Letters

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply troubled by the recent jailing of Jules Koum Koum, publication director of the private bimonthly Le Jeune Observateur, on criminal defamation charges. Two journalists are now imprisoned in Cameroon for their work.

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is writing to protest the continued detention of Mohamed al-Oshen, editor-in-chief of the Riyadh-based Islamist weekly Al-Mohayed, who has been in detention for almost two weeks.

Dear Ambassador Brotodiningrat: The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by restrictions imposed by the Indonesian government on reporting in the province of Aceh, which suffered so much in the December 26 tsunami. We urge your government to lift the limitations immediately so journalists can fully document the massive international humanitarian effort.

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by a series of criminal convictions handed down against several Yemeni newspaper editors and reporters in reprisal for their work. These convictions have severely undermined press freedom in Yemen.

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply troubled by the recent violent attack on journalists by government security forces. On Tuesday, January 4, police acting as security at a meeting of the National Executive Council of Your Excellency’s ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the capital, Abuja, assaulted at least 10 journalists who were covering the meeting.

Dear Lieutenant General Yaalon: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed by the shooting of a Palestinian cameraman in the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday. On January 2, Majdi al-Arabid, who was on assignment for Israel’s Channel 10 TV, was shot in the stomach near Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip while reporting on IDF operations against Palestinians suspected of firing rockets into Israel. Channel 10 reporter Sholmi Eldar, who witnessed the incident, told CPJ that IDF troops were responsible.

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply troubled by new legislation that threatens press freedom in the Gambia. Last week, the National Assembly passed two pieces of legislation that impose criminal penalties for press offenses and could limit media ownership and development. CPJ urges Your Excellency not to sign this legislation into law.

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed about several legal developments that restrict press freedom in Venezuela.

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the imprisonment of Eric Wirkwa Tayu, publisher of the small private newspaper Nso Voice, which is based in the western town of Kumbo. According to local sources, Tayu has been in prison in Kumbo since July 28, when he was convicted of defaming Kumbo’s mayor, Donatus Njong Fonyuy.