Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply disturbed by widespread instances of violence and intimidation directed against both foreign and local journalists during the period surrounding the August 30 referendum on the future of East Timor. In the course of the last week alone, CPJ has documented numerous cases in which journalists were singled out for attack. The vast majority of the incidents were apparently committed by pro-Jakarta militias backed by the Indonesian military.
Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply troubled by the recent deportation of American journalist Amy Goodman, who was stopped at Bali’s Ngurah Rai international airport while en route to East Timor to cover the territory’s August 30 vote on independence. Goodman’s expulsion directly contradicts your administration’s pledges to lift restrictions on foreign journalists, and to ensure that international observers, including media representatives, are allowed free access to East Timor during the historic referendum.
Dear Ms. Cooper, I wish to refer to your letter dated July 15 1999, concerning the unexpected act of intimidation against the Thai Post newspaper by Deputy Prime Minister Trairong Suwankiri’s private secretary during the night of Tuesday 13 July 1999. We have brought your concerns to the attentions of HE Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai and I have subsequently been asked to make the following clarification regarding the Government’s position:
August 2, 1999 Secretariat of the Prime Minister Government Spokesman Bureau Government House Bangkok 10300 Dear Ms. Cooper, I wish to refer to your letter dated July 15 1999, concerning the unexpected act of intimidation against the Thai Postnewspaper by Deputy Prime Minister Trairong Suwankiri’s private secretary during the night of Tuesday 13 July 1999.
August 12, 1999 His Excellency Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie President, Republic of Indonesia Office of the President Bina Graha, Jalan Veteran No. 17 Jakarta Pusat, Indonesia Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned over the recent firebomb attack against Sjamsul Kahar, chief editor of the Aceh-based, Indonesian-language daily newspaper Serambi Indonesia and chairman…
August 9, 1999 His Excellency Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie President, Republic of Indonesia Office of the President Bina Graha, Jalan Veteran No. 17 Jakarta Pusat, Indonesia Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is gravely concerned over last week’s brutal murder of Supriadi, a reporter based in Aceh Province who was working for the Indonesian-language…
Booker Prize-winning author Arundhati Roy is not yet out of the woods. On July 29, the Supreme Court postponed deciding whether to initiate contempt of court proceedings against Roy for publishing a highly critical essay about the social and environmental costs of Gujarat’s Sardar Sarovar dam, part of an ambitious irrigation and hydroelectric project along…
July 28, 1999 His Excellency Atal Behari Vajpayee Prime Minister of India Office of the Prime Minister South Block New Delhi 110 011, India Fax: 011-91-11-301-6857 Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned by the latest efforts to suppress discussion of the social and environmental costs of Gujarat’s Sardar Sarovar dam…
María Cristina Caballero, Colombia In July of 1997, I covered a terrible massacre in the town of Mapirip‡n. Right wing paramilitaries cut many of the inhabitants into pieces during five days. As I was leaving, a very old man without shoes ran to me and said, “Wait! Wait!” He told me, “All of my sons…