Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply disturbed by widespread instances of violence and intimidation directed against both foreign and local journalists during the period surrounding the August 30 referendum on the future of East Timor. In the course of the last week alone, CPJ has documented numerous cases in which journalists were singled out for attack. The vast majority of the incidents were apparently committed by pro-Jakarta militias backed by the Indonesian military.
Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is greatly alarmed by recent harassment and blackmail attempts, apparently initiated by the Kazak State Security Service (KNB), against Bigeldin Gabdullin, editor-in-chief of the XXI Vek (21st Century) opposition newspaper in Almaty.
Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to express great concern about the recent harassment of Alexander Kim, chief editor of the independent daily Vecherny Bishkek. On August 24, representatives from the Kyrgyz State Tax Police attempted to arrest Kim on charges of tax evasion and ordered him to provide a number of the newspaper’s financial documents. Kim argued that Vecherny Bishkek had successfully passed a tax audit in December, and that, according to Article 13 of the Kyrgyz Tax Code, no additional review could be performed for another year.
Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to urge you to investigate the provenance of a pamphlet containing threats against journalists and other intellectuals that started circulating in the streets of Bogotá, Cali, and Medellín earlier this month. The pamphlet, signed “Colombian Rebel Army (ERC),” accuses 21 intellectuals, among them three journalists, of being enemies of Colombia’s peace process. The pamphlet reads: “These sinister figures feed the war between Colombians, foment hatred and class struggle, live off the war … They will pay for the destruction of the peace process.”
Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) deeply regrets the six-month jail sentence handed down to Tony Gachoka, publisher of The Post on Sundaymagazine, for contempt of court, and the exorbitant fine imposed on his publishing firm. Not only is the penalty disproportionate to the alleged offense, but the fairness of Gachoka’s trial is also in question.
Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply troubled by the recent deportation of American journalist Amy Goodman, who was stopped at Bali’s Ngurah Rai international airport while en route to East Timor to cover the territory’s August 30 vote on independence. Goodman’s expulsion directly contradicts your administration’s pledges to lift restrictions on foreign journalists, and to ensure that international observers, including media representatives, are allowed free access to East Timor during the historic referendum.
Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a non-governmental organization of journalists dedicated to defending press freedom worldwide, is writing to protest the arrest of Abdel Karim Barghouti, editor-in-chief of the weekly newspaper Al-Bilad.
Dear Lt. Col. Olokulade, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a non-partisan organization committed to the defense of press freedom worldwide, is deeply concerned about a number of attacks on the press in Freetown in recent days. An ECOMOG officer was directly involved in one attack. In another case, an ECOMOG officer stood by and did nothing to intervene.
Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a non-governmental organization of journalists dedicated to defending press freedom worldwide, is writing to protest the libel convictions handed down last week against Magdy Hussein, editor in chief of the biweekly Al-Sha’b,Saleh Bedeiwi, a reporter for the newspaper, and staff cartoonist Essam Eddine Hanafi.