Former military junta soldiers released a journalist and one other hostage on the night of Thursday, August 6. The two freed hostages were among 40 people kidnapped near the capital, Freetown, on Wednesday. The journalist, local Reuters reporter Christo Johnson, later told the BBC that the soldiers said they would free the remaining hostages once…
August 4, 1999 President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah State House Freetown, Sierra Leone BY FAX: (232-22) 225615 Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a non-partisan organization dedicated to the defense of press freedom worldwide, welcomes the release from jail, on the weekend of July 31, of four journalists who were imprisoned on charges of…
On August 2, 1999, Gambian security officials released three journalists of The Independentnewspaper from detention at National Intelligence Agency (NIA) headquarters in Banul. Baba Galleh Jallow, Yorrow Jallow, and Lamin Daffeh were told to report at NIA headquarters again on August 3 with all the necessary documents pertaining to the registration of the newspaper. The…
July 29, 1999 His Excellency Laurent-Désiré Kabila President of the Democratic Republic of Congo Ngaliema, Kinshasa Democratic Republic of Congo Your Wxcellency, CPJ is greatly alarmed by the continued imprisonment of journalists Mbakulu Pambu Diambu and Godefroid Kiangwe Buleya. With the Lusaka peace accord now in place, we demand the immediate and unconditional release of…
June 15,1999 The following is a copy of a letter received by CPJ from the Angolan Minister of Social Communications, Pedro Hendrik Vaal Neto, written in Luanda on June 23, 1999. The translation is an unofficial one, done by the Angolan Embassy in Washington DC: Ms. Ann K. Cooper Executive Director Committee to Protect Journalists…
May 7, 1999 His Excellency Lt. Gen. Omar Hassan al-Bashir President of the Republic of Sudan c/o His Excellency Ambassador Mahdi Ibrahim Muhammad Embassy of the Republic of Sudan 2210 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. Washington, D. C. 20006 Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to express our grave concern that Muhammad Abdel…
May 7, 1999 His Excellency Lt. Gen. Omar Hassan al-Bashir President of the Republic of Sudan c/o His Excellency Ambassador Mahdi Ibrahim Muhammad Embassy of the Republic of Sudan 2210 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. Washington, D. C. 20006 Your Excellency, Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to express our grave concern that…
“When the bombs began falling in Yugoslavia on March 24, the seven Serb journalists who happened to be visiting our offices in New York during a tour of the United States all ran for the phones. They were worried about the families they had left behind, but they also feared for the survival of Serbia’s…
On May 3, in conjunction with World Press Freedom Day, CPJ announced its annual identification of the top 10 Enemies of the Press worldwide. Those who made the list this year, as in the past, earned the dubious distinction by exhibiting particular zeal for the ruthless suppression of journalists. Gen. Sani Abacha of Nigeria was…
April 30, 1999 His Excellency Lt. Gen. Omar Hassan al-Bashir President of the Republic of Sudan c/o His Excellency Ambassador Mahdi Ibrahim Muhammad Embassy of the Republic of Sudan 2210 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. Washington, D. C. 20006 Your Excellency, TThe Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a nongovernmental organization of journalists dedicated to defending press freedom…