New York, April 8, 2002—CPJ is alarmed that the independent television channel A1+ has lost its broadcast frequency and been forced off the air. On April 2, the National Committee on Television and Radio (NCTR), whose members are appointed by the president, awarded the A1+ frequency to the entertainment company Sharm, which has close government…
New York, April 8, 2002—CPJ is gravely concerned about the safety of journalist Demling Lama, who was abducted on April 5 by armed Maoist rebels, according to sources in Nepal. Lama is the correspondent in the Sindhupalchok District for both Radio Nepal and the national Nepali-language daily Himalaya Times. At some time during the morning…
New York, April 5, 2002—The trial of four suspects accused in the kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl began today at Karachi’s Central Jail, and was closed to the public and the media. Chief prosecutor Raja Qureshi said that “journalists have not been allowed because of security and the sensitivity of…
New York April 4, 2002—CPJ commends the efforts of Pakistani authorities to apprehend and prosecute the killers of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. The trial of four men charged with the journalist’s kidnapping and murder is scheduled to begin tomorrow, April 5. Seven others accused in the case remain at large. “Around the world,…
Who: Terry Anderson, Honorary Co-Chair of the Committee to Protect Journalists, former AP Bureau Chief in Beirut; Chris Cramer, president of CNN International Networks, author of Hostage, a first-hand account of the 1980 Iranian Embassy siege, where he was held hostage; Robert Klamser, Executive Director, Crisis Consulting International, a non-profit organization providing security, crisis management,…
New York, April 3, 2002—Ten independent Eritrean journalists who have been jailed without charge since September began a hunger strike on March 31 to protest their continued detention, according to local and international sources. In a message smuggled from inside the Police Station One detention center in the capital, Asmara, the journalists said they would…
New York, April 3, 2002— The trial of Abdullah Keskin, a Turkish publisher charged with “separatist propaganda” in connection with a U.S. journalist’s book about the Kurdish issue, opened today in a State Security Court in Istanbul. The charges against Keskin came after his publishing house, Avesta, printed a Turkish edition of After Such Knowledge,…
New York, April 2, 2002—CPJ calls for an independent, international inquiry into the July 2000 disappearance of Belarusian cameraman Dmitry Zavadsky. Although two former members of the elite Almaz special forces unit were recently convicted of kidnapping Zavadsky, local sources view them as scapegoats. CPJ is disturbed that state prosecutors failed to investigate allegations that…
New York, April 2, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) today reiterated its alarm at mounting press restrictions and attacks on reporters in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. In a letter sent today to Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon, CPJ protested the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) declaration that the West Bank towns of Bethlehem and Qalqiliya…
New York, April 2, 2002—The body of 26-year-old Sergei Kalinovsky, editor-in-chief of the daily Moskovsky Komsomolets—Smolensk, was found yesterday by a lake outside the city of Smolensk in central Russia. Kalinovsky, who reported on local politics and crime for the Smolensk edition of the Moscow daily Moskovsky Komsomolets and the local SCS television station, disappeared…