Letters

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to protest Wednesday’s decision in the Criminal Court in Cairo to sentence Ahmed Ezzedine, a journalist with the independent weekly Al-Osbou newspaper, to two years in prison.

Dear Mr. Salazar Mendiguchía: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a New York-based nonprofit organization that works to safeguard press freedom worldwide, condemns Chiapas’ recent enactment of penal code reforms that impose severe criminal penalties for defamation.

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a New York-based independent organization dedicated to defending press freedom worldwide, is concerned that Uzbek authorities have failed to meet their commitment to review the case of Ruslan Sharipov, an independent journalist and human rights activist. He is currently serving a four-year prison sentence for sodomy and having sexual relations with minors.

Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) deplores the government-controlled Media and Information Commission’s (MIC) June 10 decision to suspend the private weekly The Tribune for one year. The Tribune is the second newspaper to be shuttered under Zimbabwe’s repressive Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA).

Dear Mr. Prime Minister: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed by the Grenadian government’s recent attempts to intimidate the local media, including legal actions against the press for reporting alleged wrongdoing by you.

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned that Azerbaijani journalist Irada Huseynova, who lives and works in Moscow, cannot attend an international meeting of freedom of expression groups in Azerbaijan in mid-June because she faces arrest on criminal defamation charges should she return to the capital, Baku. Huseynova was invited by the Toronto-based International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX), which will hold its meeting in Baku beginning June 14.

Your Majesty: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about the detentions of three journalists in western Nepal: Dhaniram Tharu and Maheshwar Pahari, who have been missing for several months; and Khadga Bahadur Swar, known as K.B. Jumli, whom local authorities arrested on April 4.

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about the prolonged detention of Newsweek stringer Sami Yousafzai. We call on your government to release him immediately.

Your Royal Highness: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is concerned about reports that Saudi journalist Fares bin Hizam, formerly with the daily newspapers Al-Watan and Asharq al-Awsat, has been detained by Saudi authorities.

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the prolonged detention of three people–Ahmed Didi, Fathimath Nisreen, and Mohamed Zaki–affiliated with the online publication Sandhaanu who were arrested in early 2002. A fourth person, Ibrahim Luthfee, was also arrested, but escaped in May 2003.