New York, February 13, 2012--The Committee to Protect Journalists mourns the death of two TV journalists in Dhaka and calls on Bangladeshi authorities to act speedily to bring the perpetrators to justice.
New York, February 13, 2012--Brazilian authorities must conduct a thorough and swift investigation into the murder of journalist Paulo Roberto Cardoso Rodrigues, who was gunned down on Sunday night, the Committee to Protect Journalists said. It was the second slaying of a Brazilian journalist in less than week.
New York, February 10, 2012--The body of Brazilian journalist Mario Randolfo Marques Lopes was found on Thursday in the city of Barra do Piraí in Rio de Janeiro state, according to news reports. Randolfo reported on local corruption and had survived at least one attempt on his life in recent years, news reports said.
New York, February 8, 2012--The Committee to Protect Journalists mourns the death of Syrian journalist Mazhar Tayyara, a stringer for Agence France-Presse and other international outlets, who was killed by government forces' fire in the city of Homs early Saturday morning.
CPJ award winner Mazhar Abbas penned a strong Sunday op-ed piece, "Death is the only news--Challenges of working in conflict zones," for The News. It's about conditions for journalists working in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Baluchistan. As Abbas says, "The killing of one journalist is a message for another." He goes on to describe the situation in FATA:
It was a cold winter morning more than 15 years ago. As part of my daily routine as a foreign correspondent, I opened my laptop to read the Argentine papers. I was shocked by a headline: my colleague José Luis Cabezas, a photographer for the newsweekly magazine Noticias, had been murdered. His bullet-ridden body was found on January 25, 1997, inside a burned car, handcuffed and charred, on the outskirts of the beach resort of Pinamar.
New York, January 30, 2012--The Committee to Protect Journalists is saddened by Saturday's murder of a Somali journalist and calls on authorities to investigate the killing immediately and bring those responsible to justice.
Unknown gunmen ambushed Hassan Osman Abdi, director of leading independent broadcaster Shabelle Media Network, as he was entering his home and shot him five times in the head and chest, according to local journalists. The murder occurred around 6:30 p.m. local time in the government-controlled Wadajir district of the capital Mogadishu, according to the same sources.
Information Minister Abdulkadir Hussein condemned the murder in a statement and called the Shabelle Media Network "one of the most important and pioneering media houses serving the country." He said police were investigating and would "not leave a stone unturned," according to news reports. The African Union offered to assist the government in its investigation, AU spokesman Lt. Col. Paddy Ankunda said in a statement.
Police announced the arrests of four suspects, two of whom they said matched the descriptions given by eyewitnesses to the killing. A few hours before the murder, a man claiming to be a businessman entered the station's offices and spoke to Abdi about an advertising contract, according to his colleagues. The man was allegedly overheard asking Abdi about the time and manner he gets home and requested a meeting with him, Shabelle's head of development and international relations, Ali Dahir Abdi, told CPJ. Police had not yet questioned the man or another man who was with Abdi when he was shot, according to Dahir.
Nicknamed 'Fantastic,' Abdi was the producer and presenter of three major news programs: a daily news analysis program called "Diirada," a monthly investigative magazine, and a call-in program, according to Dahir. In recent weeks, he had aired investigative reports detailing alleged corruption at Mogadishu's seaport and in the Banadir regional administration, Dahir said.
Abdi, who was in his mid thirties, is survived by a wife and three children, according to Dahir.
Abdi was the fifth Shabelle Media journalist killed in Somalia since 2007, according to CPJ research.
Yesterday marked the 10th anniversary of the disappearance of Wall Street Journal reporter Danny Pearl in Karachi on January 23, 2002. On February 21 of that year, a video of his beheading was released. In the wake of the judicial inquiry into the murder of journalist Saleem Shahzad, veteran Pakistani journalist Mazhar Abbas has taken a comparative look at the two investigations with this article from the most recent magazine section of The News on Sunday.
New York, January 20, 2012--A television reporter covering the aftermath of coordinated terrorist attacks in northern Nigeria was gunned down this afternoon, according to local journalists and news reports.
