PROMINENT U.S. AND LATIN AMERICAN JOURNALISTS CALL FOR RELEASE OF IMPRISONED CUBAN JOURNALIST
New York, March 16, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) today sent more than 600 appeals—including more than 50 from some of the most renowned journalists in Latin America—to Cuban President Fidel Castro Ruz calling for the release of jailed Cuban journalist Manuel Vázquez Portal, a recipient of CPJ’s 2003 International Press Freedom Award, and…
Government bans ads to newspaper group
New York, March 15, 2004—Last week, Pakistan’s Information Minister, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, acknowledged that the government had suspended advertising in newspapers belonging to the Nawa-i-Waqt Group of Publications, including the English-language daily The Nation and the Urdu-language daily Nawa-i-Waqt. He denied, however, that an official ban had been issued. In February, the government effectively stopped…
Journalist sentenced to six months in jail
New York, March 12, 2004—Judes Zossé, publication director of the private daily newspaper L’Hirondelle (The Swallow) in the Central African Republic (CAR), was sentenced today to six months in prison and fined 200,000 CFA francs (US$375). He was charged with “insulting the head of state.” “This harsh sentence belies the CAR government’s stated commitment to…
HONG KONG JOURNALISTS QUESTIONED AND EXPELLED
New York, March 10, 2004—Authorities in Beijing interrogated three reporters from the Hong Kong-based Apple Daily newspaper yesterday and then deported them to Hong Kong, according to a spokesman for the paper. Apple Daily is the second-largest Chinese-language newspaper in Hong Kong. Early on the morning of March 9, security officials arrived at the journalists’…
AFP PHOTOGRAPHER SHOT IN THE WEST BANK
New York, March 9, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is concerned by today’s shooting by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of Palestinian photographer Saif Dahla in the West Bank city of Jenin. Two witnesses—Dahla’s brother, Reuters photographer Said Dahla and Reuters cameraman Ali Samoudi—told CPJ that there were about half a dozen journalists standing together…
JOURNALIST KILLED AND ANOTHER WOUNDED
New York, March 8, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) mourns the loss of a Spanish television journalist killed yesterday afternoon when gunmen opened fire on demonstrators in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. The demonstrators were calling for the prosecution of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. A U.S. photographer was also wounded in the incident.
CPJ URGES GOVERNMENT TO END CYCLE OF VIOLENCE AGAINST JOURNALISTS
Dhaka, March 5, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) today called upon the government of Bangladesh to vigorously investigate and prosecute all those who murder, assault, or threaten the country’s journalists, in order to end a long cycle of violence against the media and enable journalists to do their jobs safely. During a press conference…
Journalist attacked
New York, March 5, 2004—Vakhtang Komakhidze, a reporter for the well-respected “60 Minutes” investigative journalism program on independent television station Rustavi-2 was brutally attacked today in the autonomous republic of Ajaria in southern Georgia. According to Akaki Gogichaishvili, the host of “60 Minutes,” Komakhidze had spent the last two weeks reporting in Ajaria and was…
JOURNALISTS ATTACKED
Dhaka, March 3, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns yesterday’s violent attacks on at least two journalists covering a student demonstration at Dhaka University. The March 2 demonstration turned violent after police broke up a group of students, who had gathered to protest the February 27 knife attack on Dhaka University professor and writer…
TELEVISION STATION OFFICES ATTACKED
New York, March 3, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns yesterday’s attack on the offices of Geo television in Quetta, the capital of southwestern Pakistan’s Balochistan Province. On March 2, about 20 rioters broke into the offices of the private Geo television station and set fire to administrative records, newspapers, and other materials, according…