Dear Mr. President: The Committee to Protect Journalists is greatly concerned about the upcoming trial of Jahangir Alam Akash, a reporter for the Bengali-language daily Dainik Sangbad, based in Rajshahi.He is charged with extortion, but we believe Akash has been unfairly targeted because of his investigative reporting, and we are greatly concerned about his health.
Mr. President, The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes your recent directive to Nigeria’s federal police to renew investigations into all unresolved criminal cases, particularly assassinations. As an organization of journalists dedicated to defending our colleagues worldwide, we would like to draw your attention to a pattern of impunity in the violent murders and disappearances of at least five Nigerian journalists since 1986.
Dear Secretary Rice, In advance of your meeting with Ethiopian officials in Addis Ababa, the Committee to Protect Journalists would like to draw your attention to our concerns regarding press freedom conditions there. You may know that 15 Ethiopian journalists were recently released from prison, but this development belies the country’s sustained record of contempt for independent media, which manifests itself in a variety of legal and administrative restraints. The 15 jailed journalists were sentenced on trumped-up charges such as genocide in connection with the media’s coverage of Ethopia’s 2005 post-election unrest.
Dear Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, We are greatly disturbed by your government’s decision on Friday to stop satellite re-transmission of GEO TV and ARY One World Television through the Dubai Media City. The fact that the stations remain off the air five days after the decision undermines the stated aim of the United Arab Emirates “to transform Dubai into a knowledge-based society and economy” as described on the Media City Web site.
Dear Mr. President, As an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to defending press freedom worldwide, we welcome the provisional release from prison of four Senegalese journalists arrested in recent weeks because of their critical stories. We believe that the government’s continued use of criminal defamation and insult laws to jail and prosecute journalists undermines Senegal’s democratic credentials. We are calling on you to use your influence to finally implement your 2004 pledge to repeal criminal penalties for press offenses, including defamation.
Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned that one year after the death of journalist Bradley Roland Will nobody has been brought to justice. Further, we are troubled by the absence of a serious murder investigation and the lack of official response to witness reports and photographs from the murder scene that identify several armed men shooting into the crowd where Will was present.
Dear President Bush: In advance of your meeting with the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, President Joseph Kabila, the Committee to Protect Journalists would like to draw your attention to the acute problem of impunity in cases of violence against media workers. CPJ is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to defending press freedom worldwide.
Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists urges you to use all of the resources of your office to ensure that a thorough, timely, independent, and transparent investigation is undertaken into the slaying of prominent journalist Alisher Saipov, who was shot in southern Kyrgyzstan on Wednesday.
Dear Prime Minister, We are writing to express our deep concern about the whereabouts, legal status and health of Eritrean journalists Tesfalidet Kidane Tesfazghi and Saleh Idris Gama of Eritrean state broadcaster Eri-TV. Official statements and videotape indicate that your government has been holding them incommunicado after their arrests by Kenyan authorities late last year during fighting in Somalia.
New York, October 11, 2007 Mr. Álvaro Uribe Vélez President of the Republic of Colombia Casa de Nariño Bogotá D.C., Colombia Via facsimile: 011-571-337-5890 Dear Mr. President: We strongly object to your recent accusations against two prominent journalists. Your strident and personal comments have resulted in multiple death threats against these journalists and have forced…