Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed by your government’s ban on the April 4 edition of the Hong Kongbased weekly Far Eastern Economic Review. The cover story of the edition, “Bangladesh: Cocoon of Terror,” described the country as besieged by “Islamic fundamentalism, religious intolerance, militant Muslim groups with links to international terrorist groups, a powerful military with ties to the militants, the mushrooming of Islamic schools churning out radical students, middle-class apathy, poverty and lawlessness.”
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is gravely concerned about the safety of 13 Eritrean journalists currently in the custody of your government. The journalists have not been charged with any crime since their September 2001 arrests. On March 31, 10 of the jailed journalists began a hunger strike to protest their unfair imprisonment. In a message smuggled out of Asmara Police Station One, where they are being detained, the journalists said they would refuse food until they were either released or charged and given a fair trial.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is outraged by the ongoing prosecution and imprisonment of journalists in Ethiopia. We are particularly concerned about Lubaba Said and Melese Shine, two local journalists who are currently in jail for their work.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is gravely concerned about pending criminal libel charges against Igor Zotov, deputy editor-in-chief of the Moscow independent daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta. Based on our research, CPJ believes that Zotov is facing politically motivated retribution for Nezavisimaya Gazeta’s critical reporting, as well as for its association with Boris Berezovsky, a vocal critic of Your Excellency and the newspaper’s majority shareholder.
Your Excellency: CPJ is gravely concerned by the recent physical assault against Yang Wei, a photographer for the Chinese-language daily Jinghua Shibao (Beijing Times). Yang was working undercover to investigate reports of mismanagement and unfair pricing at a Beijing property management company called Zhongchuang. The investigation focused on Zhongchuang’s management of the Shiliu Yuan Estates in Beijing’s Fengtai District.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to express its alarm at official Israeli attempts to restrict media coverage in the West Bank, as well as several incidents in which Israeli troops have fired on working journalists.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) appreciates your rapid response to our protest letter about the Taiwanese government’s recent attempt to censor news reports on the basis of national security concerns.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns your government’s decision to prosecute Zimbabwean journalist Peta Thornycroft under the new Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act. This marks your government’s first attempt to implement the controversial act, which you signed into law two weeks ago.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to protest the arrest of Saudi poet and journalist Abdel Mohsen Mosallam. We are also deeply concerned by Your Excellency’s order to dismiss the editor of the daily newspaper Al-Madina, Muhammad Mukhtar al-Fal.