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New York, November 28, 2006—Yemen’s leading state-run newspaper Al-Thawra attacked independent editor Jamal Amer upon his return from the United States where he received the Committee to Protect Journalists 2006 International Press Freedom Award. The daily ran a front-page article on November 26 suggesting that he was a U.S. agent and warning of possible legal action in response to his critical...

New York, November 28, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by death threats against two colleagues of murdered Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya. The independent Moscow newspaper Novaya Gazeta said in a statement yesterday that two of its leading journalists received anonymous death threats on November 24. Deputy Editor Sergei Sokolov told the independent radio station Ekho...

New York, November 27, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the government closure of Azerbaijan’s oldest independent radio and television broadcaster, and the harassment of independent and opposition print media. Authorities sealed facilities and confiscated broadcast equipment on November 24 of the Azerbaijan News Service (ANS), local media reported. The closure of the Baku-based...

Kamal al-Olufi, editor of the Al-Rai Al-A’am weekly, was imprisoned today, after Judge Hassan al-Akwa’a sentenced him to a year behind bars for insulting Islam and abusing the prophet. The judge also ordered that the newspaper be shut down for six months, and that al-Olufi be banned from writing for the same period, upon completion of his prison sentence. Moreover, al-Olufi was also sentenced to...

Tehran (AsiaNews) -- The fatwa pronounced against Salman Rushdie is not the only example of how Iran's Shia clergy claims the right to exert extra-territorial jurisdiction. A few days ago an Iranian cleric, Ayatollah Morteza Bani Fazl, said that Rafik Taghi, a journalist in Azerbaijan, should be killed and as an encouragement he has offered a house he has inherited from his father as a reward. Mr...

A reporter for a weekly investigative crime magazine was knocked off his motorcycle and run over on Tuesday by unidentified assailants who then shot him at point-blank range with a 9mm handgun, state authorities said. Roberto Marcos Garcia, 50, chief reporter for the weekly Testimonio magazine in Veracruz, was shot four times in the head and other parts of his body along a highway 8km northeast of...

NAIROBI - Eritrea has arrested at least nine journalists with state-owned media since mid-November in an apparent new crackdown, a global press freedom watchdog said Wednesday. A week after alleging that at least nine others, including three journalists, had died in Eritrean custody over the past 20 months, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said it was “appalled” by the new arrests. RSF said those...

New York, November 21, 2006 – The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release of Cuban journalist Oscar Mario González, who had been jailed for 16 months without charge. González was freed unexpectedly on Monday without explanation, his daughter Elena González, who lives in Sweden, told CPJ. She said her father was in good spirits but confused. She spoke with him by telephone shortly...

LONDON, november 20: A former Russian spy poisoned in Britain and now hospitalised under guard may have been targeted for his investigation into the killing of prominent anti-Kremlin journalist Anna Politkovskaya, friends and fellow dissidents said on Sunday. Russian businessman prime suspect in Litvinenko poisoning: reportRussia declares terror alert Warmest Jan in Moscow in 130 yearsRussian...

LONDON: A BBC reporter has gone missing in Pakistan after leaving Islamabad for his home town in the northwest of the country, the broadcaster said on Monday. A spokesman voiced concern over the fate of Dilawar Wazir Khan, a journalist for its Urdu service who has not been heard from since early morning Pakistan time. He was seen with his brother Zul Fiqar Ali on Sunday at a hostel near the...