Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply disturbed by the recent murder of Withayut Sangsopit, a radio journalist and commentator who was gunned down on April 10 in the southern city of Surat Thani. While we are pleased that arrests have been made in the case, we trust Your Excellency will urge local prosecutors to pursue charges vigorously against the arrested men.
New York, April 19, 2001 — The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed by the Singapore Parliament’s passage today of a bill designed to curb foreign broadcasters’ coverage of local issues. The new law, which gives the government broad power to restrict or suspend broadcasters for “engaging in domestic politics,” is expected to take…
New York, April 17, 2001 —The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about the injuries suffered by Marie Colvin, an award-winning American journalist who works for the British newspaper The Sunday Times. Colvin, who was caught yesterday in a skirmish between rebel forces and government troops, received four shrapnel wounds in her head,…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about the security of A.S.M. Fasmi, a reporter for the Tamil-language newspaper Thinakkural. Fasmi, who is based on the northern island of Mannar, says he has been detained, interrogated, and threatened repeatedly with death since he reported on the alleged rape of two Tamil women detained by local security forces last month.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) requests information about the status of the investigation into the murder of Mylvaganam Nimalarajan, a Jaffna-based journalist who was killed in October 2000. Nimalarajan covered the civil war for various news organizations, including the BBC’s Tamil and Sinhala-language services, the Tamil-language daily Virakesari, and the Sinhala-language weekly Ravaya.
New York, March 27, 2001 — CPJ is investigating the January murder of Roland Ureta, program director of the radio station dyKR, an affiliate of the Radio Mindanao Network. Ureta was gunned down on the night of January 3, when two motorcycle-riding men waylaid him en route from Kalibo, the capital of Aklan Province, to…
New York, March 21, 2001 — CPJ welcomes last week’s release of Krishna Sen, editor of the leftist Nepali-language weekly Janadesh. Sen had been imprisoned for nearly two years on charges that were never proven in court. Nepalese authorities twice flouted Supreme Court orders for his release by secretly transferring him to a different jail…
EIGHTY-ONE JOURNALISTS WERE IN PRISON AROUND THE WORLD at the end of 2000, jailed for practicing their profession. The number is down slightly from the previous year, when 87 were in jail, and represents a significant decline from 1998, when 118 journalists were imprisoned. While jailing journalists can be an effective means of stifling bad…
By Peter ArnettSHE STOOD DEFIANTLY IN THE CRAMPED QUARTERS OF ISTANBUL’S BEYOGLU CRIMINAL COURT at high noon of a hot midsummer day. The slight, dark-haired Nadire Mater had a message for the court and for the two dozen Turkish reporters and photographers who had gathered to hear her. “The truth is plain to see. Banning…