New York, October 7, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is gravely concerned about the safety of journalists Ersa Siregar and Ferry Santoro, who have been held hostage by rebels from the Free Aceh Movement (known by its Indonesian acronym GAM) for more than three months. Their current whereabouts are unknown, and Siregar is reportedly…
New York, October 6, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is investigating last week’s murder of Ameer Bux Brohi, 27, a district reporter for The Daily Kawish, the largest Sindh-language daily newspaper in Pakistan’s Sindh Province, and Kavish Television News (KTN). The police chief in the rural town of Shikapur where the murder took place…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about the growing use of Indonesia’s antiquated criminal defamation laws to punish and intimidate journalists who are critical of government officials and other powerful individuals. This alarming trend is eroding hard fought press freedoms in Indonesia, and we call on you to put a stop to these criminal cases.
New York, October 2, 2003—The South Jakarta District Court today cancelled the order to seize the offices of Koran Tempo as collateral in a libel case against the newspaper. The order was issued yesterday, following a similar order on the home of Tempo journalist Goenawan Mohamad. Businessman Tomy Winata has sued both Mohamad and Koran…
New York, October 1, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the court ordered seizure of the home of Goenawan Mohamad, the co-founder and senior editor of Tempo magazine, and the offices of Koran Tempo, Tempo’s sister publication. Mohamad, a 1998 CPJ International Press Freedom Award recipient, and several of his colleagues, are being sued…
New York, September 30, 2003—Hiramon Mondol, a local correspondent for the daily Dainik Prabarttan, was released from jail and exonerated from extortion charges on September 20 by the Magistrate of the Special Tribunal Act in Khulna, a town in southwestern Bangladesh, according to local news reports. Police and security forces brutally attacked Mondol with hockey…
New York, September 22, 2003—Parmanand Goyal, a journalist with the daily Punjab Kesari, was shot and killed by three unidentified assailants at his home on September 18 in Kaithal, Haryana, north of the capital, Delhi, according to local press reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is investigating the motives behind his murder. According India’s…
New York, September 19, 2003—Indonesia’s Central Jakarta District Court is scheduled to deliver a verdict on Tuesday, September 23 in a case involving police negligence in a March disturbance that injured several journalists. The Jakarta chapter of the Alliance for Independent Journalists’ (AJI) filed the suit on behalf of Tempo magazine journalists. According to AJI’s…
New York, September 19, 2003—Sitaram Baral, the assistant editor of the weekly Janaastha, was released from detention by Nepalese security forces on Wednesday, September 17, according to local journalists. Four days earlier, however, local sources told CPJ that security forces arrested another journalist, Premnath Joshi, editor of the monthly English-language magazine Shangrila Voice. Baral was…
New York, September 17, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is gravely concerned by the recent murder of Japanese freelance journalist Satoru Someya and is conducting an investigation to determine if he was killed for his work. On September 12, police found Someya’s body near a pier in Tokyo Bay. The exact time of his…