Letters

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is outraged by your government’s continued use of libel lawsuits and official harassment in its unyielding assault on the independent press in Belarus. Your Excellency’s repressive regime systematically violates the fundamental right of press freedom and forces independent journalists to work in an atmosphere of fear and intimidation.

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is outraged by the six-month jail sentence handed down to Njehu Gatabaki, opposition member of Parliament and the publisher and editor-in-chief of Finance magazine.

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) strongly protests your government’s closure of the Amman bureau of the Qatar-based satellite television channel Al-Jazeera. On August 7, Information Minister Muhammad Adwan revoked the station’s license to operate in Jordan and barred its staff from working for the station in the country. The move came after a guest on that day’s broadcast of the debate program “Opposite Direction” criticized Jordan’s relationship with Israel.

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned by your government’s recent use of defamation lawsuits and official pressure to silence the Baku-based independent magazine Monitor, which is known for its critical reporting on government officials. We are also troubled by the ongoing harassment of the magazine’s publisher and editor-in-chief, Elmar Huseynov.

August 6, 2002 Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba Prime Minister’s Office Singh Durbar Kathmandu, Nepal Via facsimile: +997 1 227286 Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the recent detention of Kishor Shrestha, editor of the Nepali-language weekly newspaper Jana Aastha. Although police claimed the detention was because of a July 31 article,…

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) strongly urges you to reject the National Media Commission Bill 2002, which would impose unacceptable restrictions on the press’s ability to cover the news in The Gambia.

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is gravely concerned about the imprisonment of Raymond Kabala and Delly Bonsange, publication director and publisher, respectively, of the independent Kinshasa daily, Alerte Plus. Both journalists have now been in prison for more than a week.

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned by ongoing threats to press freedom in Kazakhstan, including the continuing harassment of the opposition weekly Delovoye Obozreniye Respublika and its editor Irina Petrushova.

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about your government’s continued harassment of independent journalists. On July 23, Robert Sebufirira, Elly MacDowell Kalisa, and Emmanuel Munyaneza, all journalists with the independent weekly Umuseso, were sentenced to 30 days of “preventative detention” by a court in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali. They are currently in the city’s central prison.

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed by the death of Palestinian free-lance photographer Imad Abu Zahra, who was killed by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) gunfire, and the subsequent failure to investigate the incident and safeguard journalists who cover the West Bank and Gaza.