New York City, October 23, 2001—CPJ has confirmed that on Monday, October 15, police beat four journalists as they covered an anti-American demonstration in front of the House of Representatives in Jakarta. The Jakarta Post identified the journalists as Medo Malianza, a camerman for Metro TV, a private, national all-news channel; Agung Nugroho, a cameraman…
New York, October 24, 2001—CPJ is alarmed that the Venezuelan National Telecommunications Commission (Conatel) is investigating Globovisión, a 24-hour news channel, to determine whether the station violated media broadcast regulations by reporting “false” news. Conatel could fine the station or suspend its license temporarily or permanently. On September 29, Globovisión reported that nine taxi drivers…
New York, October 22, 2001—An ethnic Albanian journalist in Kosovo was shot and killed in a drive-by shooting last Friday, according to local and international reports. Bekim Kastrati, a journalist for the Albanian-language daily Bota Sot, was shot on October 19 at around 8 p.m. in the village of Lausa, west of the provincial capital,…
New York, October 16, 2001—In response to a CPJ letter of inquiry sent to Angolan president Eduardo dos Santos on July 10, Angola’s attorney general, Domingos Culolo, wrote that preliminary findings of a police investigation into the fatal shooting of radio journalist Alegria Gustavo revealed that the murder was not politically motivated. On July 8,…
New York, October 17, 2001—CPJ welcomes the release from prison of El’mar Guseynov, founder of the independent Russian-language weekly Bakinskiy Bul’var, and Shahbaz Huduoglu, editor-in-chief of the independent weekly Milletin Sesi. On October 16, CPJ sent a letter to President Heidar Aliyev protesting the cases against the journalists, who were found guilty in September of…
New York, October 16, 2001—CPJ is deeply concerned by the prolonged detention of French journalist Michel Peyrard and his guides, Pakistani nationals Mukkaram Khan and Mohammad Irfan. Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban regime has accused all three of spying, a charge that carries the death penalty. Peyrard is a reporter for the weekly magazine Paris Match. Khan,…
New York, October 16, 2001—CPJ welcomes the release of Aziz Zemouri, French reporter for the weekly Figaro Magazine, whom Taliban officials detained and subsequently handed over to Pakistani authorities after he crossed into Afghanistan last week. Zemouri was turned over to Pakistan’s border security forces at Ghulam Khan by Taliban authorities in North Waziristan Agency…
New York, October 15, 2001—Anna Politkovskaya, a correspondent with Moscow-based newspaper Novaya Gazeta known for her investigative reports on human rights abuses committed by the Russian military in Chechnya, fled to Vienna, Austria, last week. Novaya Gazeta’s deputy editor-in-chief, Sergey Sokolov, told CPJ in a telephone interview today that the threats stemmed from a September…
New York, October 16, 2001—The Committee to Protect Journalists is monitoring with concern a pattern of threatening incidents involving journalists working in the United States. In recent weeks, several employees of U.S. media companies have been exposed to anthrax. Robert Stevens, a photo editor at The Sun in Boca Raton, Florida, died after inhaling anthrax.…