New York, May 14, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the harassment and detention of several Pakistani journalists in connection with the Tuesday, May 11, return of exiled politician Shahbaz Sharif to Lahore. Zaffar Abbas, a producer with the BBC, and Ali Faisal Zaidi, a cameraman with the BBC, accompanied Sharif on his flight…
New York, May 11, 2004—Freelance journalist Liu Shui has been sentenced to two years’ administrative detention in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province. CPJ is very concerned that authorities may have arrested Liu in retaliation for his recent writing on sensitive political topics. On May 2, police in Shenzhen detained Liu and a friend on charges of “soliciting…
New York, May 11, 2004—Police officers beat and detained journalists who were covering a student-organized mock political referendum on May 7 in Butwal, a town about 174 miles (280 kilometers) southwest of the capital, Kathmandu. The demonstration was held as part of ongoing protests against King Gyanendra’s assumption of executive powers, which occurred after the…
New York, May 6, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is gravely concerned about jailed Vietnamese journalist Nguyen Vu Binh, who is currently on a hunger strike. On May 5, the Supreme People’s Court in the capital, Hanoi, rejected Binh’s appeal and upheld his seven-year sentence on charges of espionage. Following the announcement of the…
New York, May 4, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned by yesterday’s police raid on the home of Dharmeratnam Sivaram, a veteran journalist and columnist, in Colombo, Sri Lanka’s capital. Sivaram edits Tamilnet (www.tamilnet.com), an online news service that covers Sri Lankan affairs with special emphasis on news of interest to the…
May 3, 2004, New York—On Wednesday, May 5, the Supreme People’s Court in Vietnam’s capital, Hanoi, will hear the appeal of journalist Nguyen Vu Binh, who is currently serving a seven-year sentence on charges of espionage. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) calls for his immediate release and for all charges against him to be…