May 12, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is gravely concerned by an appeals court resolution in the Philippines that threatens to curb outside scrutiny of legal proceedings against suspects in the 2009 Maguindanao massacre, in which 32 journalists and media practitioners were systematically shot and murdered. 

New York, May 11, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Florence and Perugia authorities to drop the trumped-up defamation lawsuit against Perugia Shock, an English-language blog created and maintained by Frank Sfarzo, an Italian freelance journalist and blogger. Sfarzo has endured sustained harassment in retaliation for his reporting and commentary on the official investigation into the November 2007 murder of British exchange student Meredith Kercher.

New York, May 11, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the killing of provincial television journalist Héctor Francisco Medina Polanco in Honduras and calls on local authorities to thoroughly investigate the murder. 

New York, May 10, 2011--Syria is holding at least five local and foreign journalists as part of its ongoing repression of the media, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. CPJ also called on the Syrian government to make public the names of all journalists currently in detention and to release them without delay.  

New York, May 10, 2011--The death of a journalist apparently targeted by militants in Pakistan today highlights the country's entrenched climate of impunity for anti-press attacks, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari told a CPJ delegation on World Press Freedom Day that he would pursue justice for journalists killed on the job.

New York, May 6, 2011--The conviction and sentencing of two defendants in the 2009 double murder of freelance journalist Anastasiya Baburova and human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov is a landmark victory in the fight against impunity in press killings in Russia, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. 

Moscow City Court Judge Aleksandr Zamashnyuk gave defendant Nikita Tikhonov life in a strict-regime penal colony. Yevgeniya Khasis, Tikhonov's common-law wife, will serve an 18-year term in a regular-regime penal colony as an accomplice in the murder, local and international press reported. Tikhonov and Khasis denied involvement in the murder, and their lawyers filed an appeal, the BBC Russian service reported. When he announced the sentence, Zamashnyuk said the two committed the crime with other unidentified accomplices, the Moscow-based independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta reported.

New York, May 6, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release of independent journalist Ernest Vardanian, at left, who was unconditionally pardoned by the president of the unrecognized separatist Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR). 

Vardanian had served more than a year of jail time since the PMR arrested him on treason charges in April 2010; he was accused of allegedly spying for Moldova proper. Vardanian denied the charges. He was convicted in December in a closed trial and was serving a 15-year-long term until his pardon on Thursday. The PMR, commonly known as Transdniester, broke away from Moldova proper in 1990.

New York, May 5, 2011--Officials in Ethiopia hijacked a local UNESCO-sponsored World Press Freedom Day event, installing government-backed journalists as speakers and nixing independent journalists slated to speak. There was no discussion, as originally planned, of this year's global theme on new media and the Internet at the Tuesday forum, according to local sources and news reports.

New York, May 5, 2011--A Peruvian provincial radio host known for his harsh criticism of local authorities was shot to death on Tuesday in the northern city of Virú, the local press reported. The Committee to Protect Journalists urged authorities to investigate the murder, establish whether the motive was related to his work, and bring the perpetrators to justice. 

New York, May 5, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on local police to investigate a Monday attack on Magomed Khanmagomedov, a southern Dagestan correspondent for the Makhachkala-based independent weekly Chernovik.

New York, May 4, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Morocco today to release editor Rachid Nini and sought the release of journalist Dorothy Parvaz as well as other journalists in Syria. Press freedom violations continued throughout the region, with abuses in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Yemen.

New York, May 4, 2011--Chinese authorities should clarify the whereabouts of two Chinese journalists who reported on detained artist and social commentator Ai Weiwei, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. 

Bangkok, May 3, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the arrest and detention on lese majeste charges of Somyot Prueksakasemsuk, a political activist and editor-in-chief of the Thailand-based Voice of Taksin and Red Power news magazines. 

Islamabad, Pakistan, May 3, 2011--Pakistan's president committed to pursue justice for journalists killed in the line of duty, pledging to take steps to reverse the country's rising record of impunity. A delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists met with President Asif Ali Zardari today to discuss the growing number of targeted attacks on journalists in Pakistan and urged him to ensure that journalists are free to report on sensitive issues. The president's commitment, made on World Press Freedom Day, will be monitored by CPJ and national press freedom groups.

New York, May 2, 2011--Provincial Ecuadoran radio journalist Walter Vite Benítez was sentenced Wednesday to one year imprisonment on criminal defamation charges stemming from a critical comment about the local mayor made three years ago. The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Ecuadoran authorities to release Vite and bring the country's press law into compliance with international standards on freedom of expression. 

