Reporter receives death threats in Durango
On May 27, 2009, an unidentified individual threatened José Bladimir Antuna García, a reporter who covers the police beat for the Durango-based daily El Tiempo. The reporter, who has previously been threatened, told CPJ he believes the death threat is linked to his reporting on organized crime and drug trafficking.
Kosovo must probe death threats against BIRN staff
Dear Prime Minister Thaci: As an independent, nonpartisan organization defending press freedom worldwide, the Committee to Protect Journalists urges you to publicly condemn and thoroughly investigate a recent wave of threats against Jeta Xharra, head of the Kosovo office of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN), and her colleagues.
In seeking reprisals against media, Chávez hurts democracy
New York, May 29, 2009–President Hugo Chávez Frías is damaging Venezuelan democracy by continuing to threaten private media with reprisals and making unwarranted accusations against the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Philippine journalist alleges he is on military ‘hit list’
New York, May 20, 2009–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the Philippines government and the Armed Forces of the Philippines to clarify an accusation made by freelance journalist Carlos Conde that his name appeared on a 2007 official Armed Forces “order of battle” document.
CPJ urges Chávez to refrain from threatening the press
New York, May 12, 2009–Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez Frías should refrain from making threatening statements and ensure the press is allowed to work without government interference, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Chávez, right, accused private media outlets of destabilizing democracy in comments earlier this week
Journalist escapes captors in Pakistan
Khawar Shafiq, the Daily Waqt (Daily Time) correspondent in Faisalabad, told colleagues he managed to escape from abductors on April 11, 2009, four days three bearded men grabbed him by his home near Faisalabad and shoved him into a car. He said the men made him inhale fumes from a liquid that made him lose…
Three journalists receive death threats in Bolivia
On the evening of April 12, 2009, Raphael Ramírez, editor of the national daily La Prensa, received two anonymous calls at his home in La Paz from an individual who threatened to kill him if he “did not stop publishing lies,” Carlos Morales, the daily’s director, told CPJ. The following morning, an unidentified individual called…
Government seizes newspaper offices in Yemen
New York, May 4, 2009–After confiscating thousands of copies of a critical independent newspaper, authorities laid siege today to the paper’s offices in Aden, Yemen. The daily, Al-Ayyam, has been covering the ongoing conflict in the country’s southern region.
Briefing: Pakistani journalists face Taliban, military threats
Journalists in Pakistan have come under rapidly escalating pressure as the military confronts Taliban militants in the northwest region of the country. Threats and attacks from both sides have made reporting from Taliban-controlled areas more dangerous.