New York, May 2, 2002–CPJ condemns the recent sentencing of Iranian reformist journalist Ahmed Zaid-Abadi, a writer for the newspaper Hamshahri, to 23 months in prison. On April 29, The Associated Press quoted Zaid-Abadi’s wife as saying that he was originally charged in August 2000 with “insulting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei and publishing lies…
New York, May 2, 2002—CPJ is deeply concerned about the draft Supreme Radio and Television Board Bill currently being debated by the Turkish Parliament. The bill was passed last year but vetoed by President Ahmet Necdet Sezer in June 2001. Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit’s government recently resubmitted the bill to Parliament. Under the new law,…
April 24, 2002, New York—CPJ deplores the continuing harassment of journalists by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops deployed in the West Bank. In the most recent incident, the IDF today detained Reuters cameraman Mazen Dana, who was CPJ’s 2001 International Press Freedom awardee, and Hussam Abu Alan, a photographer for Agence-France Presse (AFP). IDF troops…
Your Royal Highness: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to protest an incident over the weekend in which Saudi authorities confiscated videotapes and a laptop computer from Dr. Bob Arnot, a reporter for the U.S. cable television channel MSNBC. On April 21, security officials at the Riyadh airport escorted Dr. Arnot off a flight to Dubai, in the neighboring United Arab Emirates. The officials demanded video footage that Dr. Arnot had gathered during his reporting trip to Saudi Arabia, which the journalist undertook with Saudi government permission.
New York, April 18, 2002—Ali-Hamed Imam, editor of the local weekly Shams-e Tabriz, was sentenced to 74 lashes and seven months in prison on April 16 by a court in Tabriz, 350 miles (560 kilometers) northwest of the capital, Tehran. According to Iran’s state news agency, IRNA, the court also revoked Imam’s publishing license and…
New York, April 18, 2002—Mohammed Daraghmeh, an Associated Press (AP) correspondent detained by Israeli forces on Tuesday morning, was released on Tuesday evening but did not arrive at home until yesterday, according to the AP. Daraghmeh, who was rounded up along with 30 other men during a sweep in the West Bank town of Nablus,…
New York, April 16, 2002—CPJ is deeply concerned for the safety of Associated Press (AP) reporter Mohamed Daraghmeh, who was detained by Israeli forces in the West Bank city of Nablus today. Israeli troops took Daraghmeh and several other Palestinian men from his building early this morning during an army sweep of the neighborhood. Dan…
related article: Press freedom crisis worsens in the occupied territories New York, April 4, 2002— Israeli forces continue to restrict the movements of journalists attempting to cover events in the West Bank. Since Friday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have declared at least six West Bank towns “closed military areas” and therefore off-limits to the…
New York, April 9, 2002—A journalist was shot today and several others were harassed while covering the ongoing Israeli offensive in the West Bank. Gilles Jaquier, a cameraman with television channel France 2, was wounded by a single gunshot near his shoulder while reporting outside the West Bank city of Nablus, an eyewitness told CPJ.…
New York, April 3, 2002— The trial of Abdullah Keskin, a Turkish publisher charged with “separatist propaganda” in connection with a U.S. journalist’s book about the Kurdish issue, opened today in a State Security Court in Istanbul. The charges against Keskin came after his publishing house, Avesta, printed a Turkish edition of After Such Knowledge,…