Bangkok, April 29, 2011--Vietnamese authorities should release democracy activist and online commentator Vi Duc Hoi, who was given a five-year prison term Tuesday for critical essays posted on the Internet, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.  

New York, April 29, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the guilty verdict in the 2009 murder of Anastasiya Baburova, freelance reporter with the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, who was shot and killed in Moscow along with human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov. Markelov had represented Novaya Gazeta journalists in various legal cases. 

New York, April 29, 2011--The Zimbabwe Republic Police should consider all possible leads, including a political motive, in investigating a break-in at the offices of leading independent daily NewsDay on Monday in which computer hard drives of senior editorial staff were stolen, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. 

New York, April 29, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Honduran authorities today to offer full protection to Radio Uno Director Arnulfo Aguilar after a group of gunman attempted to enter his home in the northwestern city of San Pedro Sula. The police delayed an hour in responding to Aguilar's distress call, according to press reports.

New York, April 29, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns attempts by the Belarusian Information Ministry to close down the opposition newspaper Narodnaya Volya and the independent newspaper Nasha Niva, and called on the ministry to stop its harassment of both publications.

New York, April 28, 2011--Sri Lankan authorities should immediately rescind the temporary suspension of pro-opposition news website Lanka eNews, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The ban is the latest in a series of attacks against the website.

New York, April 27, 2011--Burundi's state-run media regulator suspended a popular radio talk show on Monday because of accusations made by a caller about the president, according to news reports and local journalists.

New York, April 27, 2011--Responding to restrictions and attacks on its staff, Al-Jazeera has suspended its operations inside Syria indefinitely, the Qatar-based news network told the Committee to Protect Journalists today. 

Bangkok, April 27, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists strongly condemns the closure by government authorities of at least 13 community radio stations in Thailand and calls on the government to cease its campaign of harassment against opposition-aligned media immediately.

New York, April 27, 2011--Veteran Salvadoran cameraman and photo editor Alfredo Antonio Hurtado was shot dead by two unidentified men on Monday night while on a bus to San Salvador, where he worked. The Committee to Protect Journalists called on authorities to thoroughly investigate the killing and bring the perpetrators to justice. 

New York, April 26, 2011--Belarusian authorities must immediately stop harassing independent media outlets in retaliation for their critical reporting on the recent lethal bombing on the Minsk subway, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Following the blast, authorities--including the Information Ministry, the general prosecutor's office, and the Belarusian security service (KGB)--launched a campaign of intimidation against independent and pro-opposition media outlets that reported on the incident. The outlets targeted for retaliation have criticized the official investigation into the explosion and the rescue efforts.

New York, April 26, 2011--The Community to Protect Journalists condemned Thursday's arson attack on Haitian community radio station Tèt Ansanm Karis and called on local authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice. The blaze destroyed the station's offices and all equipment and left the northeastern city of Carice without a local radio station.

New York, April 25, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Bahraini authorities to disclose the whereabouts of Haidar Mohammed al-Nuaimi, a columnist for daily newspaper Al-Wasat. Roughly 30 uniformed and plainclothes police raided al-Nuaimi's family home in Manama today, dragging him into the street and beating him, local journalists told CPJ. 

New York, April 25, 2011--Police arrested a journalist with the independent Sri Lankan news website Lanka eNews today, according to local news reports. CPJ has called on the United Nations and the international diplomatic community this year to respond to a series of uninvestigated attacks targeting the outspoken site. 

New York, April 22 2011--Anton Hammerl, a freelance South African photographer who was detained in early April, has appeared in government custody in Libya and is apparently in good health.

New York, April 22, 2011--David Niño de Guzmán, news director for the La Paz-based Agencia de Noticias Fides, was found dead on Thursday, the apparent victim of an explosive device, after being reported missing two days earlier. The Committee to Protect Journalists called on authorities today to thoroughly investigate the death.

New York, April 21, 2011--An outburst of violence took the lives of at least 20 people in a bomb blast and targeted attacks in Karachi on Wednesday and Thursday. The huge port city of more than 13 million people is caught in a gangland-style turf war made worse by sectarian and political conflict, according to media reports.

New York, April 20, 2011--Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros, acclaimed photojournalists who had worked in conflict zones around the world, were killed in an explosion in the western Libyan city of Misurata today. Two other photographers were injured. Hetherington co-directed the Academy Award-nominated documentary "Restrepo," while Hondros was a 2004 Pulitzer Prize finalist for "his powerful and courageous coverage" of unrest in Liberia.

