Asia

  

Dozens of journalists arrested in Nepal

New York, June 8, 2005—Riot police in the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu, today arrested dozens of journalists who were protesting the government’s emergency press restrictions and proposed media law amendments that are expected to codify and stiffen those constraints. Local sources said police detained as many as 50 journalists, including the president of the Federation of…

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NEPAL

JUNE 3, 2005 Posted: June 15, 2005 Bikram Giri, Kantipur ABDUCTED Maoist rebels abducted Giri on June 3 while he was traveling near the village of Changru in the far western Darchula district, according to Kantipur. Giri was released June 10 after the Federation of Nepalese Journalists appealed to the Maoists.

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NEPAL

JUNE 3, 2005 Posted: June 9, 2005 Nepal Telecom Company ATTACKED Armed Maoist rebels destroyed a telecommunication tower in Chinchu in the Midwestern district of Surkhet by detonating a pipe bomb late at night, according to local press accounts. Local phone service has been disrupted.

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Violence against the press on the rise

New York, June 2, 2005—Police, political leaders, and criminals violently attacked over a dozen journalists in five separate incidents across Bangladesh in recent days. On May 26, a criminal gang attacked Manunur Rashid Rabi, correspondent for the daily Nayadiganto, in the eastern town of Gangni, police said. The attack was in retaliation for his articles…

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Journalists fight FM radio crackdown

New York, June 2, 2005 – The director of a recently banned radio production and distribution company filed a legal challenge with Nepal’s Supreme Court, inspiring local radio journalists to protest. In his May 30 petition to the court, Communication Corner Director Gopal Guragain said that the government’s May 27 ban was an illegal effort…

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AFGHANISTAN

JUNE 2005 Posted: June 21, 2005 Sayed Sulaiman Ashna, Tolo TV Massood Qiam, Tolo TV Shakeb Isaar, Tolo TV THREATENED A series of threats were made against Afghan journalists at the popular private television station Tolo TV in the capital, Kabul.

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PHILIPPINES

JUNE 2005 Posted: July 21, 2005 Jose Jaime Espina, ABS-CBN THREATENED Espina, a contributor to the online news site ABS-CBN Interactive and chairman of the Correspondents, Broadcasters and Reporters Association-Action News Service, or COBRA-ANS, received threatening messages on his mobile phone in late June, according to local journalists.

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New accusation extends jail time without trial forNew York Times researcher

New York, June 1, 2005 ­ Police have leveled a new accusation at imprisoned New York Times researcher Zhao Yan, which permits Chinese authorities to continue holding him for an additional unspecified period of months. Zhao, who was formally arrested in October 2004 under suspicion of leaking state secrets, is now accused of fraud, police…

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CHINA

MAY 31, 2005 Posted: June 7, 2005 Ching Cheong, Straits Times IMPRISONED The Chinese Foreign Ministry revealed that it had detained senior Hong Kong-based journalist on suspicion of espionage. In a statement released to reporters and published in international news reports, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced that it had been holding Ching since April 22…

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China detains senior Hong Kong journalist

New York, May 31, 2005 ­The Chinese Foreign Ministry revealed today that it has detained senior Hong Kong-based journalist Ching Cheong on suspicion of espionage. In a statement released to reporters and published in international news reports, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced that it has been holding Ching since April 22 and that the journalist…

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