Attacks on the Press 2001: Asia Analysis
Journalists across Asia faced extraordinary pressures in 2001. Risks included reporting on war and insurgency, covering crime and corruption, or simply expressing a dissenting view in an authoritarian state. CPJ’s two most striking indices of press freedom are the annual toll of journalists killed around the world and our list of journalists imprisoned at the…
Attacks on the Press 2001: Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka’s mettlesome media endured another year of extraordinary political volatility. Although the administration of President Chandrika Kumaratunga finally lifted onerous censorship regulations and eased restrictions preventing journalists from reporting fully on the country’s long-running civil war, journalists were still routinely threatened and harassed for their reporting. Impunity for crimes against journalists continued to be…
Journalist’s assailants sentenced to nine years imprisonment
New York, February 8, 2002 — The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) welcomes yesterday’s decision by a Colombo High Court judge to sentence two Air Forces officers to nine years in prison for their role in a nighttime raid on the home of Iqbal Athas, the award-winning defense correspondent for The Sunday Times. The raid,…
State media launch smear campaign against Tamil journalist
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about the security of Dharmeratnam Sivaram, veteran journalist and editor of the TamilNet Web site. Over the past two weeks, state media have featured articles accusing Sivaram of being a spy for the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)–a charge that seriously endangers him and his family.
CPJ welcomes lifting of censorship, urges press access to conflict areas
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) welcomes your decision to lift censorship restrictions on the Sri Lankan media. We hope that your administration will now work to lift other obstacles that prevent reporting on the country’s long-running civil war.
CPJ welcomes lifting of censorship, urges press access to conflict areas
New York, June 6, 2001 — In a letter sent today to Sri Lankan president Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, CPJ welcomed her government’s recent decision to lift censorship restrictions on the Sri Lankan media. The letter also urged the president to lift access restrictions that still impede reporting on the country’s long-running civil war. In addition…
CPJ condemns smoke bomb attack on weekly paper
New York, May 25, 2001 — The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the recent smoke bomb attack on the Sinhala-language weekly newspaper Ravaya, and urges the government to issue a prompt and full report on the status of the police investigation that is now underway. “Attacks against journalists in Sri Lanka are occurring with…
Government Threatens to Impose Additional Restrictions on Foreign Correspondents
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,…
Sri Lanka: Reporter threatened after covering alleged rape of jailed Tamil women
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.