New York, April 15, 2004—Three Japanese civilians, including one photographer, abducted in Iraq last week were released today. However, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about reports that armed gunmen abducted another Japanese journalist and an activist from Japan near Baghdad yesterday. The Qatar-based news channel Al-Jazeera reported today that Japanese journalist…
New York, April 14, 2004—A French journalist abducted on Sunday near Iraq’s capital, Baghdad, has been freed. The TV news agency Capa Television said that its reporter Alexandre Jordanov was released today, the Associated Press reported. No further details were available. Jordanov and his cameraman, Ivan Cerieix, were abducted on Sunday, April 11, while filming…
New York, April 13, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has learned that French journalist Alexandre Jordanov, with TV news agency Capa Television, was abducted on Sunday, April 11, near Iraq’s capital, Baghdad. Jordanov and his cameraman, Ivan Cerieix, were filming clashes between U.S. troops and Iraqi insurgents after an attack on U.S. convoy. Ceriex,…
New York, April 12, 2004—Amid a climate of increasing danger in Iraq, three Czech journalists have gone missing. A Japanese freelance journalist who was abducted on April 8, along with two other Japanese civilians, remains in captivity. Michal Kubal and his cameraman Petr Klima, both of the public network Czech Television, are feared kidnapped since…
New York, April 8, 2004—At least one journalist is believed to be among three Japanese civilians abducted today in Iraq by an unknown group calling itself the Mujahedeen Squadrons. The news comes amid escalating clashes between Coalition forces and Iraqis, as well as several incidents this week in which foreigners—including journalists—have been briefly held by…
New York, April 7, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about several recent incidents in which journalists have been briefly held by insurgents in Iraq. These incidents come amid escalating clashes between Coalition forces and Iraqi insurgents. According to The Associated Press (AP), one of its photographers and his driver were detained…
New York, April 5, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) today filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to obtain a copy of the classified investigation into the March 18 shooting by U.S. troops in Baghdad of two Iraqi journalists working for the Dubai-based Arabic satellite news channel Al-Arabiyya. On Monday, March 29, the…
New York, March 29, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply troubled by the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority’s (CPA) closure of an Iraqi weekly newspaper for allegedly inciting violence against coalition forces. On March 28, dozens of U.S. troops sealed the offices of the Baghdad weekly Al-Hawza, which is affiliated with radical Shiite cleric…
New York, March 26, 2004—An Iraqi translator working for the U.S.-based newsweekly Time died today after sustaining multiple gunshot wounds in Baghdad two days ago. Omar Kamal, who also worked as a fixer for the magazine, was shot and critically wounded driving his car on route to an assignment, said Time news director Howard Chua-Eoan.…
New York, March 26, 2004—An Iraqi cameraman freelancing for the U.S.-based television station ABC was killed today in the city of Fallujah, about 35 miles (56 kilometers) west of the capital, Baghdad. The Washington Post reported that 15 Iraqis were killed today in Fallujah following a firefight that occurred “as U.S. Marines conducted house-to-house searches”…