New York, April 20, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Yemeni authorities today to explain why they have held prominent journalist Ali Salah Ahmed since Tuesday without revealing his location or charging him with a crime. 

Bangkok, April 19, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by cyber-attacks against three news and commentary sites that preceded Saturday's important election in Malaysia's Sarawak state, on the island of Borneo. The country's main news portal Malaysiakini,  Sarawak Report, and the Malay and English versions of the opposition Harakahdaily website all reported similar attacks. Nobody has taken responsibility for them.

New York, April 19, 2011--Six men raided the office of a news website in Amman on Monday, threatening its staff and destroying equipment. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the assault on Al-Muharrir and calls on Jordanian authorities to investigate the attack thoroughly.

New York, April 19, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by the detention and questioning of two sports journalists working in Qatar for the public Swiss broadcaster Radio Television Suisse (RTS). Both journalists were prevented from leaving the country for 13 days.

New York, April 18, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is dismayed by the acquittal of a former police officer charged with the five-year-old murder of local Philippine radio anchor Fernando Batul.

New York, April 18, 2011-- The Committee to Protect journalists called on Yemeni authorities to clarify the whereabouts of reporter Ahmad al-Mohamadi, who has been missing since being called for questioning Saturday by the Republican Guards.

New York, April 15, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Bahraini authorities today to conduct an immediate and transparent investigation into the death in state custody of Karim Fakhrawi, left, founder and board member of Al-Wasat, the country's premier independent daily.

Fakhrawi died Tuesday, a week after he was apparently taken into custody, according to news reports. Human rights defenders told CPJ that Fakhrawi had gone to a police station on April 5 to complain that authorities were about to bulldoze his house.

New York, April 14, 2011--A magistrate in the Senegalese capital, Dakar, found investigative journalist Abdou Latif Coulibaly guilty of criminal defamation today in connection with 2010 stories alleging fraudulent transactions between an agricultural business and the government, according to local journalists. Coulibaly is already appealing a suspended prison term in connection with a separate defamation case. 

New York, April 14, 2011--Syrian authorities continued a weeks-long crackdown on journalists reporting on anti-government protests as security agents arrested another member of the news media on Saturday, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

New York, April 14, 2011--A Burundi state prosecutor asked a panel of judges on Wednesday to hand journalist Jean-Claude Kavumbagu, who has been imprisoned since July 2010 over a column critical of the country's security forces, the maximum life sentence on a charge of treason, according to local journalists.

New York, April 13, 2011--A new requirement by the Egyptian military that local print media obtain approval for all mentions of the armed forces before publication is the single worst setback for press freedom in Egypt since the fall of President Hosni Mubarak in February, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.  

New York, April 12, 2011--Authorities in the kingdom of Swaziland should allow the news media to report freely on anti-government protests, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today after security forces harassed at least 10 local and international journalists covering a mass demonstration demanding political and economic reform after more than two decades of rule by  King Mswati III.

New York, April 12, 2011--Belarusian authorities must drop politicized libel and insult charges against Andrzej Poczobut, a Grodno-based correspondent for Poland's largest daily, Gazeta Wyborcza, and release him immediately, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

New York, April 11, 2011--Continuing a weeks-long pattern of seizing journalists covering the Libyan conflict, the government of Muammar Qaddafi is detaining two more television journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. And in Egypt, in a serious setback for press freedom under the transitional government, a court has sentenced a blogger to a three-year prison term for "insulting the military." 

New York, April 11, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is calling on authorities in Ethiopia to ensure that broadcasts of the German state-funded station Deutsche Welle, which had been jammed, be allowed to air freely. Local journalists confirmed a report by the Bonn-based international broadcaster that its programs were inaudible in Ethiopia last week until Friday.

New York, April 11, 2011--Brazilian authorities must thoroughly investigate the slaying of radio and television journalist Luciano Leitão Pedrosa, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Pedrosa, known for his critical coverage of local authorities and criminal groups, was shot Saturday night at a restaurant in Vitória de Santo Antão in northeastern Pernambuco state, according to press reports.

New York, April 8, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned about the fate of American freelance journalist Matthew VanDyke, who has been missing in Libya since mid-March, according to his family and news reports. He is among 15 reporters either missing or in government custody in Libya.

New York, April 8, 2011--The Cuban government on Thursday released the last journalist remaining in its prisons, ending a dark, eight-year-long era in which the island nation was one of the world's worst jailers of the press, at one time imprisoning nearly 30 independent reporters and writers. The Committee to Protect Journalists expressed relief today that Albert Santiago Du Bouchet Hernández has been freed, a milestone in an intensive, international advocacy effort led by the Catholic Church, the Spanish government, and international press and human rights groups.

