Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about the safety of American free-lance journalist William Nessen, who is traveling with separatist rebels in the restive Indonesian province of Aceh, where a massive military campaign is underway. The group Nessen is with has come under direct attack from Indonesian government soldiers, and his life is currently at great risk.
Your Excellencies, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about the safety of journalists working in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), an area currently under the control of your Congolese Rally For Democracy (RCD-Goma) movement. Recently, one journalist was attacked and another was detained in reprisal for their work.
Dear Mr. Chairman: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an independent, nonpartisan organization dedicated to defending press freedom worldwide, is very concerned about a bill, titled “On Amendments and Addendums Brought into Certain Legislative Acts,” currently under consideration in the Russian Parliament. The bill, which is scheduled for a second–and possibly final–reading in the lower house of the Duma on June 11, seeks to strengthen state regulation over independent media outlets, particularly their coverage of election campaigns.
Your Royal Highness: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is concerned by the dismissal this week of Jamal Khashoggi from his job as editor of the Saudi daily Al-Watan. On May 27, the government removed Khashoggi from his post without explanation, according to international media reports. His dismissal came in response to Al-Watan’s provocative editorial…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed by the efforts of Indonesian military authorities in Aceh to control press coverage of the conflict there. Your government declared martial law in Aceh effective at midnight on Monday, May 19, beginning a massive military offensive to crush the separatist Free Aceh Movement, known by its Indonesian acronym as GAM. On May 20, Maj. Gen. Endang Suwarya, the military commander and head of the martial law administration in Aceh, warned journalists that they should neither report on statements issued by GAM leaders nor carry news that supports the separatist cause. “There should be no reports from GAM and no reports that praise GAM,” Suwarya said, according to the Agence France-Presse news agency.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply disturbed by the recent jailing of Melese Shine, editor-in-chief of the Amharic-language weekly Ethiop. Another journalist, Tewodros Kassa, the former editor-in-chief of Ethiop, has been imprisoned since May 2002. Shine was charged with defamation under Ethiopia’s Press Proclamation No. 34/1992 after a letter to the…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the recent murder of radio announcer Apolinario “Polly” Pobeda in Lucena City, Quezon Province. We call for a swift and thorough investigation into the killing and for those responsible to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the five-year sentence recently handed down to Internet publisher Huang Qi. The court has long delayed the verdict, which comes nearly three years after Huang’s arrest, compounding a case of grave injustice.