2006
SINGAPORE: Critical writer’s column cancelled
JULY 6, 2006 Posted: July 10, 2006 Lee Kin Mun, Today HARRASSED The state-owned free tabloid Today cancelled the column of Lee Kin Mun, who writes under the name of Mr. Brown. Lee is also a well-known blogger in Singapore. Lee’s June 30 satirical newspaper column, “Singaporeans are fed up with progress,” criticized the government…
Russian Authorities deny British journalist entry visa
New York, July 5, 2006 — The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned that Russian authorities have refused an entry visa to British journalist Thomas de Waal. The Moscow-based Union of Russia’s Journalists (RUJ) had invited de Waal to present his book on the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, which was translated into Russian last year. The…
President signs restrictive media bill
New York, July 5, 2006 — The Committee to Protect Journalists is dismayed by the passage today of legislation that further restricts press freedom in the Central Asian state of Kazakhstan. President Nursultan Nazarbayev signed into law a bill passed by Parliament in June that CPJ believes gives the state unlimited power to close independent…
Sri Lanka: Freelance Journalist Shot Dead
New York, July 5, 2006 — The body of freelance reporter Sampath Lakmal, a contributor to the Sinhala-language weekly Sathdina, was found in a southern suburb of Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo on Sunday. He had been shot after leaving his house to meet a contact on Saturday night, according to local media reports and the…
Burma: Court upholds prison sentences
UPDATE: July 5, 2006 Original Alert: April 4, 2006 Ko Thar Cho, freelance Ko Kyaw Thwin, Dhamah Yate LEGAL ACTION On June 21, a court in the central town of Yamaethin upheld the three-year prison sentences for journalists Ko Thar Cho and Ko Kyaw Thwin, who were first charged on March 27 for photographing and…
Journalist imprisoned in defamation case
New York, July 5, 2006 — The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the arrest and imprisonment on June 29 of Moustapha Sow, a Senegalese journalist who was convicted in February of defaming a local businessman. An arrest warrant was issued in February but carried out only last week, local sources told CPJ. “It is disturbing…
CPJ Condemns Expulsion of RFI Correspondent
New York, July 5, 2006 — The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the expulsion of Radio France Internationale (RFI) correspondent Ghislaine Dupont from the Democratic Republic of Congo where a landmark general election is scheduled for July 30. Dupont, who had been in the capital Kinshasa with a valid visa since April trying to obtain…
Radio station set ablaze
July 2, 2006 Posted July 5, 2006 DWRC-FM radio station attacked Armed men set fire to the community radio station DWRC FM Radyo Cagayano, in Baggao town in Cagayan province, more than 200 miles (320 kilometers) north of Manila, according to local news reports and the Philippines Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility. The station…