Pakistan

Washington, D.C., May 2, 2002—In Senate testimony today, a CPJ representative argued that the U.S. government should never recruit journalists as spies, and that U.S. intelligence operatives should never pose as journalists. Appearing before the Subcommittee on International Operations and Terrorism of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, CPJ Washington representative Frank Smyth underscored the need…

New York, April 23, 2002—After two earlier adjournments, the trial of four men charged with the kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl resumed this week in Karachi, Pakistan. The trial, which is being held before a special anti-terrorism court convened at Karachi’s Central Jail, remains closed to journalists and to the…

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the police assault yesterday on journalists in Faisalabad, Punjab Province, during a rally staged to promote an upcoming referendum to prolong your presidency for five more years.

New York April 4, 2002—CPJ commends the efforts of Pakistani authorities to apprehend and prosecute the killers of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. The trial of four men charged with the journalist’s kidnapping and murder is scheduled to begin tomorrow, April 5. Seven others accused in the case remain at large. “Around the world,…

There were 118 journalists in prison around the world at the end of 2001 who were jailed for practicing their profession. The number is up significantly from the previous year, when 81 journalists were in jail, and represents a return to the level of 1998, when 118 were also imprisoned.

PREFACE by Ann Garrels INTRODUCTION by Ann Cooper REGIONAL ANALYSES: AFRICA | AMERICAS | ASIA | EUROPE AND CENTRAL ASIA | MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA AFRICA: Country summaries Angola | Benin | Botswana | Burkina Faso | Burundi | Cameroon | Central African Republic | Chad | Comoros | Democratic Republic of Congo |…

By Anne Garrels  ON NOVEMBER 19, 2001, I was at the border negotiating with officials to get across into Afghanistan. There was suddenly an unexplained problem, yet journalists arriving from Afghanistan said they had no trouble along the way. I was frustrated. None of us knew that a caravan of our colleagues had just been…

Journalists across Asia faced extraordinary pressures in 2001. Risks included reporting on war and insurgency, covering crime and corruption, or simply expressing a dissenting view in an authoritarian state. CPJ’s two most striking indices of press freedom are the annual toll of journalists killed around the world and our list of journalists imprisoned at the…

In recent years, it had become common for people who care about Afghanistan to worry about its growing invisibility. The all-encompassing burqa gown, which the ruling Taliban forced women to wear, seemed a metaphor for the militia’s efforts to hide Afghanistan’s people and problems from the world. Visits by foreign correspondents were restricted; taking pictures…

In 2001, the anti-corruption watchdog group Transparency International ranked Bangladesh the most corrupt country in the world. The almost complete collapse of law and order in the country was seen as one of the prime reasons behind the fall from power of the Awami League. The year began with a brutal attack on a young…