New York, August 6, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the recent arrest of Burmese documentary filmmaker Lazing La Htoi, who was detained on July 27 in Myitkyina, the capital of the northern Kachin State, for filming and distributing footage of extreme flooding that hit the region in late July. La Htoi shot footage…
New York, July 26, 2004—Journalist Tha Ban, a former editor at Kyemon newspaper and a prominent pro-democracy activist, was released from Insein Prison in the capital, Rangoon, on July 12 after serving more than six years of his seven-year prison sentence. According to the BBC, he was released from prison after signing a pledge not…
New York, May 18, 2004—The death sentence of Burmese editor Zaw Thet Htway, who was convicted of high treason along with eight others in November 2003, was reduced to a three-year prison term on May 12 by Burma’s Supreme Court. Htway, editor of the sports magazine First Eleven, has been detained since July 17, 2003,…
There were 138 journalists in prison around the world at the end of 2003 who were jailed for practicing their profession. The number is the same as last year. An analysis of the reasons behind this is contained in the introduction on page 10. At the beginning of 2004, CPJ sent letters of inquiry to…
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…
The vicious murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Pakistan focused international attention on the dangers faced by journalists covering the U.S. “war on terror,” yet most attacks on journalists in Asia happened far from the eyes of the international press. In countries such as Bangladesh and the Philippines, reporters covering crime and…
Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s release from 19 months of house arrest on May 6 did nothing to improve conditions for the media in one of the world’s most repressive countries. More than seven months after the Nobel Peace Prize laureate was freed with the help of a U.N. special rapporteur, the ruling State…
Shortly after U.S. president George W. Bush arrived in South Korea’s capital, Seoul, in February 2002 for a state visit, the North Korean state news agency, KCNA, reported a miracle: that a cloud in the shape of a Kimjongilia, the flower named after the country’s leader, Kim Jong Il, had appeared over North Korea. “Even…
New York, July 24, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is gravely concerned about the deteriorating health of imprisoned journalist U Win Tin, one of Burma’s most prominent political prisoners. A former editor-in-chief of the daily Hanthawati and vice-chairman of Burma’s Writers Association, U Win Tin, 73, is currently serving the 13th year of a…