New York, June 2, 2004—Sami Yousafzai, a stringer for Newsweek, was released without charge from prison today by local authorities in Miran Shah, the capital of the North Waziristan Agency near the Pakistani-Afghan border, according to local journalists. Mohamed Salim, a driver hired by Yousafzai and arrested with him, was also released. On April 21,…
New York, June 1, 2004—Aiyathurai Nadesan, a veteran Tamil journalist, was shot and killed on Monday, May 31, by unidentified assailants in Batticaloa, a town on the eastern coast of Sri Lanka and 135 miles (216 kilometers) from the capital, Colombo, according to international news reports and local journalists. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)…
May 27, 2004, New York, NY—Former Hong Kong radio host and delegate to the Chinese legislature Allen Lee told members of Hong Kong’s Legislative Council today that he quit both posts last week after being pressured by Beijing officials because of his support for democracy on-air. Lee announced his resignation from both posts on May…
New York, May 27, 2004—Nguyen Vu Binh, an imprisoned journalist who went on a hunger strike on May 5 after his conviction on espionage charges was upheld on appeal, has ended his strike and is suffering from ill health, according to CPJ sources and Agence France-Presse. Binh’s wife, Biu Thi Kim Ngan, was allowed to…
Your Majesty: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about the detentions of three journalists in western Nepal: Dhaniram Tharu and Maheshwar Pahari, who have been missing for several months; and Khadga Bahadur Swar, known as K.B. Jumli, whom local authorities arrested on April 4.
New York, May 21, 2004—Nguyen Vu Binh, an imprisoned journalist who has been on a hunger strike since May 5, was moved from the Hoa Lo Moi Prison in the capital, Hanoi, to the Ba Sao Prison in Ha Nam Province, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Hanoi, on or around May 18, according to…
New York, May 18, 2004—The death sentence of Burmese editor Zaw Thet Htway, who was convicted of high treason along with eight others in November 2003, was reduced to a three-year prison term on May 12 by Burma’s Supreme Court. Htway, editor of the sports magazine First Eleven, has been detained since July 17, 2003,…
New York, May 18, 2004—Prominent Chinese Internet writer Du Daobin went on trial today at the Intermediate People’s Court in Xiaogan, a city in the central Hubei Province, on subversion charges, according to international news reports. Du’s lawyer, Mo Shaoping, was only notified about the trial on Friday, May 14, and was therefore unable to…