Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is concerned about a proposed bill governing the Yemeni press syndicate, or journalists’ union. The bill, which Parliament is scheduled to debate within the next few days, contains several articles that run counter to internationally accepted norms of free speech.
New York, December 4, 2003—Zaw Thet Htway, editor of the Burmese sports magazine First Eleven, has been sentenced to death for high treason. Although death sentences are rarely carried out in Burma, exiled Burmese journalists call the sentence “disturbing.” According to international press reports, Zaw Thet Htway and eight other individuals, including a lawyer and…
New York, December 3, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns yesterday’s killing of journalist Nelson Nadura, a commentator for Radio DYME in the Philippine’s central Masbate City. CPJ is investigating the circumstances behind his death. At about 8:30 a.m. on December 2, two unidentified gunmen shot Nadura on his motorcycle when he left the…
New York, December 3, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the detention of Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, editor of the tabloid weekly Blitz, who was arrested by security personnel at Zia International Airport in the capital, Dhaka. According to local news reports, Choudhury was on his way to Israel on November 29 to participate…
New York, December 2, 2003—Last week, a district court in the Belarus’ capital, Minsk, declared journalist Dmitry Zavadsky officially dead. Zavadsky, a 29-year-old cameraman for the Russian public television network ORT, disappeared in July 2000. According to local press reports, the cameraman’s widow, Svetlana Zavadskaya, initiated the judicial process in October 2003. Zavadsky’s body was…
New York, December 1, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) welcomes the release of Internet writer Liu Di but is gravely concerned that another Internet essayist, Du Daobin, has been charged with “subversion” and remains in jail. On November 28, Internet writer Liu Di, 23, was released from prison on bail. Liu, a psychology student…