Congolese governor urged to ensure journalist’s safety
Dear Governor Kahongya: We are concerned about the safety of journalist Tuver Wundi Muhindo following an armed attack on his home in the North Kivu capital of Goma on April 12. The incident followed the 2007 murder of Goma photojournalist Patrick Kikuku Wilingula, which is still unsolved. We call on you to use your influence to ensure authorities conduct a thorough and transparent investigation and bring the perpetrators to justice.
NABJ honors persecuted Zimbabwean journalist
On Thursday, the U.S.-based National Association of Black Journalists announced the winner of its 2009 Percy Qoboza Foreign Journalists Award: Zimbabwean journalist Anderson Shadreck Manyere. Half a world away, however, Manyere, left, lingered in a hospital in the capital, Harare, traumatized by nearly four months of imprisonment, according to his lawyer.
Armenian online editor beaten, hospitalized
New York, April 30, 2009–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Armenian authorities to apprehend three assailants who attacked Argishti Kivirian, editor of the independent news Web site Armenia Today. The unidentified men beat Kivirian early this morning, leaving him hospitalized in serious condition, Zhanna Alexanian, president of the Yerevan-based organization Journalists for Human Rights,…
Mexican journalist in coma after attack by former official
José Luis Ortega Vidal, 42, editorial director of the daily Notisur in the eastern Mexican state of Veracruz was severely injured after falling off a staircase on the morning of March 3, 2009. He was attempting to flee from a former official who was threatening him and other journalists with a gun, according to witnesses…
Sri Lankan newspaper office bombed
The office of Uthayan, a Tamil-language daily, in Jaffna was hit with an explosive device around 11 p.m. on March 24, 2009. Most Sri Lankan media reports identified the weapon as a hand grenade. It was the fifth time in three years that the office had been attacked.
Mission Journal: Mysterious raid draws new concerns
On March 2, 2006, Kenyan state agents conducted a commando-style midnight raid on the Standard Group, owner of an independent daily and KTN Television in the capital, Nairobi. The agents seized computers and tapes, vandalized a printing press, and burned roughly 20,000 copies of The Standard, Chief Executive Officer Tom Mshindi told me recently in…
Assailants fire gunshots at publisher’s home in central Mexico
On March 28, 2009, several gunshots were fired at the home of Juan Antonio Zavala Hernández, publisher of the weekly newspaper Mi Ciudad in the town of Romita in central Guanajuato state. There were no injuries, the journalist told CPJ. Zavala, who said he has been repeatedly threatened by the local mayor, said he believes…
Alleged paramilitary fighters shoot Colombian journalist at home
Two individuals, who identified themselves as members of the far-right paramilitary group United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), shot Colombian journalist Gustavo Adolfo Valencia Ayala inside his home in the eastern city of Popayán on March 16, 2009, according to local news reports. The journalist, who was injured but is in stable condition, said he…