New York, August 31, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the decision today of an Apple Computer subcontractor in China to reduced its demand for punitive libel damages against two journalists who investigated alleged labor abuses. The company, which makes iPods in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, also asked a local court to unfreeze…
New York, August 31, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the criminal defamation trial of Indonesian journalist Teguh Santosa, who faces charges of defaming Islam by posting online controversial cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. State prosecutors outlined the criminal charges, which under Indonesia’s penal code carry a possible five years in prison, at the trial’s…
New York, August 30, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the filing of a defamation suit and the freezing of the assets of two journalists who investigated alleged labor abuses by a maker of Apple iPods in China. A subsidiary of Foxconn Technology Co. Ltd of Taiwan is suing reporter Wang You and…
New York, August 30, 2006—The teenage brother of a BBC correspondent was found murdered today in South Waziristan, a violent and lawless tribal region along Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan. Taimor Khan, 16, brother of Dilawar Wazir, an Urdu language reporter for the BBC, was abducted in the town of Wana on his way home from…
New York, August 30, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release today of Sri Lankan radio producer Nadaraja Guruparan, who was abducted by gunmen in the capital, Colombo, early Tuesday. Guruparan said he was held for about 20 hours by kidnappers who had forced him out of his car as he drove to work…
New York, August 30, 2006—Writer Pham Hong Son was freed from prison today several months ahead of his scheduled release, but he faces three years of restricted movements and government surveillance, his wife told reporters. Son, a medical doctor who spent more than four years in prison after posting pro-democracy writings online, was included in…
New York, August 29, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by reports that veteran Sri Lankan journalist Nadarajah Guruparan is missing and feared abducted in Colombo today. The Free Media Movement, a local press group, reported that Guruparan, a producer, left for work at the privately owned Tamil-language radio station Sooriyan, or Sun…
New York, August 28, 2006—A Vietnamese government spokesman said today that Internet writer Pham Hong Son, who has been jailed for more than four years, would be included in an amnesty of more than 5,000 prisoners. The announcement at a Hanoi press conference comes as Vietnam seeks accession to the World Trade Organization and follows…
New York. August 25, 2006—The prosecution of New York Times researcher Zhao Yan, which ended today in a mixed verdict, reflects Chinese authorities’ ongoing efforts to intimidate journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Zhao, detained since 2004, was acquitted on charges of revealing state secrets but convicted of a lesser count of fraud…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is troubled by Vietnam’s treatment of journalists, including the recent harassment of independent writers, new fines for unauthorized reporting, and heightened Internet restrictions. These measures threaten the development of a transparent government and active press, and invite international scrutiny as Vietnam bids for accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) this fall.