New York, December 3, 1999 — Pablo Emilio Medina Motta, a cameraman with the regional television station, TV Garzón, was killed by multiple shots to the head and back when more than 100 leftist guerrillas stormed the town of Gigante in Huila department. Six other people died and twenty were wounded in the attack. Medina…
New York, N.Y., December 6, 1999 — Three Egyptian journalists jailed for libel in August were freed late Sunday night after an Egyptian appeals court overturned their sentences. Magdy Hussein, editor in chief of the opposition biweekly Al-Sha’b, Saleh Bedeiwi, a reporter for Al-Sha’b, and Essam Eddine Hanafi, a cartoonist for the paper, were convicted…
New York, December 1, 1999 — In a major step forward for press freedom in Panama, the country’s Legislative Assembly approved a bill repealing some of the more onerous provisions of the country’s “gag laws.” The new bill, passed last night with the approval of 70 of the Legislative Assembly’s 71 members, repeals part of…
New York, November 30, 1999 — CPJ is deeply concerned about the November 28 murder of cameramen Alberto Sánchez Tovar and Luis Alberto Rincón Solano outside the town of El Playón, in the north-eastern department of Santander. On the morning of November 28, the two cameramen left Bucaramanga, capital of Santander Department, to shoot a…
New York, November 29, 1999 –Rafael Marques, a freelance journalist and Angola representative of the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa, was released on bail on November 25, after spending 40 days in prison. His trial is scheduled to begin on December 15. Marques had been in police custody since October 16. Angolan police informally…
New York, November 1, 1999 — Leftist guerrillas abducted seven journalists whom they had invited to cover alleged atrocities committed by paramilitary forces against local farmers. The seven journalists were intercepted on October 29 by members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). This is the second Colombian media kidnapping in less than a…
New York, November 17, 1999 — In a letter sent to Colombian President Andrés Pastrana on November 17, CPJ protested the November 14 bomb attack on the Cali offices of the daily El Tiempo. [Click here to read the letter.] CPJ also expressed concern for the deteriorating press freedom climate and urged the president to…
New York, November 16, 1999 — A Turkish criminal court today officially “froze” its case against American journalist Andrew Finkel, the Associated Press reported. Turkish authorities informed Finkel in June that he had been charged with “insulting the Turkish military,” an offense that carries a penalty of up to six years imprisonment. The charge was…
New York, November 15, 1999 — On Sunday, November 14, the left-wing Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) released the last of seven journalists they had kidnapped on Wednesday, November 10. The journalists were on their way to cover a right-wing paramilitary attack in Atánquez, in the northern department of Cesar. Five of the seven…
New York, November 11, 1999 CPJ is deeply concerned for the safety of seven Colombian journalists and their driver, who were kidnapped by leftist guerrillas yesterday while traveling to cover a right-wing paramilitary attack in Atánquez, in the northern department of Cesar. Local sources informed CPJ that the journalists left the Cesar capital Valledupar…