Sindh Police arrest four suspects in journalist Imtiaz Mir murder case
October 28, 2025: Sindh Police arrested four suspects linked to a banned outfit in the murder of journalist Imtiaz Mir, who was shot in Karachi in September 2025.
JournalismPakistan.com | Published 7 years ago
Join our WhatsApp channel
MEXICO CITY - The Committee to Protect Journalists has urged Mexican authorities to undertake an immediate and credible investigation into the killing of Javier Enrique Rodríguez Valladares, a cameraman for a local television broadcaster based in Cancún, in the southern Mexican state of Quintana Roo.
Rodríguez Valladares was shot by unknown assailants around 6:00 p.m. on August 29, according to newsreports.
Rodríguez Valladares, 28, worked as a cameraman for Canal 10, a local broadcaster that covers general news in the Cancún area. In a video uploaded to the Facebook page of El Balcón, a local news website, Germán Espiridión, a colleague of Rodríguez Valladares, said the reporter had previously worked for national broadcaster Televisa and that he also bought and sold cars.
"The killing of Javier Enrique Rodríguez Valladares perpetuates a series of deadly attacks on journalists this year in Quintana Roo, a state that until recently was not one of the most dangerous places for journalists in Mexico," said Jan-Albert Hootsen, CPJ's Mexico representative. "Federal and Quintana Roo state authorities must urgently take action to guarantee the safety of reporters in the region and halt this alarming trend."
The murder of Rodríguez Valladares is the third deadly attack on a journalist in Quintana Roo in just over two months. On July 24, Rubén Pat Cauich, co-founder and editorial director of online news resource Semanario Playa News, was shot to death in Playa del Carmen, a resort city south of Cancún. Another reporter for Playa News, José Guadalupe Chan Dzib, was killed on June 29 in the town of Sabán. No suspects have been apprehended in either case.
According to a statement released by the state attorney general's office on August 29, the attack on Rodríguez Valladares took place at the Supermanzana 29, a residential area in Cancún, a resort city popular among foreign tourists. Rodríguez Valladares was with another male who was also killed and whose identity has not been made public by the attorney general's office. According to the statement, it is unclear how many people were involved in the attack.
The state attorney general's office said the cameraman was off duty at the time of the attack and that he was not wearing company clothing, and that it therefore currently does not believe Rodríguez Valladares was killed because of his work as a journalist. It added, however, that it has not discarded any possible motives yet.
One reporter from Cancún, who asked to remain anonymous for safety reasons, told CPJ that Rodríguez Valladares was apparently in the process of selling a car to the second victim of the attack and that it was possible that the cameraman was killed as a bystander.
The reporter told CPJ that Rodríguez Valladares covered general news for Canal 10 and that he was well known and liked by his colleagues in the city, a statement echoed by Germán Espiridión of El Balcón in the video he uploaded to Facebook. CPJ was unable to locate recent work on the Canal 10 website that was credited to Rodríguez Valladares.
Canal 10 has been the victim of violence before. On October 24, 2017, unknown attackers fired shots at the building of the television station in Cancún, wounding an employee. No suspects for the attack have been arrested, and the motive behind the attack remains unclear. CPJ reached out to the station's executives for comment via WhatsApp message today, but did not immediately receive a response.
A spokesperson for the Federal Mechanism for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists, which operates under the auspices of Mexico's federal Interior Secretariat, told CPJ that Canal 10 is not enrolled in a federal protection program. He added that his institution was unaware of any reported threats against Rodríguez Valladares. He asked to remain anonymous to be able to comment.
A request for comment by CPJ to Quintana Roo state Attorney General Miguel Ángel Pech Cen was not immediately answered. Ricardo Sánchez Pérez del Pozo, who heads the office of the Federal Prosecutor for Crimes Committed against Freedom of Expression (FEADLE), told CPJ that he had opened an investigation into the killing.
Mexico is the deadliest country for journalists in the Western Hemisphere, according to CPJ research. Rodríguez Valladares was at least the eighth reporter killed in the country this year. CPJ has determined that at least three of the journalists killed in 2018 were targeted in direct reprisal for their work. – A CPJ News Alert/Photo: AFP
October 28, 2025: Sindh Police arrested four suspects linked to a banned outfit in the murder of journalist Imtiaz Mir, who was shot in Karachi in September 2025.
October 26, 2025: Riffat Ara Alvi, the mother of slain Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif, has died, ending her relentless fight for justice following his killing in Kenya in 2022.
October 25, 2025: Veteran journalists and rights activists urge authorities to quash the fabricated drug case against Matiullah Jan, calling it an attack on media freedom.
October 24, 2025: PTV journalist Najam Wali Khan faces social media backlash after calling late SP Adeel Akbar a coward and a fool following his alleged suicide in Islamabad.
October 24, 2025: JournalismPakistan.com celebrates 16 years of independent reporting and media insight. Founded in 2009, the platform has weathered censorship, cyberattacks, and financial pressures to remain a trusted space for all who love and follow the media.
October 23, 2025: PFUJ calls for the immediate appointment of an ITNE judge, warning of a serious case backlog affecting journalists and media workers seeking justice across Pakistan.
October 21, 2025: 92 News apologizes to Maryam Nawaz for falsely claiming she bought a Toshakhana watch at Rs45,000, correcting the misinformation aired in 2022.
October 20, 2025: Fake news falsely claimed Ishrat Fatima’s death, sparking outrage. Colleagues condemn digital misinformation and honor her enduring legacy.
October 29, 2025 In a historic first, a Bishkek court declares Kloop, Temirov Live, and their founders extremist, marking Kyrgyzstan’s sharpest assault on press freedom under President Japarov.
October 29, 2025 Babar Azam's form slump reveals a psychological battle between classical artistry and modern cricket demands. Inside the mind of Pakistan's maestro, struggling to rediscover flow.
October 29, 2025 The New York Times is accepting applications for its 2025 fellowship, a one-year journalism training program for emerging reporters, editors, and visual journalists. Deadline: November 19, 2025.
October 29, 2025 CPJ calls on Turkey to release journalist Merdan Yanardag and return control of TELE1, after his arrest on espionage charges and state media takeover.
October 29, 2025 Alfred Friendly Press Partners invites exiled journalists in the US to apply for its 2026 four-week fellowship offering training, support, and a $2,000 stipend.