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New York, November 20, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Pakistani authorities to immediately investigate the apparent disappearance of BBC Urdu-language reporter Dilawar Khan Wazir, who has not been heard from since leaving the capital, Islamabad, for his hometown of Dera Ismail Khan this morning, according to the BBC. Khan, who reports from the violent and lawless region of...

EL TIGRE, Venezuela, Nov. 13 — Nancy Cecilia Flores still trembles when she recalls how a gunman unloaded eight rounds into her father, Jesús Flores Rojas, a well-known journalist in this oil city. It was 8:50 p.m. on Aug. 23. They had just returned from the pharmacy in her father's prized possession, a 1979 Chevrolet Malibu. A young man approached as they entered their driveway, motioned for her...

New York, November 17, 2006—José Manuel Nava Sánchez, former director of the Mexico City-based daily Excélsior and columnist for the national daily El Sol de México, was found murdered yesterday in his apartment. The Committee to Protect Journalists is investigating whether the killing is connected to his work. According to the Mexican press, Nava’s body was found around 9 a.m. by a cleaner in his...

BAKU, November 16 (RIA Novosti) - The Azerbaijani Prosecutor General's Office ruled Thursday that the chief editor of a local newspaper be jailed for two months for insulting the Prophet Mohammed in a November 1 article. Earlier, Western mass media reported that the article, titled "Europe and Us," in the small-circulation newspaper Senet, accused Islam of standing in the way of humanity's...

BAKU, Azerbaijan: Azerbaijani police on Thursday broke up an opposition rally demanding an end to pressure on independent media, and said they had detained at least four activists. About 60 activists from the Popular Front of Azerbaijan gathered at a central subway entrance in the capital, Baku, and shouted "Freedom!" Police tried to push them into the subway, but the activists managed to disperse...

BAKU, Azerbaijan: Azerbaijan's independent media face violence, pressure and a worsening climate, international observers warned Wednesday, as a popular opposition paper in the Caspian Sea nation faces eviction from its editorial offices. In a joint statement read to journalists at the newspaper Azadliq, nations which are members of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe called on...

Three Danish journalists are on trial for publishing classified intelligence reports about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. Niels Lunde, the editor-in-chief of Berlingske Tidende, one of Denmark's top national dailies, and reporters Michael Bjerre and Jesper Larsen are charged with disclosing information that is confidential for reasons of national security. If convicted, the men face up to two...

New York, February 13, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes Monday’s ruling by an appeals court in the capital Niamey to overturn the conviction of two journalists jailed for nearly four months on criminal defamation charges over an article critical of the prime minister. An appeals court repealed 18-month prison sentences handed down by a trial court last September against Director...

The Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) is alarmed with the latest suspensions of a newspaper and its editor - this time, it is the "Weekend Mail", the Sunday edition of the "Malay Mail", for its reports about sex. According to news reports on 8 November 2006, the Internal Security Ministry said the suspension was justified as the subject is "contrary to Eastern values practised by Malaysians"...

November 10, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- An independent Uzbek reporter who was released this week from custody stemming from what rights groups describe as dubious extortion charges told RFE/RL today that he will continue his work as a journalist. Ulugbek Khaidarov was set free on November 8, one day after an appellate court in his native Jizzakh ordered his release. He was sentenced to six years in jail in...