New York, April 8, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes movement in the case of the murder of Geo TV reporter Wali Khan Babar in Karachi, and calls for a full prosecution to break a longstanding pattern of impunity in journalist murders in Pakistan. Police arrested five men they say carried out the killing in January. 

New York, April 7, 2011--Forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi have detained four international journalists on the outskirts of the city of Brega, news reports said today, continuing the government's pattern of arbitrary detentions and other restrictions. The Committee to Protect Journalists called on authorities to stop detaining, expelling, and obstructing journalists reporting on the Libyan conflict.

New York, April 7, 2011--With China in the midst of a sweeping crackdown on public dissent, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton should follow the example of Britain and Germany and call for the immediate release of detained artist and social critic Ai Weiwei and other detained journalists and dissidents, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The two countries' foreign ministries have each urged China to release Ai, according to Reuters.

New York, April 6, 2011--More than 20 foreign journalists were told that they would have to leave Libya within 24 hours, National Public Radio said today. NPR reported that Libyan authorities asked journalists from different international news outlets to leave the country. The media outlets include Britain's Channel 4, CNN, Fox News, The Independent, Italian TV, ITV, Le Figaro, Los Angeles Times, The Times of London, NBC News, The New York Times, RAI, RTL, and The Sunday Times of London. The government has also decided to not issue new visas for journalists who wish to cover the unfolding conflict, NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro reported from Tripoli. 

New York, April 6, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on law enforcement in Honduras to stop attacking or prohibiting journalists from covering social unrest in the country. The attacks have come amid a national teachers' strike that has turned violent.

New York, April 6, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on members of the European Parliament to strongly criticize the Chinese government's apparent detention of artist and social activist Ai Weiwei. The European Parliament is convening an emergency debate Thursday on Ai's disappearance, which may be the latest unlawful detention in the government's onslaught against its critics. 

New York, April 5, 2011--Al-Jazeera staffers in Jordan have received anonymous threatening phone calls warning that their office and correspondents would be attacked, Al-Jazeera's Amman bureau chief told CPJ. Journalists in Jordan have been facing mounting dangers while covering pro-reform demonstrations, CPJ research has found.

New York, April 5, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a series of attacks in capital Baku against reporters for the pro-opposition daily Azadlyg (Freedom), and calls on Azerbaijani authorities to immediately investigate the incidents and bring the perpetrators to justice. 

New York, April 5, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the closure of a provincial Ecuadoran radio station and calls on local regulators to allow the station to resume broadcasting. Voz de la Selva Esmeralda Oriental Canela radio, known for its critical coverage of local authorities, had appealed an order to close the station on bogus administrate violations, according to CPJ research. The appeal was still pending when police shut it down. 

New York, April 4, 2011--Amid ongoing violence, police in Karachi should thoroughly investigate the motive behind the shooting death of crime reporter Zaman Ibrahim on Saturday night.

New York, April 4, 2011--The disappearance of internationally renowned artist and commentator Ai Weiwei is a disturbing indicator of the extent of the government's onslaught against its critics, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

New York, April 1, 2011--Al-Jazeera said today that Libyan authorities re-arrested four of its journalists just hours after they had been released. A Syrian journalist who spoke critically of Libyan government policies was also reported in state custody. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the ongoing attacks on the press in Libya, and calls on authorities to immediately release all journalists in custody.

New York, April 1, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Kazakh authorities today to immediately investigate the whereabouts of Daniyar Moldashev, director of ADP Ltd, publisher of the independent Almaty newspaper Respublika.

Colleagues said Thursday that Moldashev had disappeared, days after being assaulted and shortly before the country's presidential election.

"We are gravely concerned about the health and well-being of Daniyar Moldashev and call on Kazakh authorities to positively determine his whereabouts and ensure his safety," CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova said.  

New York, April 1, 2011--Journalists in Somalia are getting caught in the crossfire of increased fighting between joint government and African Union forces against Al-Shabaab insurgents, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

New York, April 1, 2011--Using a vague criminal code provision allowing authorities to detain individuals deemed a threat to public order, a provincial governor in Cameroon threw a journalist in prison on Wednesday for inquiring about the arrests of two employees of a state-run palm oil company, according to local journalists.

New York, April 1, 2011--Security agents of the semi-autonomous government of Southern Sudan confiscated 2,500 copies of the independent biweekly newspaper, The Juba Post, on Wednesday, according to Chief Editor Michael Koma.