Dear Mr. President: We are writing to express our concern over the lack of progress in the police investigation into the brutal murder of journalist Francis Kainda Nyaruri. In January, CPJ urged the police to investigate Nyaruri’s murder, whose slashed and decapitated body was found January 29 in Kodere Forest near his hometown of Nyamira.
Dear Mr. President: We are writing to express concern about a series of death threats aimed at independent journalists that have referenced the unsolved murder of investigative journalist Norbert Zongo in 1998. We call on you to ensure that the government thoroughly investigates these threats and protect the well-being of all journalists.
Dear Prime Minister Dahal: On December 29, your government signed an agreement with local press freedom group the Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ), ending a week of protest by journalists against a series of attacks on media outlets which peaked in late December. That agreement promised that those attacks would be addressed.
Dear Prime Minister: The decision to form a unified government in Zimbabwe has created a welcome opportunity to address oppressive government decrees and media laws that have long stifled press freedom. Your party, the Movement for Democratic Change, has long made freedom of the press a central policy and you have repeatedly stated your aspirations to privatize the state-controlled media.
Dear members of the Canada-Africa Parliamentary Association: Having learned of your coming visit to Tunisia, the Committee to Protect Journalists wishes to bring to your attention the Tunisian government’s unrelenting harassment of independent journalists and its routine use of plainclothes police and the judiciary to retaliate against critical voices.
Dear sirs: On Monday, your representatives will participate in the U.N. Human Rights Council’s first review of China’s human rights record. As part of the review, countries are required to submit their questions in advance, and CPJ welcomes your questioning of China’s press freedom record.
Dear Mr. President: We write to object to the accusations that you and other high-ranking members of your government made this week linking Colombian journalist Hollman Morris to the leftist guerrilla group Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC). These serious allegations endanger the life of the journalist and jeopardize press freedom in your country.
Dear President Medvedev: CPJ is outraged by the January 19 murder of Anastasiya Baburova, the 25-year-old freelance correspondent for the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta who was gunned down in broad daylight in downtown Moscow, along with human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov.
Dear Prime Minister Olmert: Since the Israeli military campaign began last month, international journalists have been denied independent access to Gaza. With the declaration of a cease-fire, we urge your government to immediately lift the ban and allow international journalists to independently report on events in Gaza.