New York, October 30, 2003—Russia’s Constitutional Court today struck down part of a law that sought to strengthen state regulation over independent media outlets, particularly coverage of election campaigns. According to local and international press reports, the court ruled that a sub-section of Article 48 of the law “On Fundamental Guarantees of Voters Rights” is…
New York, October 30, 2003— The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the Tuesday, October 28, gunfire attack on the offices of the independent station Radio Caraïbes, located in Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital. Caraïbes protested the attack by suspending newscasts on Wednesday. It plans to resume broadcast on Monday, November 3. At around 8:30 p.m. on…
Nova York, 29 de outubro de 2003—Um tribunal panamenho revogou uma ordem que proibia o reconhecido jornalista peruano Gustavo Gorriti de abandonar o país e ordenava que ele se apresentasse em juízo por uma denúncia de difamação contra o Panamá em 1996. Gorriti havia viajado recentemente ao Panamá para participar de uma conferência sobre a…
New York, October 29, 2003—A Panamanian court has overturned a ruling barring renowned Peruvian journalist Gustavo Gorriti from leaving the country and ordering him to stand trial for criminal defamation charges filed against him in Panama in 1996. Gorriti had recently traveled to Panama to attend a conference on corruption. On Monday, October 27, officials…
Nova York, 29 de outubro de 2003—O Comitê para a Proteção dos Jornalistas (CPJ) está preocupado com a saúde de dois jornalistas cubanos presos que se declararam em greve de fome em 18 de outubro como protesto pelos maus tratos a outro colega preso. Mario Enrique Mayo Hernández e Adolfo Fernández Saínz, que estão presos…
New York, October 29, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is concerned about the health of two imprisoned Cuban journalists who began a hunger strike on October 18 to protest the mistreatment of an imprisoned colleague. Mario Enrique Mayo Hernández and Adolfo Fernández Saínz, who are jailed at the Holguín Provincial Prison in eastern Cuba,…
New York, October 28, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed by reports that editor Ahmed Shawkat was murdered today in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. According to The Associated Press (AP) and an Agence France-Presse correspondent in Mosul, Shawkat, editor of the Iraqi weekly Bilah Ittijah (Without Direction), was shot and killed…
New York, October 28, 2003—The four Guatemalan journalists abducted last Sunday by former paramilitary forces in the town of La Libertad, in the northwestern department of Huehuetenango, were released this afternoon after the government of President Alfonso Portillo Cabrera promised to compensate the ex-paramilitaries for their services during the 36-year civil war. [Read CPJ’s alert…
New York, October 27, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is dismayed that the executive editor of the daily tabloid Rakyat Merdeka was sentenced today on charges of insulting the president. The South Jakarta District Court gave editor Supratman (who, like many Indonesians, uses only one name) a six-month suspended sentence after Rakyat Merdeka published…
New York, October 27, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is outraged by the recent abduction of four Guatemalan journalists. On Sunday, October 26, former paramilitary fighters kidnapped reporters Freddy López and Alberto Ramírez, and photographers Emerson Díaz and Mario Linares, all of the Guatemala Citybased daily Prensa Libre, in the town of La Libertad,…