New York, November 3, 1999 — Seven cameramen and reporters kidnapped by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) were released yesterday. The journalists were set free in the afternoon of November 2 near Barrancabermeja, an important oil-refining center. Concern for the journalists’ safety had been running high since heavy fighting erupted on October 16…
New York, November 3, 1999 — Jerry Needam, acting editor of the bimonthly Ogoni Star newspaper in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, was arraigned and released on bail yesterday. Needam had been held since October 11 in connection with the publication of a police operational order that detailed a planned clampdown on ethnic Ijaw…
New York, October 29, 1999– Leftist guerrillas who kidnapped a Colombian journalist on October 26 say they will only release him if a rebel communiqué is made public. But local journalists have rejected the demand, saying they only broadcast the rebel’s message once the kidnapped journalist is set free. Henry Romero, a freelance photographer who…
New York, October 27, 1999 — A Northern Irish journalist does not have to hand over his notes on the 1989 murder of a Belfast lawyer, the province’s senior judge ruled today. Ed Moloney, the Northern Ireland editor of the Dublin-based Sunday Tribune, had faced up to five years in jail and unlimited fines for…
October 26, 1999 — CPJ is alarmed about a defamation campaign being waged against Gustavo Gorriti, the Peruvian-born associate editor of the leading Panama City daily La Prensa. Earlier this month, a mysterious organization called the “Committee for Freedom of Expression in Panama” put up posters all around Panama City that showed Gorriti’s face with…
Calls on Prime Minister to Launch Immediate Investigation and to Bring Perpetrators to Justice New York, N.Y., October 21, 1999-The Committee to Protect Journalists expressed outrage at the assassination today of prominent academic and journalist Ahmet Taner Kislali. Kislali, a regular columnist for the daily Cumhuriyet,was killed today in a bomb attack in front of his…
October 13, 1999 (CPJ) -The Pakistani army took over state-run television and radio yesterday during a military coup against the civilian government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Pakistan Television (PTV) went off the air within hours of its broadcast announcing the prime minister’s dismissal of Pakistan’s army chief, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, which apparently prompted the…
October 8, 1999 – An East Timorese farmer said he witnessed the shooting of Sander Thoenes, a Dutch correspondent killed near Dili last month (map), according to The Christian Science Monitorand wire service reports. Alexandre Estevao said the gunmen wore Indonesian military uniforms with insignia for Battalion 745, a unit of East Timorese known for their…
Islamabad, October 6, 1999 – After a two-hour hearing, the Chief Election Commissioner of Pakistan dismissed a petition that sought to exclude embattled editor Najam Sethi from political life by having him declared non-Muslim. The petition was filed on June 24 by legislator Syed Zafar Ali Shah, a member of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s ruling…
Islamabad, October 6, 1999 – After a two-hour hearing, the Chief Election Commissioner of Pakistan dismissed a petition that sought to exclude embattled editor Najam Sethi from political life by having him declared non-Muslim. The petition was filed on June 24 by legislator Syed Zafar Ali Shah, a member of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s ruling…