New York, October 24, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is outraged by the conviction of Ali Mohaqiq Nasab, editor of the monthly Haqooq-i-Zan (Women’s Rights), on blasphemy charges and the two-year jail sentence handed down by Kabul’s Primary Court on October 22. Judge Ansarullah Malawizada said that his ruling in Nasab’s case was based on…
New York, October 24, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the brazen late-night raid on Kantipur FM’s Kathmandu headquarters on Friday when dozens of armed police officers forcibly entered the radio station, seized control of the studio, and confiscated modems, recorders, and equipment used by the station to transmit programming to the country’s eastern districts.…
New York, October 21, 2005 — The Committee to Protect Journalists deplores the continuing imprisonment of veteran Hong Kong journalist Ching Cheong, who will mark six months in detention on Saturday. Ching, a China correspondent for the Singapore daily The Straits Times, has been held in Beijing without charge or access to a lawyer. “It…
BANGKOK, ThailandAfter Burmese troops fired on democracy demonstrators in August 1988, Aung Zaw, a student who had already been jailed for helping to publish pro-democracy pamphlets, fled into the jungle. Seventeen years later he has yet to return home. Aung Zaw, a pseudonym, is a senior member of a vibrant community of Burmese journalists in…
New York, October 18, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply saddened by the tremendous loss of life in Pakistan, and sends its condolences to the families and colleagues of journalists killed in the earthquake. At least three journalists were killed in the October 8 tragedy and five are unaccounted for. Some 50 journalists have…
This statement is issued by members of the ‘International Press Freedom and Freedom of Expression Mission to Nepal’. We, as members of the ‘International Press Freedom and Freedom of Expression Mission to Nepal’, express our serious concern that HM King Gyanendra, together with the government and security forces, is seeking to further undermine Nepal’s vibrant…
New York, October 17, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns recent violent attacks on the Sri Lankan media and the apparent escalation of the assaults ahead of November’s presidential election. In the most recent incident on Sunday, unidentified men set fire to the printing press of a newspaper group that was critical of the government.…
OCTOBER 16, 2005 October 18, 2005 Sunday Leader, Midweek Leader, IrudinaATTACKED At around 8 p.m., as many as 10 men entered a building in Ratmalana, south of the capital Colombo, where the printing press is housed for the English-language weeklies Sunday Leader and Midweek Leader, and the Sinhala-language weekly Irudina, Sunday Leader Editor-in-Chief Lasantha Wickramatunga…
New York, October 13, 2005 – The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by contempt of court charges filed against two reporters for the Melbourne-based Herald Sun who refused to divulge the source for a report on government plans to cut war veteran benefits. Gerard McManus and Michael Harvey could face jail if convicted.…