Americas

29 May 2009
Intermediary between gunmen and masterminds in Brazilian journalist's murder convicted

Intermediary between gunmen and masterminds in Brazilian journalist's murder convicted

The intermediary in the June 2003 murder of Brazilian journalist Nicanor Linhares has been convicted, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. Judge Francisco Mario Liberato sentenced Cássio Santana de Sousa to 23 years in prison on Wednesday for his participation in Linhares' killing in the northern city of Fortaleza, according to local news reports. Santana was...

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27 May 2009

Mexican journalist who covered police is abducted and killed

Authorities found the body of a journalist who covered the police beat in northern Mexico Tuesday morning after he was abducted from his house on Monday night, according to Mexican news reports. Authorities found the body of Eliseo Barrón Hernández, left, a reporter and photographer for the Torreón-based daily La Opinión, in the city of Gómez Palacio, Durango, where he lived, reported the national...

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26 May 2009

Official magazine devoted to US newspaper industry to exist only online now on

Presstime, the monthly magazine of the Newspaper Association of America ( http://www.naa.org/), will soon cease to be in print. Presstime, its staff already much reduced, will continue on the association’s website, the New York Times has reported. The NYT report said: [ Link] “No one wanted to close down Presstime,” John F. Sturm, president and chief executive of the association, said in an e-mail...

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17 May 2009

CPJ urges Chávez to refrain from threatening the press

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 (CPJ) has said. Chávez accused private media outlets of destabilising democracy in comments earlier last week. During his weekly radio and TV programme "Aló, Presidente" on Sunday, Chávez said...

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16 May 2009

Former intelligence officials leak list of news media in Colombia whose phones were tapped

Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reiterated its call for an investigation by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) following a new round of revelations about the spying on journalists and news media by the DAS, an intelligence agency that reports directly to the president’s office. The phone-tap scandal was first exposed by the weekly Semana in February. “Ever since...

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16 May 2009

Journalist gets three-year jail sentence in Cuba

Cuban dissident journalist Alberto Santiago Du Bouchet, a reporter for the Habana Press news agency, was sentenced to three years in prison on May 12, Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has learnt. Arrested on April 18 on a charge of “disrespect for authority,” he had been transferred to a prison on May 10. RSF does not expect his appeal to be successful. “Hastily tried just two days...

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15 May 2009

Arraignment of suspected mastermind of Chauncey Bailey’s murder postponed again

The scheduled arraignments of former leader of Your Black Muslim Bakery, Yusuf Bey IV, and his associate Antoine Mackey have been postponed again on May 13 until May 29, after Mackey’s court-appointed attorney expressed doubts about being able to take on the case, according to Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) . Bey’s lawyers also won a court motion temporarily preventing anyone involved...

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15 May 2009

Dissident journalist facing jail term on “disrespect” charge in Cuba

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has called for the immediate release of Cuban independent journalist Alberto Santiago Du Bouchet, who was arrested after a verbal exchange with a policeman in Artemisa (in Havana province) on April 18. Du Bouchet, who is a reporter for Habana Press, an independent news agency, was previously jailed from August 2005 to August 2006 for a similar reason. “The brakes...

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15 May 2009

Obama opposes release of torture photos

US President Barack Obama intends blocking the court-ordered release of photos depicting the abuse of prisoners by US military personnel in Afghanistan and Iraq. “Given the administration’s pledge last month not to fight the court ruling, as well as President Obama’s emphasis on promoting transparency and open government when he took office, the decision is very disappointing,” Paris-based...

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15 May 2009

Cuban journalist sentenced to three years in prison

A Cuban independent journalist was sentenced during a summary trial on Tuesday to three years in prison on charges of "disrespect," journalists in Havana told the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Thursday. According to the foreign-based Cuban news Web site Cubamatinal, Albert Santiago Du Bouchet Hernández, director of the Havana-based independent news agency Habana Press was also charged...

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