Su Excelencia, El Comité para Proteger a los Periodistas (CPJ, por sus siglas en inglés) se dirige a Usted para protestar la confiscación de los equipos de transmisión utilizados por la radioemisora independiente Radio 1160, en acato a una orden emitida por un juzgado. Oficialmente, la confiscación de los citados equipos fue para cobrar una deuda antigua, pero las fuentes del CPJ indican que el verdadero propósito del allanamiento del 16 de febrero fue acallar el programa recién lanzado de César Hildebrandt, llamado “Ondas de Libertad”, que ha transmitido puntos de vista críticos del régimen que preside Su Excelencia.
Dear Mr. Kamalasabeyson: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is greatly concerned by the lack of progress in the case involving Iqbal Athas, defense columnist for The Sunday Times, and his alleged harassment by two Air Force officers, who have been indicted for criminal intimidation of Mr. Athas, criminal trespass and unlawful entry into the journalist’s home on February 12, 1998.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is gravely concerned about proposed amendments to the Books and Newspapers Act that would dramatically increase the mandatory publication-licensing bond. Under the amended Act, new publications would be required to post a bond of 1 million shillings (US$13,459) as security for any monetary penalty that might arise from criminal proceedings against them. This represents a hundred-fold increase over the current bond of ten thousand shillings (US$134.59).
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about the recent harassment of three Portuguese television journalists, who were detained for three days by police in the Indonesian province of West Timor before being forced to leave the country.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is greatly alarmed by the recent arrest and detention of Andrei Babitsky, a 10-year veteran reporter for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Russia. Babitsky had been covering the conflict in Chechnya from the capital city of Grozny until his disappearance on January 15. Despite initial claims denying any knowledge of his whereabouts, a spokesman for your government acknowledged on January 28 that Babitsky was being held in Chechnya by Russian authorities because he did not have proper accreditation to report from the war zone. At the same time, your government has yet to confirm or deny charges published by the Russian news agency Interfax that Babitsky was arrested for “participating in an armed group.”
Your Excellency: On the occasion of the United Nations Security Council open briefing on the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), scheduled to take place in New York on January 24, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) wishes once again to express its grave concern over the appalling press freedom situation in the DRC.
Your Excellency: Ahead of the United Nations Security Council open briefing on Angola, scheduled to take place in New York on January 18, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) wishes once again to express its deep concern over the deteriorating press freedom situation in Angola.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned by today’s arrests of Zulkifli Sulong, the editor of Harakah, the biweekly newspaper of the opposition Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), and Chia Lim Thye, the owner of the company that prints Harakah and formally holds the newspaper’s publishing license.