New York, May 29, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed by a recent series of sniper attacks in which unknown gunmen have targeted journalists in Aceh, a conflict-riven province on the northwestern tip of the Indonesian archipelago. We are also gravely concerned by mounting evidence of a systematic effort by Indonesian security forces…
New York, May 28, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns today’s sentencing of Internet journalists Xu Wei, Jin Haike, Yang Zili, and Zhang Honghai. This morning, the Beijing Intermediate Court sentenced Xu Wei and Jin Haike to ten years in prison on subversion charges, according to the New York-based advocacy group Human Rights in…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed by the efforts of Indonesian military authorities in Aceh to control press coverage of the conflict there. Your government declared martial law in Aceh effective at midnight on Monday, May 19, beginning a massive military offensive to crush the separatist Free Aceh Movement, known by its Indonesian acronym as GAM. On May 20, Maj. Gen. Endang Suwarya, the military commander and head of the martial law administration in Aceh, warned journalists that they should neither report on statements issued by GAM leaders nor carry news that supports the separatist cause. “There should be no reports from GAM and no reports that praise GAM,” Suwarya said, according to the Agence France-Presse news agency.
New York, May 22, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the sentencing of South Korean free-lance photojournalist Jae Hyun Seok to two years in prison. Today, a court in Yantai, Shandong Province, sentenced Seok, who works regularly for The New York Times and South Korea’s Geo magazine, to a two-year prison term on charges…
New York, May 21, 2003—Atahar Siddik Khasru, a reporter for the national Bengali-language daily Ittefaq who had been missing for three weeks, was found early this morning by a village roadside, his hands and feet bound by heavy chains secured with a padlock. A villager spotted Khasru’s body at around 5:30 a.m. and alerted local…
New York, May 21, 2003—On May 17, free-lance journalist Jiang Qisheng was released from prison after completing his four-year prison term. Jiang was arrested on May 18, 1999, after writing a series of essays and petitions marking the 10th anniversary of the June 4, 1989, military crackdown on peaceful protesters in the capital, Beijing. On…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the recent murder of radio announcer Apolinario “Polly” Pobeda in Lucena City, Quezon Province. We call for a swift and thorough investigation into the killing and for those responsible to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
New York, May 20, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) today sent a letter of inquiry to Philippine president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo requesting that authorities investigate the murder of radio announcer Apolinario “Polly” Pobeda and attacks on several other journalists. Pobeda was shot by unidentified assailants on Saturday, May 17 as he rode his motorcycle…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the five-year sentence recently handed down to Internet publisher Huang Qi. The court has long delayed the verdict, which comes nearly three years after Huang’s arrest, compounding a case of grave injustice.
Dear Major General Tellefsen: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to draw your attention to a death threat issued last week against journalist Ponniah Manikavasagam, a correspondent for the Tamil-language daily Virakesari who contributes regularly to the BBC. Manikavasagam lives in the town of Vavuniya and covers news across Sri Lanka’s northern region.