Asia

New York, October 25, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the recent attack on journalist Hedley Thomas and his family at their home in Brisbane, on the east coast of Australia. Thomas is a reporter with the Courier-Mail, a national daily. At about 10:30 p.m. on October 23, an unidentified gunman fired four shots…

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the brutal murder of Shahid Soomro, a correspondent for the Sindhi-language newspaper Kawish. Pakistani journalists fear that Soomro, who was based in the town of Kandhkot, Sindh Province, was killed in reprisal for his reporting on abuses committed during recent general elections held on October 10.

New York, October 22, 2002—The trial of Internet essayist Le Chi Quang, 32, is scheduled for October 28 in Vietnam’s capital, Hanoi. He is being tried on national security charges, including distribution of “reactionary and subversive documents,” said CPJ sources. Quang was targeted after he wrote a number of essays criticizing government policy. On February…

New York, October 17, 2002–The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) welcomes the release from house arrest of Chen Ziming, a recipient of CPJ’s 1991 International Press Freedom Award, but remains concerned that he has not been given total freedom. On October 10, the 50-year-old formally completed a 13-year sentence for his role in the 1989…

Although Uzbekistan’s president, Islam Karimov, has told the United States that he supports press freedom, old, repressive habits die hard.

New York, October 7, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns yesterday’s attack on the Taipei offices of Next (Yi Zhoukan) magazine. At about 1 p.m. on October 6, at least 10 men stormed the Next offices in Taipei, destroying office equipment and carrying away two computers, according to Taiwanese and international news reports. Three…

New York, October 4, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) welcomes the release late yesterday of Philippine journalists Carlo Lorenzo and Gilbert Ordiales, who were held captive for five days while reporting on the southern island of Jolo, in Sulu Province. CPJ remains, however, deeply concerned about allegations made by Lorenzo that members of the…

New York, October 2, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is concerned about the safety of television reporter Carlo Lorenzo and cameraman Gilbert Ordiales, who went missing on the southern island of Jolo, Sulu Province, on September 28. CPJ fears that the journalists may have been kidnapped. Lorenzo and Ordiales, who work for GMA television…

Dear Secretary Rumsfeld: The Committee to Protect Journalists is writing to express concern about the reported detention without charge of Sami Muhieddine Muhammad al-Haj, a 33-year-old assistant cameraman for the Qatar-based satellite television network Al-Jazeera.