Editor charged with “promoting disharmony”
Dear Chief Minister Chamling: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed by last week’s arrest of Rajesh Bhattarai, editor and publisher of the Nepali-language daily Aajo Bholi. Although Bhattarai has been granted interim bail on medical grounds, he must appear by August 31 before a judge in Sikkim’s capital, Gangtok, to face a criminal charge.
Thugs attack local news magazine
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to condemn the recent attack on the office of the magazine Taiwan Next (Taiwan Yi Zhoukan), and to ask your government to ensure that the police investigation into the attack is thorough and professional.
CPJ DOCUMENTS PERSECUTION OF CHINESE JOURNALISTS WHO INVESTIGATE CORRUPTION
New York, August 20, 2001—Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji and other officials have said publicly that Chinese journalists should act as watchdogs over society. In reality, journalists are regularly harassed or threatened and sometimes sent to prison for doing just that. A briefing released today by the Committee to Protect Journalists exposes the subtle, and not-so-subtle,…
Jailed Internet publisher tried in secret
New York, August 16, 2001—Jailed Internet publisher Huang Qi was tried Tuesday, August 14, on charges of subversion, according to CPJ sources in China and the United States. The trial was held in secret in the Chengdu Intermediate Court in Sichuan Province. Family members were not allowed to attend and no verdict or sentencing date…
CPJ welcomes release of Belgian filmmakers held hostage
New York, August 16, 2001—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) welcomes today’s release of Philippe Simon and Johan van Den Eynde, two Belgian documentary filmmakers who were held hostage by a faction of the Free Papua Movement (Organisasi Papua Merdeka, or OPM) for more than two months in the Indonesian province of Irian Jaya, also…
Threatened by separatists, Aceh newspaper suspends publication
New York, August 15, 2001—On August 11, Serambi Indonesia, the largest daily newspaper in Aceh Province, suspended publication under pressure from the separatist Free Aceh Movement (Gerakan Aceh Merdeka, or GAM), CPJ has confirmed. GAM leaders were angered by an article about the massacre of 31 villagers in eastern Aceh that appeared in the August…
Government issues new list of banned media topics
New York, August 10, 2001—CPJ is disturbed by the Chinese government’s recent announcement that publications can be summarily closed down for reporting on any one of seven proscribed topics. The so-called Seven No’s policy was announced August 8 on national television. The banned topics include any criticism of government policies and any reporting that “harms…
Vineet Narain contempt trial postponed
New York, August 10, 2001—Yesterday’s scheduled contempt of court case against journalist Vineet Narain has been postponed due to violence in Jammu and Kashmir State, the trial venue. It is not known when the next hearing will be held. Narain is the founding editor of the New Delhibased investigative journal Kalchakra. He faces contempt charges…