New York, May 21, 2003—Atahar Siddik Khasru, a reporter for the national Bengali-language daily Ittefaq who had been missing for three weeks, was found early this morning by a village roadside, his hands and feet bound by heavy chains secured with a padlock. A villager spotted Khasru’s body at around 5:30 a.m. and alerted local…
New York, May 21, 2003—On May 17, free-lance journalist Jiang Qisheng was released from prison after completing his four-year prison term. Jiang was arrested on May 18, 1999, after writing a series of essays and petitions marking the 10th anniversary of the June 4, 1989, military crackdown on peaceful protesters in the capital, Beijing. On…
New York, May 20, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) today sent a letter of inquiry to Philippine president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo requesting that authorities investigate the murder of radio announcer Apolinario “Polly” Pobeda and attacks on several other journalists. Pobeda was shot by unidentified assailants on Saturday, May 17 as he rode his motorcycle…
New York, May 19, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns today’s violent attack against Aleksandr Stetsun, a journalist with Ural Television Agency (TAU), an independent station in the city of Ekaterinburg, 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) east of the capital, Moscow, in the Ural Mountains. The attack occurred this morning while Stetsun was standing outside…
New York, May 16, 2003—Andrew Meldrum, Zimbabwe correspondent for the U.K.-based Guardian newspaper, was ordered today by immigration officials in the capital, Harare, to leave the country. Meldrum went to the Department of Immigration today at 10:00 a.m. for a scheduled meeting with officials, where he was informed he had to leave Zimbabwe. Outside the…
New York, May 16, 2003—Zimbabwean immigration officials today deported Andrew Meldrum, Zimbabwe correspondent for the U.K.-based Guardian newspaper, from the country. Officials at Harare Airport forced Meldrum onto a London-bound Air Zimbabwe flight, ignoring a high court order staying the reporter’s deportation and instructing authorities to produce Meldrum for a court hearing on his expulsion.…
New York, May 15, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed by recent measures taken against the press in Sudan, including the arrest of one journalist and the closure of a newspaper. Noureddin Madani, editor of the daily Al-Sahafa, told CPJ that Yousef al-Bashir Moussa, the newspaper’s correspondent in the city of Nyala, (about…
Bogotá, Colombia, May 12, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is extremely concerned about two Colombian journalists who have fled their homes. One fled after being shot, and the other left after receiving death threats. Both men reported frequently on the country’s 40-year-old civil war, which pits leftist guerrillas against the government and right-wing paramilitary…
Bogotá, Colômbia, 12 de maio de 2003—O Comitê para a Proteção dos Jornalistas (CPJ, por sua sigla em inglês) está preocupado com dois jornalistas colombianos que abandonaram suas casas. Um escapou de ser baleado e o outro recebeu ameaças de morte. Ambos informavam com freqüência sobre a guerra civil de quase quatro décadas no país,…
New York, May 12, 2003—Moroccan journalist Ali Lmrabet, who began a hunger strike on Tuesday, May 6, to protest continued government harassment, is scheduled to appear in a court in the capital, Rabat, tomorrow to face charges including “insulting the king” and “challenging the territorial integrity of the state.” According to Lmrabet, in April, police…