Dear Governor Shah: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) respectfully asks you to order the immediate release of Rifatullah Orakzai, a reporter for the Peshawar-based English-language newspaper Khyber Mail; Muhammad Iqbal Afridi, a district correspondent based in Bara, Khyber Agency, who contributes to the national Urdu-language daily Al-Akhbar; and Syed Karim, a stringer for the national Urdu-language daily Khabrain.
Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is concerned by the recent illegal takeover of the television station TVK in central Russia’s Lipetsk Region. After investigating the circumstances, we believe this was a politically motivated attempt by local governor Oleg Korolyov to control the station ahead of gubernatorial elections scheduled for April 2002.
Your Majesty: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed by news that your government is poised to enact sweeping amendments to existing press laws, an action that will severely curtail freedom of information in Brunei by imposing strict licensing requirements on newspapers and threatening journalists with jail terms for publishing “false news” and other offenses.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned by the increased harassment of Senegalese journalists by government authorities since Your Excellency took office in April 2000. We are particularly disturbed by the prosecution of Alioune Fall, editor-in-chief of the independent Dakar-based daily Le Matin, on charges of publishing false information.
Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists protests the unlawful detention of T-max Jlateh, a journalist with the private radio station DC 101.1. Jlateh was arrested on September 17 for airing listener comments that celebrated the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the prosecution and imprisonment of Zhu Ruixiang and Lu Xinhua, who were both arrested and charged with subversion after writing or distributing articles via the Internet. Though the two cases are separate, they both illustrate your government’s ongoing efforts to restrict online freedom of expression by jailing journalists and political dissidents.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) strongly protests recent acts of censorship and intimidation carried out by the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) against journalists covering celebrations among some Palestinians of last Tuesday’s terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C.