2000

  

Togo: CPJ protests government’s use of criminal defamation laws to muzzle press

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is disturbed by the continued detention of Hippolyte Agboh, publisher of the private weekly L’Exilé, who is being prosecuted on criminal defamation charges. We are equally concerned about the recent spate of reprisals against news organizations that have criticized your government.

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Pakistan: Journalist murdered by local gagster

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the May 2 murder of Sufi Mohammad Khan, an investigative reporter with the Daily Ummat Karachi. While we are relieved that the gunman and two accomplices are now in police custody, we believe, based on interviews with local sources, that others involved in this crime may still be at large. We call on you to ensure that a complete and impartial investigation is carried out.

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Spain: Journalist assassinated in Basque country

Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned about the recent assassination of political columnist José Luis López de la Calle. López de la Calle, a regular contributor to the Basque edition of the Madrid-based daily El Mundo, was gunned down outside his home on Sunday morning, May 7. Though no arrests have been made, Interior Ministry officials are reportedly attributing the crime to the Basque separatist group ETA.

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Free to travel but still on hunger strike, Tunisian journalist arrives in France for medical care

Click here to read more about press freedom conditions in TUNISIA. New York, May 5, 2000 — Tunisian authorities lifted a travel ban imposed on journalist Taoufik Ben Brik, who arrived in France yesterday. But Ben Brik vowed to continue his 33-day hunger strike until his brother is freed from government custody, the Committee to…

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17 journalists beaten at opposition rally

Click here to read more about press freedom conditions in AZERBAIJAN. New York, May 4, 2000 – Seventeen journalists were beaten by police while covering an opposition demonstration on April 29 in the capital city of Baku, according to the Journalists’ Trade Union and other sources in Azerbaijan.

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AP Photographer cleared of all charges, allowed to leave country

Click here to read more about press freedom conditions in ZIMBABWE. New York, May 3, 2000— Zimbabwe authorities cleared all charges yesterday against Associated Press photographer Obed Zilwa, who had been held on suspicion of perpetrating a terrorist bomb attack on the Harare offices of the Daily News, local sources told CPJ.

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DRC: Journalist faces fifth month in illegal detention

Your Excellency: On the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to remind you that the illegal detention of Freddy Loseke Lisumbu la Yayenga, editor of the Kinshasa-based weekly La Libre Afrique, is entering its fifth consecutive month.

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Commonwealth: CPJ protests conditions in Sierra Leone, Malaysia

Dear Mr. McKinnon, On the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to express its concerns about press freedom violations in Malaysia and Sierra Leone, which have been Commonwealth member states since 1957 and 1961, respectively. We would like to draw your attention to the fact that the leaders of these Commonwealth countries rank among CPJ’s “10 worst enemies of the press” for 2000.

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Radio reporter stabbed to death

Click here to read more about press freedom conditions in MEXICO. New York, May 1, 2000 — The body of radio reporter José Ramírez Puente, the host of a popular news program in the Mexican town of Ciudad Juárez, across the border from El Paso, Texas, was found in his car late Saturday evening. Ramírez,…

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NAGORNO-KARABAKH: Opposition journalist released with suspended sentence

[Click here to read CPJ’s April 7 protest letter.] [Click here for a map of Nagorno-Karabakh].

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