New York, January 11, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists applauds the arraignment yesterday of two suspects in the 2001 killing of Philippine radio reporter Rolando Ureta. In a December 21 alert, CPJ called on the government to “vigorously prosecute” the case of the two suspects, Amador Raz and Jessie Ticar, who were arrested separately on…
Dear President Nguyen, The Committee to Protect Journalists is gravely concerned about the November 17 arrest and continued imprisonment of Somsak Khunmi, a long-time news assistant with the Japan- and U.S.-based Chan Troi Moi (Radio New Horizon) radio program.
Dear President Rajapaksa, As your government prepares to withdraw from its 2002 cease-fire agreement with Tamil separatists, the Committee to Protect Journalists is greatly concerned by reports that members of your government have tried to intimidate journalists in the Sri Lankan media in recent weeks. In at least two instances, an official used the word “traitor” against a journalist, which is decidedly inflammatory in a country that has seen civil war rage since 1983.
JANUARY 6, 2008 Posted January 14, 2008 Uthayan, Tamil-language daily THREATENED According to a letter to CPJ from Uthayan’s Managing Director E. Saravanapavan, the paper’s news desk received an anonymous phone call around 10:45 a.m. in which the caller told the paper to cease production or face unspecified consequences. Saravanapavan said the caller spoke in…
JANUARY 4, 2008 Posted January 25, 2008 Zhu Wenna, Faren Zazhi HARASSED/LEGAL ACTION Police and local officials from Xifeng in the northeastern Chinese province of Liaoning traveled nearly 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) to Beijing with a warrant to arrest reporter Zhu Wenna in a defamation case on January 4, according to Reuters and The Washington…
JANUARY 4, 2008 Posted January 18, 2008 The Herald CENSORED Catholic weekly newspaper The Herald was banned from referring to God by the name “Allah” in its Malay-language articles, according to international press reports. Abdullah Mohammed Zain, a minister in the prime minister’s department, reiterated late last year’s ban in a press conference on January…
DECEMBER 31, 2007 Posted January 18, 2008 Muneeza Jahangir, Geo TV ATTACKED, DETAINED According to the Asian Human Rights Commission, Jahangir, a reporter for Geo TV, was filming torn posters and banners of political parties in Lahore. Armed men ordered Jahngir, her sister Sulema, and some of their friends to follow them to the Pakistan…
DECEMBER 27, 2007 Posted January 14, 2008 T. M. G. Chandrasekara, Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation ATTACKED Chandrasekara, news director of the state-run Rupavahini television station, became the center of a dispute when Sri Lankan Labor Minister Mervin Silva and a group of followers entered the station’s Colombo newsroom on December 27 to complain about its…