New York, January 25, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by a continuing crackdown on free expression in China. The Communist Party management of the Beijing-based China Youth Daily scrapped the paper’s influential supplement, Bing Dian (Freezing Point), on Tuesday amid a dispute with editors known for challenging free-expression boundaries. And the U.S.-based Internet…
New York, January 25, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the three-year jail sentence given to Chinese journalist Li Changqing on Tuesday. The Gulou district court in southern China’s Fuzhou city convicted Li of “spreading false and alarmist information,” defense lawyer Mo Shaoping told CPJ. The charge was linked to an article published on the…
New York, January 24, 2006— The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomed the decision by Prime Minister Hun Sen Tuesday to drop criminal defamation charges against journalists Mom Sonando, Kem Sokha, and Pa Guon Tieng. The three were released on bail on January 18 after being jailed for criticizing a new border treaty with Vietnam. Similar…
New York, January 24, 2006—An unidentified gunman killed Tamil journalist Subramaniyam Sugitharajah as the reporter was on his way to work this morning in the eastern port town of Trincomalee. Colleagues believe he was killed for his journalism. The Committee to Protect Journalists, which is investigating the motive for the attack, called on Norwegian peace…
New York, January 23, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the detention on Sunday of Khem Bhandari, editor and publisher of the daily newspaper Abhiyan in the western city of Mahendranagar. The government gave no reason for Bhandari’s arrest. Shyam Shrestha, editor of the monthly magazine Mulyankan who was detained last Wednesday in Kathmandu, remained…
New York, January 23, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists appealed today to Pakistani authorities to answer inquiries about the fate of abducted reporter Hayatullah Khan and to stop harassing journalists in the tribal areas. On the eve of a White House meeting between Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and U.S. President George W. Bush, CPJ…
New York, January 23, 2006— The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Philippine authorities to fully investigate the killing of newspaper columnist Graciano Aquino, who was shot by unidentified gunmen on Saturday. Aquino was shot twice in the back of the neck at a cockfight in the town of Morong, 52 miles (84 kilometers) north…
New York, January 20, 2006—Unidentified gunmen killed radio broadcaster and political publicist Rolly Cañete today in the southern Philippine city of Pagadian. The Committee to Protect Journalists is investigating whether he was killed in connection with his work as a journalist International news reports said the attackers fled on a motorcycle. Police are investigating the…
New York, January 19, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the long jail sentences given to two journalists who reported on rural unrest in China’s southeast province of Zhejiang. Zhu Wanxiang and Wu Zhengyou were convicted of illegal publishing, fraud, and extortion after covering land disputes, and sentenced on January 17. “We are deeply concerned…