New York, February 28, 2003—Zamid Ayubov, a 40-year-old Chechen journalist for the local pro-Russian administration’s thrice-weekly Vozrozhdeniye Chechni, was beaten and detained by Interior Ministry forces in the Chechen capitol of Grozny on the evening of February 16. Ayubov was assaulted when he approached an Interior Ministry unit and identified himself as a journalist researching…
New York, February 28, 2003—Offended by allegations of corruption, a Panamanian judge has ordered investigative journalist Carlos Zavala to serve six days in jail. Zavala, who hosts the weekly talk show “Cuentas Claras” (Clear Accounts) on RCM Televisión in Panama City, told the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) that the order stems from his criticisms…
New York, February 28, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the recent harassment of two journalists by Maoist rebel forces in Nepal. In separate incidents, Maoist rebels have threatened journalists whose reporting criticized the “People’s War.” In mid-February, reporters for the national newspaper Nepal Samacharpatra learned that their colleague Deepak Bahadur Thapa has been…
February 28, 2003, New York—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the illegal detention of Internet publisher Huang Qi, who has been imprisoned for more than two and a half years without being convicted of any crime. The Chengdu Intermediate People’s Court, in the southwestern province of Sichuan, had originally scheduled the sentencing for today,…
New York, February 28, 2003—Three Argentine journalists were attacked by police in two separate incidents earlier this week while covering street protests in the city of Buenos Aires, according to CPJ sources. At around noon on Tuesday, February 25, Federal Police agents attacked producer Maximiliano García Solla and cameraman Julián Sequeira, of the biweekly television…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about two libel lawsuits that have been filed by a senior government official against Elmar Huseynov, the publisher and editor-in-chief of the Baku-based, independent magazine Monitor. These lawsuits are the latest actions in a 7-year-old campaign of official harassment targeting Huseynov and the Monitor…
New York, February 26, 2003–The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release from prison of Abdoulaye Tiémogo, an editor at the weekly Le Canard Déchaîné, which is based in Niger’s capital, Niamey. Tiémogo, who was freed on Tuesday, February 18, after completing his eight-month prison sentence, was arrested on June 18, 2002, for allegedly defaming…
New York, February 26, 2003—The Inter-American Court of Human Rights said last week that it will hear the case of Costa Rican journalist Mauricio Herrera Ulloa, who was convicted of criminal defamation in 1999. A ruling could set a precedent to determine whether criminal defamation is permissible under international law. On February 3, the Washington,…
New York, January 25, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is concerned about an appeals court ruling yesterday in Qatar’s capital, Doha, confirming a death sentence against Jordanian journalist Firas al-Majali on charges of espionage. Al-Majali, a news editor for Qatari state television, has been in detention since January 2002. He was originally sentenced to…
Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed by the government’s closure of Radio Bombolom, Guinea-Bissau’s main independent news broadcaster, in the latest attempt to silence critical voices ahead of general elections scheduled for April 20. On February 13, police shuttered Radio Bombolom’s offices, forcing the broadcaster off the air. The Ministry of…