Dear Mr. Wako: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is shocked by the eighteen-month jail sentence handed down to Johann Wandetto, a reporter for the daily The People newspaper, based in Kitale, Rift Valley Province. Wandetto was charged in the magistrate’s court on February 15 with publishing an “alarmist report” in the March 6, 1999, edition of The People. The article, titled “Militia men rob eight crack unit officers: Shock as Moi’s men surrender meekly,” claimed that elite presidential guards had been ambushed by militiamen in the remote West Pokot area of the country. Witnesses from the presidential guard denied this.
Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about the abrupt closure, on February 17, of the state-owned Swazi Observer media group, which includes the daily Swazi Observer, the Weekend Observer, and the weekly Intsatseli. This decision appears to be the latest and most serious attempt to punish the Swazi Observer’s editorial staff for refusing to reveal confidential sources of information contained in recent critical reports on Swazi police activities.
Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to protest the court-ordered confiscation of broadcast equipment used by the independent station Radio 1160. Ostensibly, the equipment was seized in compensation for an old debt. But according to CPJ’s sources, the real purpose of the February 16 raid was to silence journalist César Hildebrandt’s recently-launched program “Ondas de Libertad” (“Freedom Waves”), which has aired critical views of Your Excellency’s regime.
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.