CPJ CONDEMNS SENTENCING OF JOURNALIST TO LABOR CAMP
New York, August 31, 2001—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the sentencing of free-lance writer Liu Haofeng to three years at a labor camp for “endangering national security.” Documents recently provided to CPJ indicate that Liu was sentenced on May 16 to “reeducation through labor,” a form of administrative detention that allows officials to…
Cameraman assaulted in city park
New York, August 30, 2001—Aleksey Movsesyan, a 23-year-old cameraman with the independent television station Efir-1 in the eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk, was assaulted on the evening of Sunday, August 26, CPJ has confirmed. An assailant struck Movsesyan with a hard object between 11 p.m. and midnight while the journalist was walking in a park…
Supreme Court refuses to consider lifting ban on controversial book
New York, August 29, 2001—The Chilean Supreme Court has refused to consider journalist Alejandra Matus’ appeal against the court-ordered banning of The Black Book of Chilean Justice, her muckraking book about the Chilean judiciary. Matus’ book was banned more than two years ago. Since then, several court rulings have upheld the ban, even though a…
Radio station bombed in Medellín
New York, August 29, 2001—On the evening of August 23, a powerful bomb exploded in a street behind the Medellín offices of Caracol Radio, an affiliate of the national Caracol Radio Network, according to local news reports. The blast partially destroyed Caracol’s broadcasting facilities along with nearby buildings and houses. At least 35 people suffered…
Journalist murdered on eve of scheduled testimony in defamation case
New York, August 27, 2001—In a letter sent today to Rio de Janeiro State attorney general Francesco Conte, CPJ expressed deep concern about the August 16 murder of journalist Mário Coelho de Almeida Filho and requested more information about the case. Coelho was killed one day before he was to testify in a criminal defamation…
FORMER DICTATOR REFUSES TO TESTIFY IN JOURNALIST’S UNSOLVED MURDER
New York, August 27, 2001—CPJ urges former Nigerian military dictator Gen. Ibrahim Babangida to testify before the Nigerian Human Rights Violations Investigations Commission about his alleged responsibility for the 1986 murder of prominent journalist Dele Giwa. “It is time to solve the 15-year mystery of Dele Giwa’s murder,” said CPJ executive director Ann Cooper. “We…
Journalist faces travel restrictions
New York, August 23, 2001—Immigration officials barred Gilberto Neto, reporter for the independent weekly Folha 8, from leaving Angola on August 18, CPJ has confirmed. Neto was traveling to attend a three-week training course at the Reuters Institute in London. At the airport, immigration officials told him he was not allowed to leave the country…
Officials seize independent-media equipment ahead of presidential election
“[My paper] gives alternative information, and the authorities do not like that,” an editor told CPJ. New York, August 23, 2001—In an ongoing crackdown on the independent press during the run-up to the September 9 presidential elections, Belarusian government officials have seized computers and other office equipment from several publications. Some of the equipment had…
INDEPENDENT PRESS UNDER SIEGE IN ZIMBABWE
New York, August 23, 2001—President Robert Mugabe and his Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) government have intensified the harsh crackdown on the independent press ahead of next year’s presidential elections. In the last two weeks, several journalists in Harare have faced detention and interrogation, threats of criminal prosecution, and other forms of…
CPJ concerned about detained Lebanese journalists
New York, August 21, 2001—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is concerned about the recent arrests of two Lebanese journalists accused of having illegal contacts with Israeli officials. The journalists’ incarceration followed a series of large-scale arrests of Christians who oppose Syria’s military presence in Lebanon. About 250 individuals have been detained this month alone.…