Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is outraged by the continued detention of Internet publisher Huang Qi, who was arrested on June 3, 2000, and today completes two years in prison. Although Huang was secretly tried on August 14, 2001, authorities have not yet delivered a verdict in his case. In October 1998, Huang Qi and his wife, Zeng Li, launched Tianwang Web site (www.6-4tianwang.com), a missing-persons search service based in Chengdu, Sichuan Province.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the recent attack on Nazmul Imam, Kushtia correspondent for the national Bengali-language daily Manavzamin. We call for an immediate and thorough investigation into this incident. At approximately 1:30 a.m. on May 28 about five men stopped Imam’s rickshaw as he was on his way home in Kushtia. According to several Bangladeshi and international news reports, after the men brandished knives, Imam gave them his wallet and cell phone. When he then tried to run away, one of the men shouted, “Catch the journalist.”
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release from government custody of three leading Nigerois journalists who were arrested and detained on charges of defaming government officials. However, CPJ strongly condemns the criminal prosecution of journalists for their work.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply disturbed by today’s arrest of Tara Neupane, a columnist for the Nepali-language weekly Sanghu. At around 3:30 p.m., plainclothes officers arrived at the Kathmandu district office of the Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) and took Neupane into custody. He is being held at the Kathmandu Valley police office at Ratna Park, according to the FNJ.
Your Majesty: The Committee to Protect Journalists is writing to protest the 18-month prison sentence handed down yesterday against Toujan al-Faisal, a writer and former member of Jordan’s Parliament. A State Security Court in Amman convicted al-Faisal of publishing “false information abroad,” “harming the dignity of the state and undermining the reputation of the state and its individuals,” and “incitement to unrest,” a source at the hearing told CPJ.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about the detention of Amardeep Bassey, investigations editor for the British newspaper The Sunday Mercury, and his two Pakistani guides, Naoshad Ali Afridi and Khitab Shah Shinwari. Pakistani officials have told journalists that Bassey is being held on suspicion of espionage.
Your Excellency: Joel Simon and I enjoyed the opportunity to meet with you and Ambassador Rashid Alimov on April 19 to discuss press freedom conditions in Tajikistan. We very much appreciate Your Excellency’s commitment to review a letter from us outlining our concerns and a number of press freedom cases we have documented. Unfortunately, government harassment, intimidation, and censorship regularly stifle press freedom in Tajikistan. The political factionalism that erupted during the 1992-1993 civil war, as well as the murders of many journalists killed during the conflict, has lead to widespread self-censorship.