Letters

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is writing to express grave concern about the detention and criminal prosecution of Paul Salopek, a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for the Chicago Tribune, who was charged on Saturday with espionage and two other criminal counts in a Sudanese court.

Dear Prosecutor Kondalov: The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the harassment by the authorities in the city of Perm of the independent weekly Permsky Obozrevatel.

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is troubled by Vietnam’s treatment of journalists, including the recent harassment of independent writers, new fines for unauthorized reporting, and heightened Internet restrictions. These measures threaten the development of a transparent government and active press, and invite international scrutiny as Vietnam bids for accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) this fall.

Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned about prison conditions for journalists Eskinder Nega and Sisay Agena, who CPJ sources say are suffering from harsh treatment and deprivation without judicial review.

Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply troubled by an intense campaign of official harassment against the now-shuttered opposition weekly Novye Kolyosa (New Wheels) in the western city of Kaliningrad.

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by Israeli military actions that sharply restrict the ability of the press to cover the current conflict in Lebanon and that endanger the lives of civilians, including members of the press. We are particularly concerned about the safety of an estimated 250 journalists in Tyre, who are hunkered down in hotels and unable to move because of Israel’s threats to target all vehicles on the roads.

Mr. President: The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by the cancellation of two independent shows on state-owned media amid allegations of government censorship and editorial interference.

Dear Mr. Wildhaber: We are writing from the Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based organization dedicated to defending press freedom worldwide, to ask that you give priority to the case of Zoya and Yuri Kholodov v. Russia (Case No. 30651/05).

Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists is troubled by the government’s recent order to ban certain Web sites, an action that has resulted in blocked access to domains hosting many thousands of Web logs. We urge you to lift the ban, which has disrupted the flow of news, information, and commentary in a medium of growing importance in India. We are concerned as well that the order was imposed with no official explanation and without judicial or independent review.

Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists urges you as chairman of the African Union to discuss with your fellow heads of state and government at your summit in the Gambian capital, Banjul, from July 1, the need to defend press freedom on the continent.