Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed by your government’s ban on the April 4 edition of the Hong Kongbased weekly Far Eastern Economic Review. The cover story of the edition, “Bangladesh: Cocoon of Terror,” described the country as besieged by “Islamic fundamentalism, religious intolerance, militant Muslim groups with links to international terrorist groups, a powerful military with ties to the militants, the mushrooming of Islamic schools churning out radical students, middle-class apathy, poverty and lawlessness.”
New York, April 11, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by yesterday’s assault on Ebadullah Ebadi, a translator and assistant working for the Boston Globe. Ebadi was attacked by Afghan fighters working with U.S. Special Forces in Soroobi, a district roughly 45 miles (70 kilometers) east of the capital, Kabul. The assault occurred within…
New York, April 9, 2002–The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the detention of Li Yanling, wife of Jiang Weiping, imprisoned journalist and recipient of CPJ’s 2001 International Press Freedom Award. On March 18, Li was detained after being called in for questioning by security officials in Dalian, where the couple live, according to CPJ…
New York, April 8, 2002—CPJ is gravely concerned about the safety of journalist Demling Lama, who was abducted on April 5 by armed Maoist rebels, according to sources in Nepal. Lama is the correspondent in the Sindhupalchok District for both Radio Nepal and the national Nepali-language daily Himalaya Times. At some time during the morning…
New York, April 5, 2002—The trial of four suspects accused in the kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl began today at Karachi’s Central Jail, and was closed to the public and the media. Chief prosecutor Raja Qureshi said that “journalists have not been allowed because of security and the sensitivity of…
New York April 4, 2002—CPJ commends the efforts of Pakistani authorities to apprehend and prosecute the killers of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. The trial of four men charged with the journalist’s kidnapping and murder is scheduled to begin tomorrow, April 5. Seven others accused in the case remain at large. “Around the world,…
Your Excellency: CPJ is gravely concerned by the recent physical assault against Yang Wei, a photographer for the Chinese-language daily Jinghua Shibao (Beijing Times). Yang was working undercover to investigate reports of mismanagement and unfair pricing at a Beijing property management company called Zhongchuang. The investigation focused on Zhongchuang’s management of the Shiliu Yuan Estates in Beijing’s Fengtai District.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) appreciates your rapid response to our protest letter about the Taiwanese government’s recent attempt to censor news reports on the basis of national security concerns.
There were 118 journalists in prison around the world at the end of 2001 who were jailed for practicing their profession. The number is up significantly from the previous year, when 81 journalists were in jail, and represents a return to the level of 1998, when 118 were also imprisoned.
By Anne Garrels ON NOVEMBER 19, 2001, I was at the border negotiating with officials to get across into Afghanistan. There was suddenly an unexplained problem, yet journalists arriving from Afghanistan said they had no trouble along the way. I was frustrated. None of us knew that a caravan of our colleagues had just been…