New York, January 10, 2000—Veteran foreign correspondent Frank Smyth, who has covered war and conflict from El Salvador to Iraq, has been named CPJ’s representative in Washington, DC He began his duties on January 3. After more than a decade reporting from hot spots around the world, Smyth knows the dangers that journalists face. He…
New York, January 6, 2000—The trial of Sunday Standard journalists Mark Chavunduka and Ray Choto has been deferred to July 2000. At a hearing in Harare yesterday, the magistrate remanded the two until July 7, pending the outcome of their constitutional challenge to the legislation under which they were charged. Military officers arrested and illegally…
December 30, New York — The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release from prison today of Joseph Mbakulu Pambu Diana, a Congolese broadcast journalist who had been in jail since 1998 for allegedly collaborating with rebel forces during their occupation of the town of Matadi. In early August 1998, rebels from the Congolese Rally…
New York, December 21, 1999 — Cuban state security officers today released four journalists arrested last Thursday afternoon, according to information received by CPJ. The journalists were apparently arrested to prevent them covering an anti-government demonstration scheduled for last Friday in Havana. Sources in Cuba reported that Juan González Febles, Adela Soto Alvarez, María del…
New York, December 21, 1999 — Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso signed a bill yesterday eliminating two of the country’s “gag laws,” which have been used to stifle press freedom. Moscoso described the gag laws as a “sword of Damocles hanging over the media in Panama” and pledged to work for the elimination of the other…
New York, December 21, 1999 — Two Sri Lankan broadcast journalists were among 22 people killed in an assassination attempt against President Chandrika Kumaratunga at an election rally on Saturday, December 18. Five other journalists were injured by the blast, which also injured Kumaratunga and scores of onlookers. According to reports, a suicide bomber detonated…
New York, December 17, 1999 — CPJ has learned that Cuban state security officers arrested four journalists yesterday afternoon and placed six more under house arrest this morning in an apparent attempt to prevent them from covering an anti-government demonstration scheduled to take place today in Havana. Sources in Cuba report that Juan González Febles,…
New York, December 14, 1999 Argentina seems likely to become the first Latin American country in which journalists cannot be jailed for criticizing public officials. In the course of next week, an Argentine senate commission is expected to approve a bill decriminalizing libel and defamation. “This will affirm the press freedom that Argentine journalists…
October 12, 1999 — Murray Hiebert, the Far Eastern Economic Reviewcorrespondent imprisoned in Kuala Lumpur on September 11, was released yesterday morning, according to a spokesman for Reviewpublisher Dow Jones. “My spirits are in good shape and I managed to come out in one piece,” Hiebert told Canadian TV from Hong Kong (as quoted by Reuters).