Jakarta court delays Tempo verdict as international observers crowd courtroom
Jakarta, Sept. 7, 2004—Under intense scrutiny from the international media and press advocates from around the world, a court yesterday delayed its verdict in a criminal defamation case widely seen as a grave threat to press freedom in Indonesia. No official reason was given for delaying a verdict in the trial of Tempo editor Bambang…
Interim government imposes indefinite ban on Al-Jazeera
New York, September 7, 2004—Iraq’s interim government has imposed an indefinite ban on newsgathering by Al-Jazeera, extending a temporary suspension and saying the satellite news channel had failed to properly explain its coverage. The Committee to Protect Journalists has called on Iraqi leaders to reverse the ban immediately, saying it “amounts to censorship that further…
Independent coverage obstructed in Beslan; detentions, harassment reported
New York, September 7, 2004— Independent media coverage of last week’s hostage crisis in Beslan, Russia, was obstructed several times by detentions or harassment, the Committee to Protect Journalists has found. Thirty to 40 heavily armed fighters, allegedly of Chechen, Ingush and North Ossetian origin, took more than 1,000 children, parents and teachers hostage on…
PROMINENT RUSSIAN JOURNALIST SENTENCED TO PRISON FOR HOOLIGANISM
New York, September 3, 2004-—The Committee to Protect Journalists is outraged at today’s decision of a Moscow court to sentence prominent journalist Andrei Babitsky, a correspondent for the Russian Service of the U.S. governmentfunded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), to five days in prison for “hooliganism.” According to local press reports, police at Vnukovo Airport…
CPJ condemns treatment of imprisoned journalists
New York, September 2, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the continued imprisonment of more than two dozen Cuban journalists, several of whom have received inadequate medical care or been harassed for protesting their conditions. The Cuban government arrested 29 journalists in March 2003 in a massive crackdown on the independent media. Accused of being…
Journalist arrested and detained
New York, September 2, 2004–Police arrested the editor-in-chief of the independent Somali-language daily Jamhuuriya and its weekly English-language edition, The Republican, in the self-declared republic of Somaliland this week. Hassan Said Yusuf was still in police custody today, and local journalists have not been allowed to visit him, according to local sources. Yusuf was arrested…
Another journalist detained at Moscow airport
New York, September 2, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by reports that prominent Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya was poisoned last night en route to Beslan, North Ossetia, where about 40 heavily armed fighters, reportedly of Chechen and Ingush origin, seized hostages at an elementary school yesterday.
Columnist brutally beaten; CPJ investigates possible link to work
New York, September 1, 2004—A Mexican columnist who wrote about government corruption and crime was beaten to death yesterday in the city of Matamoros, near the United States border. The Committee to Protect Journalists is investigating whether the murder was tied to his reporting. Francisco Arratia Saldierna, 55, wrote a column called “Portavoz” (Spokesman) that…
Press offices attacked in riots sparked by killings in Iraq
New York, September 1, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists deplores today’s attacks on newspaper and television offices in Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, during violent protests that followed the slayings of 12 Nepalese contract workers by militants in Iraq. At mid-day, crowds set fire to vans and motorcycles and wrecked equipment inside the premises of English-language Kantipur…
Writers sued for libel
New York, August 31, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the trial of two Chinese authors who wrote a banned book investigating local corruption and mistreatment of peasants in Anhui Province. The two went on trial for libel in Fuyang Intermediate People’s Court last week, and the proceedings ended on August 28. A verdict is…