News

Four hostages released last weekend by Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) said at a press conference recently that the leftist guerrilla group had declared the Colombian media a "military target," according to Colombian and international news reports. The statement stirred a heated debate among Colombian journalists over coverage of guerrilla groups, the Committee to Protect...

The Committee to Protect Journalists has called for the immediate release of Ramazan Yesergepov, editor of the independent Almaty-based weekly Alma-Ata Info, who was seized by security agents from his hospital bed a month ago. The Kazakhstan Security Committee (KNB) took Yesergepov on January 6 from an Almaty hospital where he was being treated for high blood pressure, and put him in a KNB...

Eritrean authorities must disclose the medical condition and care being provided to jailed journalist Dawit Isaak, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has demanded following unofficial reports saying that he was hospitalised. CPJ pointed out that the well-being of the long-jailed Isaak, an Eritrean with Swedish citizenship, is the responsibility of the government, which has yet to provide...

A 72-year-old Russian journalist, critical of local authorities, has been severely assaulted. Authorities must launch a serious investigation into the attack on Yuri Grachev, editor of pro-opposition weekly Solnechnogorsky Forum, who is hospitalized with a concussion, broken nose, and lacerated cheek, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Friday. An initial statement from authorities, which...

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on Israel to return confiscated news footage of its navy allegedly firing on and boarding a ship on Thursday. Journalists who were on board say they filmed Israeli soldiers assaulting a passenger, and that they were later beaten after their equipment had been confiscated, a reporter who was there told CPJ. According to Al-Jazeera English...

Following a vicious attack in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on a reporter for a pro-opposition weekly, the Committee to Protect Journalists has called for the Kazakh authorities to conduct a thorough and transparent investigation and to bring the assailants to justice. At least three young men attacked Bakhytzhan Nurpeisov, 19, of the weekly Obshchestvennaya Pozitsiya (Public Position), at around 9 p.m. on...

An online columnist known for criticising the government and alleging high-level corruption was buried in the Republic of Congo on Friday following his death in a military hospital on Monday, the Committee to Protest Journalists (CPJ) has reported quoting local journalists. Bruno Ossébi was badly burnt in a late-night fire at his residence on January 21, although he was said to be recovering and...

A Cairo appeals court has struck down a one-year jail term against four editors. On January 31, appellate court judge Mohamed Samir struck down a one-year jail-term given in September 2007 to four editors for "publishing false information likely to disturb public order." However, the court upheld a 20,000 Egyptian pound (US$3,540) fine against Ibrahim Eissa of the daily Al-Dustour, Adel Hamouda of...

The director of HornAfrik, one of Somalia's leading radio and television stations, was killed by three masked gunmen in the Bakara Market area of Mogadishu on Tuesday afternoon, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. The assailants shot Said Tahlil repeatedly as he and six other senior journalists were walking to a meeting with members of the militant Al-Shabaab group. "We send...

A South Korean blogger in custody since January 7, charged with spreading false information online, should be set free, the Committee to Protect Journalists has said. Park Dae-sung, described in international news reports as an unemployed, self-taught economist, anonymously posted predictions about the global financial climate in online bulletin boards under the pen name "Minerva," to public...