State Impunity

Kyrgyz authorities have been urged to detain, charge, and prosecute three men who attacked Yrysbek Omurzakov, editor of the independent newspaper Tribuna, in the capital, Bishkek, last week. On May 7, at around 5 p.m., two sedans blocked Omurzakov's marked press vehicle at an intersection near his office, the editor told the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Omurzakov said he...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has condemned the threats and intimidations against journalists in Somalia after the head of an Islamic militia group in Somalia warned journalists against reports which are critical of the movement. “We condemn this climate of terror and intimidation against journalists in Somalia,” said Gabriel Baglo, Director of IFJ Africa Office. “It is against...

The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Armenian authorities to apprehend three assailants who attacked Argishti Kivirian, editor of the independent news website Armenia Today. The unidentified men beat Kivirian early Thursday morning, leaving him hospitalised in serious condition, Zhanna Alexanian, president of the Yerevan-based organization Journalists for Human Rights, told CPJ. "We...

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is closely following the imminent trial of two suspects who have been charged with plotting to murder Ahmed Mira, editor-in-chief of the Sulaymania, Iraq-based ‎magazine Livin. ‎Mira and his lawyer, Othman ‏Sidiq, told CPJ that investigations have been completed and that two ‏suspects have been formally charged with planning to murder Mira. The first...

Gambian authorities must authoritatively account for the whereabouts, health, and legal status of journalist "Chief" Ebrima Manneh, who was taken into government custody by security agents in July 2006, the Committee to Protect Journalists has said. Authorities, who have held Manneh in secret locations since the arrest, have provided conflicting and incomplete accounts this month regarding his...

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on Guatemalan authorities to conduct an immediate and thorough investigation into the shooting of a two-man TV crew in Guatemala City on Wednesday. Unidentified gunmen killed veteran reporter Rolando Santiz and injured cameraman Antonio de León. At around 5:10 p.m., Santiz and de León, a news crew for the national television station Telecentro...

Police in the Moscow suburb of Khimki must conduct a thorough investigation into the sudden death of newspaper designer Sergei Protazanov, the circumstances of which are in dispute, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has said. Anatoly Yurov, chief editor of the pro-opposition Grazhdanskoye Soglasiye, told CPJ that he spoke with his employee by telephone on Monday. Protazanov, 40, said an...

A provincial governor in Mozambique has made public death threats against Bernardo Carlos, a journalist on the daily Noticias, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. Ildefonso Muananthatha, Governor of Tete in the centre-west of the country, warned the journalist he could suffer the same fate as his colleague Carlos Cardoso, the newspaper editor who was murdered in 2000. Bernardo Carlos...

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has expressed concern over the safety of Khadija Abdul Qahaar, publisher of the website Jihad Unspun, who has been held by abductors in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas for more than four months. Qahaar, a Canadian who changed her name from Beverly Giesbrecht when she converted to Islam in 2002, disappeared on November 11, 2008, while...

Veteran Pakistani journalist Raja Assad Hameed was murdered in the northeastern city of Rawalpindi last Thursday night. Hameed, who worked for local broadcaster Waqt TV and the English-language daily the Nation, and appeared regularly on Al-Jazeera broadcasts, was shot several times at close range outside his home at around 10 p.m., according to local and international news reports. The reports...