New York, September 7, 2000 — An irate crowd of some three dozen people calling themselves agents of Mauritian prime minister Navin Ramgoolam’s Labor Party staged a loud demonstration in front of the offices of Le Mauricien and L’express, the island’s leading independent dailies. Wielding sticks and shouting slogans, the protesters railed against what they…
Click here to read more about press freedom conditions in JORDAN New York, September 6, 2000–The state-sanctioned Jordan Press Association (JPA) expelled its secretary general, a weekly newspaper editor, from the organization yesterday because of his work with a local press freedom group, according to CPJ sources.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is disturbed by your stated intention of banning private radio stations from broadcasting in Kenya’s vernacular languages. On August 31, 2000, at the opening of the Agricultural Society of Kenya show in Mombasa, you accused private stations that broadcast in languages other than English and Kiswahili, Kenya’s two official languages, of undermining national unity and promoting tribal chauvinism. You also ordered Attorney General Amos Wako and Information, Transport, and Communication Minister Musalia Mudavadi to draft legislation that would force private stations to broadcast only in English and Kiswahili.
New York, September 5, 2000 — The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the sentencing today of Lasantha Wickrematunga, editor of the English-language weekly newspaper The Sunday Leader, on charges of criminally defaming President Chandrika Kumaratunga. A judge from Colombo’s High Court sentenced Wickrematunga to two years in jail, but suspended the sentence for five…
Click here to read more about press freedom conditions in AZERBAIJAN MAP of Azerbaijan New York, September 5, 2000 — In a widening crackdown on local media, Azeri authorities called in a second editor for questioning in connection with recent attempted hijacking in the Azeri enclave of Nakhchivan.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is gravely disturbed by a National Assembly member’s recent attempt to strangle journalist Chahana Takiou of the private biweekly newspaper L’Independant. This bizarre incident occurred August 30 inside the National Assembly building in the capital, Bamako, CPJ sources say. Takiou was apparently reporting a story when Mamadou Gassama Diaby, a member of parliament from the ruling Democratic Alliance of Mali (ADEMA), assaulted him. Diaby punched and kicked Takiou several times before seizing him by the neck and attempting to throttle him.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is dismayed by recent indications that censorship regulations are still fully in force in Sri Lanka, despite earlier assurances by the media minister that these restrictions would be lifted by mid-August, well in advance of the upcoming parliamentary elections. CPJ believes that it is impossible to hold free and fair elections in a country where media are subject to censorship regulations.