Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is disturbed by the recent government seizure of the entire print run of the private Lomé-based weekly Le Combat du Peuple and the sentencing of Lucien Messan, the paper’s editor-in-chief, to 18 months in prison. On July 2, according to international news sources, 30 armed police officers stormed the printing press of Le Combat du Peuple, seizing printing plates and all copies of the paper’s latest edition.
Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns today’s arrests and detentions of Geoff Nyarota, editor-in-chief of the Daily News, Zimbabwe’s only independent daily newspaper, and Wilf Mbanga, the former chief executive officer of the Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ), the company that publishes the Daily News.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) recently completed a fact-finding mission to Ethiopia to assess conditions for local journalists. During a one-week stay, CPJ Africa program coordinator Yves Sorokobi met with senior government officials, with opposition and human rights activists, and with journalists from both the state and private media.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is extremely concerned by your government’s apparent refusal to process visa applications from journalists of Indian descent. Indian journalists, as well as journalists of Indian origin holding citizenship from Western countries, have told CPJ that visa applications submitted in mid-September are still awaiting approval. Officials at Pakistan’s High Commission in London have informed journalists of Indian origin that the Information Ministry office in Islamabad must clear their applications before they can be approved. Meanwhile, non-Indian journalists typically receive visas within days, if not hours, of submitting their applications.
Dear Mr. Ramírez Acuña: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about the investigation into the 1998 murder of American journalist Philip True and the prosecution of the two suspects accused of this crime. On August 3, Colotlán municipal judge José Luis Reyes Contreras acquitted Juan Chivarra de la Cruz and his brother-in-law Miguel Hernández de la Cruz, who had been accused of murdering True. The Jalisco State attorney general’s office appealed the acquittals in a September 25 hearing before a panel of three judges from the State Supreme Court of Justice. A ruling on the appeal is expected soon.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned by your government’s recent use of jailings and forcible closures of media outlets to silence criticism of government officials. In particular, we are alarmed by the imprisonment of El’mar Guseynov, founder of the independent Russian-language weekly Bakinskiy Bul’var, and Shahbaz Huduoglu, editor-in-chief of the independent weekly Milletin Sesi. We are also deeply troubled by the closure of both papers.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is gravely concerned about the deterioration of press freedom in several SADC member states, including your own country, Malawi. Our research reveals an alarming pattern of harassment and intimidation of independent journalists, severe censorship, and the use of repressive laws to silence those perceived to oppose ruling parties and governments.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a nonpartisan organization dedicated to the defense of journalists worldwide, is writing to express its profound sorrow over the killing of radio journalist Parmenio Medina Pérez. We are encouraged by the swift start of the official investigation and hope the authors of this heinous crime will be brought to justice.