Bangkok, June 25, 2003—Indonesian police have formally detained American free-lance journalist William Nessen after two days of questioning in the troubled province of Aceh and charged him with violating two sections of Indonesia’s immigration law. Nessen, who voluntarily turned himself over to military authorities on Tuesday, June 24, after spending several weeks with separatist rebels…
New York, June 25, 2003—Jailed Moroccan journalist Ali Lmrabet has ended the hunger strike he began on May 6 to protest his harassment and subsequent imprisonment by Moroccan authorities. According to press reports, Lmrabet ended the hunger strike after a visit by Moulay Hichem al-Aloui, a cousin of King Muhammad VI, who convinced him to…
New York, June 25, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about the continued imprisonment of three Togolese journalists on charges of “publishing false information and disturbing public order.” Dimas Dzikodo and Philip Evégnon, editor-in-chief and publication director, respectively, of the private weekly L’Evenement, and Jean de Dieu Kpakpabia, journalist at the private…
New York, June 25, 2003–The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed that Ugandan authorities have closed the Catholic Churchowned Radio Kyoga Veritas FM, in the northeastern town of Soroti, for airing reports about fighting in the region between government forces and the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). On the afternoon of Sunday, June 22, police…
New York, June 25, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed that Ugandan authorities have closed the Catholic Churchowned Radio Kyoga Veritas FM, in the northeastern town of Soroti, for airing reports about fighting in the region between government forces and the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). On the afternoon of Sunday, June 22, police…
Bangkok, June 24, 2003—American free-lance journalist William Nessen turned himself over to Indonesian military authorities in the strife torn province of Aceh this morning, ending several days of tense negotiations. For several weeks, Nessen, 46, had been traveling with the separatist Free Aceh Movement, known by its Indonesian acronym as GAM. Indonesian military authorities had…
New York, June 23, 2003—The Russian Media Ministry issued a decree on Saturday, June 21, pulling the independent national television channel TVS off the air at midnight, replacing it with Sport TV, a state-run sports channel. TVS, the only channel in Russia that has remained highly critical of the Kremlin, was paralyzed for months due…
New York, June 23, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the Chinese government’s decision to ban the bimonthly business news magazine Caijing. According to Reuters, the June 20 edition of the influential magazine was barred from newsstands last week. Although the magazine reached subscribers during the weekend, authorities ordered additional copies held at the…
New York, June 20, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is disappointed that the lower house of Russia’s parliament, the State Duma, passed a series of legal amendments on Wednesday, June 18, that would severely restrict the media’s ability to report on the December 2003 parliamentary elections and the February 2004 presidential elections. The bill,…
New York, June 20, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is extremely alarmed about the detention of three Moroccan journalists, bringing the total number of journalists currently in custody there to five. Journalists Mohamed Al Herd and Abdel Majid Taher, editors at the local weekly newspaper Al-Sharq, and Mustapha Qashnini, editor of the local weekly…