State Impunity

Saad al-Aossi, editor-in-chief of the critical Iraqi weekly Al-Shahid, has gone missing, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Armed men entered al-Aossi’s home in central Baghdad on the morning of April 14, seized his computer and took him to an unknown location, according to local and regional news reports. The identity of the armed men remains unclear; various news sources...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has expressed concern over the continuing wave of press freedom violations in Iraq, and reiterated its appeal to the Iraqi parliament to pass a law protecting journalists. “Many journalists and media have been the target of physical attacks or lawsuits since the March 7 parliamentary elections,” Paris-based RSF said. “The threats come from both the security forces...

Twelve countries where journalists are regularly killed and governments fail to investigate the crimes and seek out perpetrators are being highlighted in CPJ's 2010 Impunity Index. The compilation was released this week to coincide with an international summit on impunity being held in New York City where press freedom advocates and journalists are gathering to discuss strategies to end violence...

Anti-riot police assaulted journalists covering two different protests in Sulaimaniya in Iraqi Kurdistan on Saturday and Tuesday, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Several journalists told the New York-based CPJ on Tuesday that police prevented them on Saturday from covering clashes between security forces and students who had taken to the streets to protest the Ministry of...

Another Pakistani journalist, Azamat Ali Bangash, a correspondent for Saama TV, has been killed in a suicide bombing, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) reported that Bangash was killed in an April 17 suicide bombing while covering food distribution in a refugee camp near Orakzai, in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas near...

The Philippines government has dropped murder charges against Zaldy Ampatuan, former governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, and his uncle, Akmad Ampatuan, former mayor of Mamasapano on the southern island of Mindanao, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The move, announced in Manila on Saturday, overruled the Quezon City Regional Court, which is hearing the...

One Pakistani journalist was killed and others were injured in a suicide bombing at a hospital in Quetta Friday, according to international news reports. Details are still emerging, and some of the injured are reported to be in critical condition, but Pakistani colleagues told the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) that a senior Samaa TV cameraman, Malik Arif, died in the attack. Five other...

There has been an alarming deterioration in the press freedom situation in Ukraine since the two-round presidential election on January 17 and February 7, which was won by Viktor Yanukovych, according to Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). Despite the persistence of self-censorship, Ukraine had risen significantly in the RSF press freedom index in recent years, but the past three months have seen a...

New demands have been made by a Taliban group that is holding captive two French television journalists, Hervé Ghesquière and Stéphane Taponier, translator Mohammed Reza, and the group’s driver, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). They were taken in Kapisa province, northeast of Kabul, in December. Speaking alternately in English and French, the two French reporters appeared...

The current situation of the media in Kyrgyzstan reflects the confusion and uncertainty that has prevailed in the country as a whole since the unrest that allowed the opposition to seize power six days ago, according to Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). Although the ousted president, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, has fled the capital, he is still refusing to stand down. Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (RFE...