Letters

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the recent police assault on two journalists from the Baku daily Bu gun and by the subsequent raid on the newspaper’s editorial office. This is the second incident during the past month in which Azeri police have attacked local journalists, suggesting a pattern of gross abuse of authority and reckless disregard for press freedom in your country.

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to protest recent attempts by the Palestinian National Authority to silence private broadcast media in the West Bank.

Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply disturbed by the May 25 kidnapping and torture of Jineth Bedoya Lima, a reporter with the Bogotá-based daily El Espectador. We call on Your Excellency to ensure that the incident is fully investigated, and the guilty parties punished.

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to express its deep concern for Noureddine Aouididi, a London-based Tunisian journalist whose family has been denied the right to travel outside Tunisia. We fear that these restrictions have been imposed in reprisal for Aouididi’s journalistic work.

Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply disturbed by the kidnapping and torture of journalist Fabián Salazar Olivares. Salazar was attacked and brutally tortured on May 24, just after receiving materials with allegedly damaging information about high-level officials from Your Excellency’s administration, according to statements that Salazar has made to the press in Peru.

Dear Sir: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is troubled by the brutal assault on Valentin Dragan, a journalist with the weekly newspaper Cuget Liber in Constanta, and we urgently request further information about the status of the investigation.

Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to express its concern for the safety of Hernán Carrión de la Cruz, journalist with Radio Ancash in the northern Peruvian port of Chimbote. On April 3, Carrión narrowly escaped being shot by an unidentified gunman. He continues to receive threatening phone calls, and his weekday news show was recently suspended as a result of what CPJ believes is a concerted effort to silence his critical coverage of your government.

May 25, 2000 His Excellency Alexander Lukashenko President of Belarus Republic Minsk 220020 VIA FAX: 011-375-172-23-58-25 Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply disturbed by the continuing pattern of intimidation by federal and local authorities of the independent press in Belarus. Over the past few months, we have monitored many violations of…

Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned for the safety of Julio César Pineda, coordinator of the press department of Radio Progreso in the town of El Progreso, near the northern city of San Pedro Sula. Pineda was seriously wounded in an attempt on his life three weeks ago.

Dear Mr. Madrazo: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is concerned about the prosecution of Melitón García, a reporter with the Monterrey-based daily El Norte, who is being charged under Mexico’s federal electoral law for fraudulently obtaining a voter credential. If convicted, García could be jailed for up to six years.