A cease-fire agreement signed in February by the government and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) ushered in a period of relative calm in Sri Lanka after 19 years of war. The LTTE has been fighting for an independent homeland for the country’s ethnic Tamil community, which has suffered discrimination from the Sinhalese…
During 2002, Thailand’s reputation as a regional haven of constitutionally guaranteed free expression was frequently assaulted by the country’s powerful prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, and his political allies. The government booted radio and television programs off the air, threatened Thai journalists with financial investigations and foreign reporters with expulsion, and engaged in angry exchanges with…
The U.S. government took aggressive measures in 2002 to shield some of its activities from press scrutiny. These steps not only reduced access for U.S. reporters but had a global ripple effect, with autocratic leaders citing U.S. government actions to justify repressive policies.
In an effort to contain public dissatisfaction with official corruption and a lack of political reform, Vietnam’s government tightened its already stringent control over the media during 2002. Writers were detained, harassed, placed under tight surveillance, or arrested for expressing independent viewpoints, while authorities targeted those who use the Internet to distribute independent news or…
Dear Governor Ismail Khan: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about the recent assault, detention, and expulsion from Herat of Ahmad Behzad, a reporter for the U.S.- funded Radio Free Afghanistan. On March 19, security agents in the western city of Herat assaulted and detained Behzad after the journalist raised questions about…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about the safety of Shawkat Milton, a reporter for the Bengali-language national daily Janakantha who went into hiding on March 14 after learning that police were about to arrest him. The journalist had been covering campaign abuses committed by officials in the run-up to…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the recent arrest of Nguyen Dan Que, a writer and publisher of the underground magazine The Future. His detention is the latest move in your government’s ongoing crackdown on free expression in Vietnam. On March 17, Que was arrested outside his home in Ho Chi Minh…
New York, March 20, 2003— The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) calls on India’s Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to reverse its earlier decision to deny a certificate to the documentary “Aakrosh,” which prevents the film from being shown publicly. “Aakrosh,” or “Cry of Anguish,” is a 20-minute, Hindi-language documentary that features interviews with…
March 18, 2003, New York—Journalist Jiang Weiping, a recipient of the Committee to Protect Journalist’s (CPJ) 2001 International Press Freedom Award, has had his prison sentence reduced by two years. He could now be eligible for parole in January 2004. In January 2002, the Dalian Intermediate Court sentenced Jiang to eight years in prison on…