2001
Press Freedom Abuses Continue Under New Kabila
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about your government’s continued persecution of independent journalists and news outlets. We first protested your administration’s heavy-handed treatment of our colleagues in an April 10 letter. Since then, conditions for Congolese journalists have only worsened.
State media launch smear campaign against Tamil journalist
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about the security of Dharmeratnam Sivaram, veteran journalist and editor of the TamilNet Web site. Over the past two weeks, state media have featured articles accusing Sivaram of being a spy for the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)–a charge that seriously endangers him and his family.
CPJ Alarmed by Venezuelan High Court “Truthful Information” Ruling
New York, June 21, 2001 — In a letter sent today to President Hugo Chávez Frías, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) expressed alarm about the Venezuelan Supreme Court’s recent decision that issues criteria for “timely, truthful, and impartial information” and specifies how this right may be exercised. “We are deeply concerned that Venezuelan officials…
CPJ Releases Latest Research on Shootings of Journalists in Israel and the Occupied Territories
June 20, 2001 — CPJ today released its latest research into the cases of journalists wounded by Israeli gunfire while covering unrest in the West Bank and Gaza Strip since last September. The research, which was presented last week to Israeli ambassador to the U.S. David Ivry by a six-person CPJ delegation, lists the cases…
CPJ denounces third postponement in Pasko trial
New York, June 19, 2001 — The espionage trial of Russian military journalist Grigory Pasko has been postponed yet again, according to the Itar-Tass news agency and CPJ sources in Vladivostok. CPJ denounces these delays, which are clearly intended to exhaust Pasko’s legal defense. Military authorities have been pursuing the investigative reporter for nearly four…
TWO JOURNALISTS KILLED IN ANTI-GOVERNMENT DEMONSTRATIONS
New York, June 19, 2001 — Two Algerian journalists were killed last Thursday, June 14, while covering mass anti-government protests organized by Berber community leaders in the capital Algiers, CPJ has learned. Fadila Nejma, a reporter for the Arabic weekly Echourouk, died after being struck by a speeding bus during the protests. Nejma suffered severe…
CPJ welcomes journalists’ release, but says sedition charges should be dropped
New York, June 18, 2001 — Three journalists with the Nepali-language daily Kantipur, Yubaraj Ghimire, Kailash Shirohiya, and Binod Raj Gyawali, were released from jail on June 15. They face a trial next month on sedition charges stemming from an opinion piece that suggested a conspiracy behind the assassination of Nepal’s royal family. “We are…
Editor ordered to abstain from journalism in defamation case
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an independent organization dedicated to the defense of press freedom around the world, strongly protests the recent conviction of Oleg Liachko, editor of the independent Kyiv weekly Svoboda, on defamation charges.