New York, June 16, 2004—Mohamed Benchicou, publisher of the French-language daily Le Matin, was sentenced by an Algiers court to two years in prison on Monday, June 14, for violating Algeria’s currency exchange laws, according to Youssef Razzouj, Le Matin’s editor. Benchicou was also ordered to pay a large fine, totaling several hundred thousand dollars…
New York, NY, June 16, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) welcomes the release of Internet journalist Le Chi Quang, who served more than 19 months of a four-year jail term for posting essays critical of the government online. According to international news sources, Quang was released on Monday, June 14, from Nam Ha Prison…
New York, June 15, 2004—Two editors from the Guangzhou-based Nanfang Dushi Bao (Southern Metropolis Daily), received reduced prison sentences on appeal at the Intermediate People’s Court in Guangzhou, in the southern Guangdong Province, according to the official Xinhua news agency. Yu Huafeng, Nanfang Dushi Bao deputy editor in chief and general manager, had his prison…
Kinshasa, June 14, 2004—Concluding a two-week mission to the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) today called on the transitional government not to use national security as a justification for restricting the work of the press. Journalists working in the DRC face frequent harassment, legal action, and even imprisonment, according to…
New York, June 14, 2004–Two provincial radio stations run by the private network Bombo Radyo were ordered closed by the local mayor’s office on June 10 because of alleged permit violations, according to local news reports. Mayor Caesar Dy ordered the police to close the stations, DZNC and DWIT, located in Cauayan City, Isabela Province,…
New York, June 11, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) strongly protests the ongoing imprisonment of Hafnaoui Ghoul, an Algerian journalist and human rights activist who has been jailed since May 24 on defamation charges. Ghoul, who writes for the Algerian dailies El-Youm and Djazair News, was detained on May 24 by the police and…
New York, June 11, 2004—Du Daobin, a Chinese Internet essayist, was convicted of subversion today but received a suspended three-year sentence from the Intermediate People’s Court in Xiaogan, a city in the central Hubei Province, according to international news reports. Du’s lawyer, Mo Shaoping, told Agence France-Presse that Du was released from prison today after…
New York, June 11, 2004—Yesterday the Moscow Military District Court again acquitted the six suspects in the October 1994 murder of Dmitry Kholodov, a popular journalist for the Moscow-based independent newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets. The trial is the second one in the case. On June 26, 2002, the same court fully acquitted the defendants—former intelligence officers…
Kinshasa, June 10, 2004—Three community radio stations that had been threatened by rebel forces in the eastern town of Bukavu resumed broadcasting yesterday, after government forces retook the town, according to journalists at the stations. One station reported further threats. Radio Maria, Radio Sauti ya Rehema (Voice of Mercy), and Radio Maendeleo have been able…
New York, June 10, 2004—Tran Khue, an elderly writer and former literature professor, was recently formally charged with espionage, after being detained without charge for almost 18 months. Another writer, Pham Que Duong, who was arrested around the same time, has not yet been charged or tried. According to CPJ sources, on Tuesday, June 9,…