Columnist on trial for “inciting hatred” Fehmi Koru Faces Up to Four Years in Prison for 1999 Commentary Aired on Turkish TV Station
Good evening respected viewers, The placard carried by a girl from Marmara University and bearing the words “Wasn’t 7.4 convincing enough?” caused many tempers to fray. A leaflet distributed at Ankara’s Kocatepe Mosque during a service to commemorate the death of Bediuzzaman Sait Nursi added further fuel to the flames. And when one of the…
CPJ alarmed by move to restrict foreign broadcasters
New York, April 19, 2001 — The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed by the Singapore Parliament’s passage today of a bill designed to curb foreign broadcasters’ coverage of local issues. The new law, which gives the government broad power to restrict or suspend broadcasters for “engaging in domestic politics,” is expected to take…
Information minister fails to gag weekly paper
New York, April 19, 2001 — Jonathan Moyo, Zimbabwe’s beleaguered minister of state for information and publicity, has suffered a setback in his latest court battle with the country’s independent press. On April 17, a High Court judge ruled against Moyo’s attempt to restrain the Harare business weekly Zimbabwe Independent from reporting on embezzlement charges…
Gazprom occupies NTV headquarters
New York, April 17, 2001 — After a tense 11-day standoff, the state-dominated Gazprom corporation succeeded in occupying the headquarters of NTV, formerly Russia’s only independent national television station, according to international press reports and local sources. At 3:30 a.m. on Saturday, April 14, Boris Jordan, a controversial American financier appointed by Gazprom to head…
Government Threatens to Impose Additional Restrictions on Foreign Correspondents
New York, April 17, 2001 —The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about the injuries suffered by Marie Colvin, an award-winning American journalist who works for the British newspaper The Sunday Times. Colvin, who was caught yesterday in a skirmish between rebel forces and government troops, received four shrapnel wounds in her head,…
Parliament may abolish criminal libel
New York, April 13, 2001 — The Kyrgyz Parliament is currently considering the repeal of the republic’s notorious criminal libel statutes. A parliamentary committee recently circulated draft legislation to exclude articles 127 and 128 (for libel and insult respectively) from the Criminal Code. On April 4, committee chairman Azimbek Beknazarov told local reporters that the…
Journalist under house arrest
New York, April 12, 2001 — Cuban authorities placed local journalist Ricardo González Alfonso under house arrest on April 9, according to the local independent news agency CubaPress. González Alfonso, 49, is the Cuba correspondent for the Paris-based press freedom organization Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). National Revolutionary Police (PNR) officers detained the journalist after his…
Journalist killed on Kosovo-Macedonia BorderCPJ Calls For Investigation Into Source Of Attacks
New York, March 29, 2001 — CPJ deplores the death of a British journalist this morning in the Kosovo village of Krivenik, near the Macedonian border. Kerem Lawton, 30, a British national and producer for Associated Press Television News, died from shrapnel wounds sustained when a shell struck his car. At least two other civilians…
Israeli journalists barred from Arab summit
New York, March 28, 2001 — Six Israeli journalists were prevented from covering this week’s Arab summit in Amman after Jordanian security authorities requested that they leave the country, citing threats on their safety, CPJ has learned. Roey Gilad, a spokesman for the Israeli embassy in Amman, told CPJ that Jordanian authorities asked the journalists…
JOURNALIST MURDERED
New York, March 27, 2001 — CPJ is deeply concerned about the recent murder of Saúl Antonio Martínez Gutiérrez, deputy editor of the daily El Imparcial, based in Matamoros, Tamaulipas State. CPJ is investigating the murder to determine whether Martínez Gutiérrez was killed because of his professional work. At around 4:30 p.m. on March 24,…