Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to protest the recent suspension of the weekly newspaper Al-Shumou. CPJ has learned that the Ministry of Information issued an order for the indefinite closure of the newspaper on February 3. Seif al-Hadheri, Al-Shumou’s editor-in-chief, told CPJ that the ministry provided no explanation for its action and that officials have refused to discuss the matter with him. He surmised that the closure came in response to Al-Shumou’s various “criticisms of government ministers.”
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to protest the recent suspension of the weekly newspaper Al-Shumou. CPJ has learned that the Ministry of Information issued an order for the indefinite closure of the newspaper on February 3. Seif al-Hadheri, Al-Shumou’s editor-in-chief, told CPJ that the ministry provided no explanation for its action and that officials have refused to discuss the matter with him. He surmised that the closure came in response to Al-Shumou’s various “criticisms of government ministers.”
According to a joint statement issued by the bureau chiefs of 29 international media organizations on January 15, the GPO has failed to renew press accreditations for all but a few of the Palestinian journalists employed by these organizations since December 31, when the old accreditations expired. The media companies have said that some foreign journalists, mostly camera crews, have also been refused accreditation.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned that political pressure may have prompted the recent wave of resignations, suspensions, and lay-offs at The Sun newspaper. Local journalists have told CPJ that the radical retrenchment of the daily’s staff is part of an effort to rein in its political coverage, which had been more independent and aggressive than that of any other mainstream news outlet in Malaysia.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to protest the ongoing prosecution of Marcelo Mosse, formerly chief reporter for the now defunct daily Metical, on criminal defamation charges. Your son, Nympine Chissano, filed charges against Mosse and Metical over a February 21 Metical article reporting that Nympine was briefly detained in South Africa, around February 15, on unspecified charges.
Your Majesty: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to protest the recent arrest of Fahd al-Rimawi, editor of the weekly newspaper Al-Majd. On January 13, according to press reports and CPJ sources, a State Security Court prosecutor in Amman summoned al-Rimawi and accused him of publishing “false information,” an offense under Jordan’s Penal Code. He was subsequently ordered detained for 15 days for questioning.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply disturbed by the banning of the January 10 issue of the Hong Kong-based Far Eastern Economic Review. This act of censorship by your government is out of character with Thailand’s commitment to press freedom.