New York, October 3, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) today took part in a briefing held by the U.S. Helsinki Commission in Washington, D.C., which focused on human rights conditions in Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Morocco, and Tunisia. The six Middle East countries are currently considered “Mediterranean Partners for Cooperation” with the Organization for…
New York, October 3, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned that Tunisian authorities have harassed journalist and human rights activist Néziha Rejiba, also known as Om Zeid. According to the Tunisian press freedom group Observatoire de la Liberté de la Presse, de L’Edition et de la Création (OLPEC), Rejiba, who is the…
New York, October 2, 2003—The South Jakarta District Court today cancelled the order to seize the offices of Koran Tempo as collateral in a libel case against the newspaper. The order was issued yesterday, following a similar order on the home of Tempo journalist Goenawan Mohamad. Businessman Tomy Winata has sued both Mohamad and Koran…
New York, October 1, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the court ordered seizure of the home of Goenawan Mohamad, the co-founder and senior editor of Tempo magazine, and the offices of Koran Tempo, Tempo’s sister publication. Mohamad, a 1998 CPJ International Press Freedom Award recipient, and several of his colleagues, are being sued…
New York, October 1, 2003—The Second District Court in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius yesterday ruled that the State Security Department overstepped its authority when it shuttered the pro-independence Chechen Web site KavkazCenter on June 20. The State Security Department disconnected and confiscated KavkazCenter’s server at the private Vilnius-based Internet provider Elneta on June 20…
New York, September 30, 2003—Hiramon Mondol, a local correspondent for the daily Dainik Prabarttan, was released from jail and exonerated from extortion charges on September 20 by the Magistrate of the Special Tribunal Act in Khulna, a town in southwestern Bangladesh, according to local news reports. Police and security forces brutally attacked Mondol with hockey…
New York, September 29, 2003—Police detained three journalists today from Kenya’s oldest daily newspaper, the East African Standard, which is based in the capital, Nairobi. Managing Director Tom Mshindi, Associate Editor Kwamchetsi Makokha, and Sunday editor David Makali reported to the police at around 1:00 p.m. after receiving a summons. According to Mshindi, the police…
New York, September 26, 2003—The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation has decided to hold a hearing on October 13 examining the constitutionality of legal amendments that recently strengthened state regulation over independent media outlets, particularly their coverage of election campaigns. The independent Moscow-based radio station Ekho Moskvy and the reformist Union of Right Forces…
New York, September 26, 2003—At a closed hearing yesterday, the City Court in Uzbekistan’s capital, Tashkent, rejected an appeal by jailed journalist and human rights activist Ruslan Sharipov to have his conviction and prison sentence overturned, according to local and international press reports. Instead, the court dropped one of the three charges against Sharipov and…
New York, September 26, 2003—Police in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, yesterday charged nine journalists from the Daily News with violating Section 83 of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) by practicing journalism without accreditation. The journalists, who were summoned to the Harare central police station yesterday morning, were on a list of…