Your Majesty: Nearly 100 days after Your Majesty dismissed the government and curtailed civil liberties, press freedom has not been restored. Your Majesty has not lifted a ban on reporting that goes “against the letter and spirit” of your February 1 proclamation. A ban on FM radio news broadcasting remains in place, depriving rural citizens of their only source of independent news. And your government continues to harass and intimidate journalists.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the harsh 10-year prison sentence handed to journalist Shi Tao on charges of “illegally providing state secrets to foreigners” after an unfair trial last week. Shi plans to submit an appeal in advance of a May 10 deadline. We call on authorities to drop the state secrets charge against him, which your government has used with disturbing frequency to imprison journalists, and to ensure Shi’s immediate and unconditional release.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply troubled by the ongoing harassment of acclaimed poet and freelance radio journalist Liu Hongbin. Liu, who lives in exile in the United Kingdom, has been banned from returning to China to visit his mother, who has fallen seriously ill.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned about attacks on press freedom in the autonomous Puntland region of northeast Somalia, of which you were elected president by the region’s parliament in January. They include the arrests of two journalists from the weekly newspaper Shacab (Voice of the People) in the town of Garowe; threats to close that newspaper; plans to introduce identity cards for all journalists; and attempts to censor radio coverage of sensitive political issues.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned about the ongoing detention of three Yemeni media support staff, who have been held without charge since early this month. On April 3, Yemeni authorities detained freelance reporters James Brandon and Shane Bauer; bothers Munif Damesh and Munaf Damesh, who were working as fixers; and their uncle, Naif Damesh, who was working as the driver. The five men were detained at an army checkpoint while leaving the northern Yemeni city of Saada, where they had been reporting on fighting between the Yemeni army and fighters loyal to rebel Badreddine al-Hawthi. They were then taken to the offices of Yemen’s Political Security Organization in the capital Sanaa.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is writing to express deep concern about the case of Mordechai Vanunu, a former Israeli nuclear technician recently charged with violating government restrictions that bar him from speaking with the foreign press. These punitive measures against Vanunu threaten freedom of the press by inhibiting news coverage of an issue of vital concern.
Your Majesty: In the Royal Proclamation of February 1, Your Majesty dismissed the government, declared a state of emergency and curtailed civil liberties. In early February, we visited Nepal’s ambassador to the United States, Kedar Bhakta Shrestha, who assured us that restrictions on the press were temporary and that Your Majesty was committed to democracy and free expression.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned about the continued detention of Abdirisak Ahmed Absuge, editor of www.guulane.com, the official Web site of faction leader Mohamed Dhere. According to local sources, Absuge was arrested on March 5 in the district of Jawhar, where Dhere is chairman of the self-appointed administration.