Imprisoned Cuban journalist released on medical parole
New York, November 29, 2004—At least one of the 27 journalists imprisoned in Cuba since a March 2003 crackdown on the independent press has been released from custody on a medical parole, and several others have been transferred to prison hospitals in Havana. CPJ called on Cuban authorities today to release all of the journalists…
2004 IPFA dinner remarks
Remarks by Ann Cooper, Executive Director of CPJ At this event we celebrate the courage of individual journalists and we demonstrate our collective determination to thwart forces that would silence the press. Those collective efforts over the past 12 months have helped win the early release of journalists imprisoned for their work in Tunisia, in…
Journalist convicted of criminal contempt
EDITOR’S NOTE: Corrected version, 11/19/04, below New York, November 18, 2004—A federal court today convicted Jim Taricani, a reporter at WJAR-TV, an NBC Universal–owned station in Providence, Rhode Island, of criminal contempt for refusing to reveal a confidential source. Sentencing is set for December 9, and Taricani faces up to six months behind bars, according…
Klebnikov family calls for journalists worldwide to probe editor’s unsolved murder
Washington, November 18, 2004—The family of slain journalist Paul Klebnikov is calling on reporters worldwide to launch an investigation into the unsolved murder of the Forbes Russia editor, gunned down in a contract-style slaying outside his Moscow office in July, the journalist’s brother said today. “In this awful tragedy there are seeds of hope. We’ve…
CPJ disappointed by dissolution of local press freedom group
New York, November 12, 2004—The noted Argentine press freedom organization PERIODISTAS dissolved yesterday amid internal differences. The group, which was established nine years ago to defend local journalists against press freedom abuses, said in a press release that, “after a long internal discussion about the association’s main goals, it was impossible to find a consensus…
Supreme Court upholds sentence against journalist
New York, November 11, 2004—Ecuador’s Supreme Court of Justice upheld the conviction of columnist Rodrigo Fierro Benítez on criminal defamation charges, the Committee to Protect Journalists has learned. The Supreme Court then suspended Fierro’s sentence. On October 29, a three-judge Supreme Court panel upheld the one-month prison sentence against Fierro, a columnist for the Quito-based…
Reporter killed outside electoral office
New York, November 10, 2004—Reporter María José Bravo, who was covering a dispute over recent elections, was killed yesterday, November 9, outside an electoral office in the city of Juigalpa, capital of central Chontales Department. The 26-year-old Bravo, a correspondent for the Managua daily La Prensa in Chontales, had just exited the Juigalpa vote-counting center…
Four journalists abducted by former paramilitaries
New York, October 27, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is outraged by the recent abduction of four Guatemalan journalists. On Sunday, October 26, former paramilitary fighters kidnapped reporters Freddy López and Alberto Ramírez, and photographers Emerson Díaz and Mario Linares, all of the Guatemala Citybased daily Prensa Libre, in the town of La Libertad,…