Tashkent, June 10, 2002—A delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) today completed a nine-day mission to Uzbekistan by calling on President Islam Karimov to free three jailed journalists and to change government policies that severely restrict press freedom in the country. In recent weeks, Uzbek officials formally abolished prior censorship. But local newspaper…
New York, June 7, 2002—The Kenyan High Court has ordered copies of the Weekly Citizen off the streets following a complaint from a businessman. High Court judge Andrew Hayanga issued a temporary injunction forbidding the managing editor of Weekly Citizen, a tabloid known for salacious reporting, and its vendors from continuing to distribute the June…
New York, June 6, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) welcomes the release of British journalist Amardeep Bassey but calls on the government to release his two Pakistani guides, Naoshad Ali Afridi and Khitab Shah Shinwari. On May 10, Bassey, investigations editor for the British newspaper The Sunday Mercury, Afridi, and Shinwari were detained at…
New York, June 5, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned about the June 2 disappearance of Tim Lopes, an investigative reporter with TV Globo in Brazil. According to news reports, he was last seen on assignment in the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro, at an impoverished community, known as a favela. On June…
Kathmandu, June 6, 2002—In a press conference today, a delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists announced that it had met with Nepalese prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and Information Minister Jaya Prakash Gupta to raise concerns about press freedom abuses that have occurred since the government declared a state of emergency in November 2001.…
New York, May 31, 2002—A three-judge appeals panel yesterday sentenced two men to a 13-year prison term for the 1998 murder of Philip True, a Mexico City correspondent for the San Antonio Express-News. The unanimous ruling overturned an August 2001 verdict that had acquitted the two men. The men were found guilty of “intentional homicide,”…
New York, May 29, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the shooting of Zafar Iqbal, a journalist for the Srinagar, Kashmirbased English-language daily Kashmir Images. Iqbal, who was shot by three unidentified assailants this afternoon, was seriously injured and is currently in the hospital in stable condition, according to journalists in Kashmir and Indian news…
New York, May 28, 2002—Reuters photographer Suhaib Jadallah Salem was released by Israeli authorities yesterday after being detained for five days. According to Reuters news reports, no charges were filed. Israeli authorities detained Salem on May 22 at the Abu Holi checkpoint in the Gaza Strip. Reuters reported that Salem was attempting to enter the…
New York, May 24, 2002—A Brazilian judge has censored CartaCapital, a weekly magazine based in the city of São Paulo. The magazine said it will fight the decision. According to press reports in Brazil and court documents, copies of which were obtained by CPJ, Judge Marcelo Oliveira da Silva of the 21st Civil Chamber of…
Bogotá, May 24, 2002–The leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have demanded that a newspaper in northern Colombia pay the equivalent of US$250,000 and publish a four-page communiqué to secure the release of a reporter and another employee who were kidnapped last week, the newspaper’s director said yesterday. Ulilo Acevedo, founder and director of…