Through “60 Minutes” the Criminal Underworld Has Started a War Against the Judicial System Tbilisi-based state-owned daily newspaper Sakartvelos Respublika (The Republic Of Georgia) Number 63, Monday, March 10, 2003 The broadcasting company “Rustavi 2” recently started a new campaign of defamation and disinformation against the judiciary system. Systematic and unfounded accusations against the judicial…
New York, March 21, 2003— The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is concerned that the Georgian Supreme Court has published a statement requesting that the prosecutor general conduct a criminal inquiry into “60 Minutes,” a biweekly investigative news program on the independent, Tbilisi-based television station Rustavi 2 in retaliation for its reporting on widespread corruption…
New York, March 21, 2003— Iraqi officials today expelled the U.S. news network CNN from the capital, Baghdad. Correspondents Nic Robertson and Rym Barhimi, as well as a producer and cameraman, were ordered to leave the country and will depart this evening for Jordan, CPJ sources confirmed. CNN has not yet released a comment about…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about the safety of Shawkat Milton, a reporter for the Bengali-language national daily Janakantha who went into hiding on March 14 after learning that police were about to arrest him. The journalist had been covering campaign abuses committed by officials in the run-up to…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the recent arrest of Nguyen Dan Que, a writer and publisher of the underground magazine The Future. His detention is the latest move in your government’s ongoing crackdown on free expression in Vietnam. On March 17, Que was arrested outside his home in Ho Chi Minh…
New York, March 20, 2003— Mathurin Momet, publication director of the private daily Le Confident in the Central African Republic (CAR), was released by rebels under the command of General François Bozizé on Saturday, March 15. He had spent more than three weeks in prison. Momet was among a group of prisoners jailed by President…
New York, March 20, 2003— The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) mourns the death of Kloueu Gonzreu, 51, a regional correspondent for the state-run news wire service Agence Ivoirienne de Presse. According to several local reports, Gonzreu’s body was found and identified on Wednesday, March 19, by a team from the Red Cross, where the…
New York, March 20, 2003— In the second day of a sweeping crackdown on the political opposition and the independent press in Cuba, police arrested nine more independent journalists last night, bringing the total detained to 19. The nine journalists—Manuel Vázquez Portal, Héctor Maseda, Oscar Espinosa Chepe, Adolfo Fernández Saínz, Mario Enrique Mayo, Fabio Prieto…
New York, March 20, 2003— The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) calls on India’s Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to reverse its earlier decision to deny a certificate to the documentary “Aakrosh,” which prevents the film from being shown publicly. “Aakrosh,” or “Cry of Anguish,” is a 20-minute, Hindi-language documentary that features interviews with…
New York, March 20, 2003— International journalists evacuated the Al-Rashid Hotel in Baghdad this morning after receiving reports that the hotel was a likely target of a U.S. air strike. One journalist received a phone call from a Western government official warning journalists to leave the hotel immediately. At least one U.S. media outlet was…