New York, June 17, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed by the decision of an appeals court in Morocco’s capital, Rabat, to uphold journalist Ali Lmrabet’s May 21 criminal conviction, which resulted in his imprisonment and the banning of his magazines. According to Lmrabet’s lawyer, the court decided to reduce the prison sentence…
New York, June 16, 2003—Internet essayist Pham Hong Son is scheduled to be tried this week on charges of espionage. Son has been in prison for more than a year for publishing an online article about democracy. An official from the Hanoi People’s Court told The Associated Press that the trial is set for Wednesday,…
New York, June 13, 2003—On Wednesday, June 11, state security officials in the Dominican Republic interrogated journalist Marino Zapete Corniel and accused him of insulting President Hipólito Mejía in a series of recent articles. According to Zapete, at around 6 a.m., four officials from the National Department of Investigations (DNI) and an assistant prosecutor arrived…
New York, June 12, 2003—A delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) met with Moroccan ambassador to the United States, Aziz Mekouar, in Washington, D.C., today to express its deep concern about the recent imprisonment of two Moroccan editors and to call for their immediate release. Ali Lmrabet, owner and editor of two weeklies,…
New York, June 11, 2003—An Argentine photographer was brutally attacked by police forces on Monday, June 9, while covering an incident outside an industrial plant in the city of Buenos Aires. At around 5:30 p.m. on Monday, agents of the Federal Police physically assaulted Alejandro Goldín, 18, a photographer for Indymedia Argentina, an international alternative…
New York, June 5, 2003—According to 24-year-old free-lancer Vladimir Jesic, the mayor of the central city of Cacak attacked him during an interview on TV Apolo on Sunday, June 1, in the capital, Belgrade. Mayor Velimir Ilic, who also heads the New Serbia party, became angry when Jesic asked him if he is related to…
New York, June 3, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the recent imprisonment of Mostafa Bakry and his brother Mahmoud Bakry, editor-in-chief and deputy editor-in-chief, respectively, of the weekly newspaper Al-Osboa. On Sunday, June 1, Cairo’s Court of Cassation, Egypt’s highest legal authority, rejected the appeals of the journalists, who had been sentenced to…
New York, June 2, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is concerned about the health of Ali Lmrabet, director of two Casablanca-based weeklies, the Arabic-language Douman and its French sister publication, Demain. Lmrabet, who was sentenced to four years in prison on May 21 for “insulting the king” and “challenging the territorial integrity of the…
New York, May 30, 2003—CPJ is disturbed that the independent, Minsk-based newspaper Belaruskaya Delovaya Gazeta was forced to cease publication for three months on order of Belarusian information minister Mikhail Podgayny. Minister Podgayny issued the order on Wednesday, May 28, and the papers closed yesterday. The Information Ministry had given three official warnings to Belaruskaya…
New York, May 30, 2003–CPJ is disturbed that the independent, Minsk-based newspaper Belaruskaya Delovaya Gazeta was forced to cease publication for three months on order of Belarusian information minister Mikhail Podgayny. Minister Podgayny issued the order on Wednesday, May 28, and the papers closed yesterday. The Information Ministry had given three official warnings to Belaruskaya…