Dear President Hu: The Committee to Protect for Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about the deteriorating health of writer Zhang Jianhong and calls for his immediate and unconditional release on humanitarian grounds. Zhang has been diagnosed with a rare nerve disorder that could lead to permanent paralysis if left untreated. His numerous appeals to judicial authorities in Zhejiang province seeking release on medical parole have been ignored, according to both his wife and lawyer.
Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply disturbed by the illegal psychiatric confinement in the northern city of Apatity of opposition activist Larisa Arap. Arap’s forced hospitalization on July 5 came soon after the publication of a story she coauthored on the treatment of patients at the Murmansk regional psychiatric hospital in Apatity–the same hospital where she is being held today.
Dear Mayor De la Quintana, The Committee to Protect Journalists is writing to express deep concern about the closure of the San Lorenzo-based daily El Observador’s printing plant ordered by your government in late July, which prompted the paper to stop publishing. CPJ believes the decision violates freedom of expression as enshrined in the Argentine constitution and in the provincial constitution of Santa Fe.
Dear Minister Nkusi: We are alarmed by the government’s sudden closure of the privately owned English-language newspaper The Weekly Post without a fair hearing, as is guaranteed by Rwandan law. We are also concerned that the paper was the second private newspaper summarily closed down by the government in the last three months, according to CPJ research.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is writing to express alarm about the treatment of an award-winning Palestinian journalist who said he was abused by Israeli Shin Bet agents at the Allenby Bridge border crossing between Israel and Jordan late last month.
Mr. President, We are writing to express our alarm at a disturbing nationwide pattern of attacks on the news media. Since the arrival of your government on February 24, eight broadcasters were raided by government security forces in connection with their news coverage, and one journalist was killed amid increasingly insecure conditions, according to CPJ research. These events undermine Information Minister Toussaint Tshilombo’s statement on World Press Freedom Day that press freedom is respected in the DRC.
Dear Mr. Secretary-General: The Committee to Protect Journalists is greatly concerned about the United Nations’ refusal to accredit journalists from states not recognized by the U.N. General Assembly. In its rigid application of this policy, the organization excludes these journalists from entering any U.N. facility anywhere in the world and prevents them from performing their work. Journalists from Taiwan are particularly affected by this policy and were unfairly excluded from covering this year’s World Health Organization annual assembly on May 14, as they have been since 2004.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is gravely concerned that 11 current and former employees of the independent production company Wasan Media have been held by the Interior Ministry for nearly four months on specious criminal charges and without due process.
Dear Mr. Qaralov, The Committee to Protect Journalists strongly protests the failure of Azerbaijani prosecutors to conduct a thorough and transparent investigation into the brazen assaults against Azadlyg reporter Agil Khalil. In the last three months, Khalil has been beaten, stabbed, and pushed onto train tracks. He has also escaped a kidnapping attempt. Yet despite abundant evidence as to who committed the crimes, there has been no progress in these cases.