New York, September 20, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) welcomes the release today of the prominent AIDS activist and Web publisher Wan Yanhai, who was detained for nearly a month on suspicion of “leaking state secrets.” China’s official news agency, Xinhua, as quoted by Agence France-Presse, said that Wan was released after “confessing to…
Hong Kong, September 19, 2002—Pending national security legislation represents what could be the biggest threat to press freedom in Hong Kong since the territory’s 1997 transfer of sovereignty to China, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said at a press conference here today. The Hong Kong government is currently preparing national security legislation to be…
New York, September 19, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) demands the immediate and unconditional release of Franklin Moliba-Sese, a reporter for the United Nationsoperated Radio Okapi who was arrested by rebels on Friday, September 13. That day, fighters from the Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC), an armed rebel group opposed to the…
New York, September 19, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) confirmed today that four more Eritrean journalists, who have been missing, are in government custody, according to several sources in the capital, Asmara. CPJ had previously confirmed the detention of 14 journalists, many of whom were arrested one year ago today after President Isaias Afewerki…
Hong Kong, September 19, 2002—Pending national security legislation represents what could be the biggest threat to press freedom in Hong Kong since the territory’s 1997 transfer of sovereignty to China, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said at a press conference here today. The Hong Kong government is currently preparing national security legislation to be…
New York, September 18, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns yesterday’s attack on Ghulam Mohammad Sofi, a prominent editor in Srinagar, the summer capital of India’s Jammu and Kashmir State. Two young men entered the offices of Sofi, editor of the popular Urdu-language daily Srinagar Times, at about 6:30 p.m. yesterday and opened fire.…
New York, September 17, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) sent a letter today to Juan Carlos Maqueda, provisional president of the Argentine Senate, expressing concern about legislation that the Senate is scheduled to debate tomorrow. The bill proposes adding three articles to the Penal Code that would criminalize operating a radio station without a…
Bogotá, September 17, 2002—Edgar Buitrago Rico, founder and director of the monthly Revista Valle 2000, today fled the city of Cali in fear of his life after receiving repeated death threats since May. In response, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) today sent a letter to Colombian interior minister Fernando Londoño Hoyos urging him to…
New York, September 17, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the recent decision by Tehran’s Press Court to suspend two more newspapers. The latest ruling brings to 54 the total number of publications suspended since a crackdown began in April 2000. According to a CPJ source in Iran, on Sunday, September 15, the Press…
New York, September 16, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is outraged by today’s conviction of Viktar Ivashkevich, editor-in-chief of the independent newspaper Rabochy. A Minsk district court found Ivashkevich guilty of libeling President Aleksandr Lukashenko and sentenced him to two years’ hard labor. Under the Belarusian Criminal Code, defaming the president is punishable by…