Uzbek leader urged to end harassment of independent press
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned about your regime’s ongoing crackdown on independent journalists and media. Your government’s actions are especially troubling in the aftermath of the May 13 unrest in the northeast city of Andijan, during which security forces opened fire on antigovernment demonstrators, killing between 500 and 1,000 civilians, according to local and international human rights organizations and eyewitness accounts.
CPJ condemns harassment of journalists by Royal Nepalese Army
New York, August 1, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the harassment and intimidation of three journalists by security forces in Nepal’s mid-western Dailekh district in retaliation for their reports alleging that the Royal Nepalese Army is recruiting children to work as informants. Harihar Singh Rathour, a reporter for Kantipur daily and Kathmandu Post; Pushkar…
Journalist detained by judicial police
New York, July 29, 2005—The managing director of the small private newspaper La Tolérance was arrested yesterday by judicial police, who have accused him of “discrediting” a state prosecutor in an article published in his newspaper. Jean Pierre Phambu Lutette has been jailed in a cell at the public prosecutor’s department in the capital, Kinshasa,…
Journalists injured in Kashmir gun battle
New York, July 29, 2005—As many as eight journalists were injured today in Srinagar, the major city of Indian Kashmir, after a grenade attack triggered gunfire between militants and security forces in the area, according to international news reports and local reporters. At least one journalist, Muzzafar Ahmad Bhat, a cameraman for the Indian news…
Foreign Ministry summons U.S. diplomat after ABC report
New York, July 29, 2005—The Russian Foreign Ministry today issued a formal complaint to a U.S. diplomat, a day after the ABC News program “Nightline” aired an interview with Chechen rebel leader Shamil Basayev, according to international news reports. Already this year, Russian authorities have pressured both Britain and Sweden after independent media in those…
Journalist sentenced to two years in prison
New York, July 29, 2005—A judge in northern Tajikistan yesterday sentenced independent journalist Jumaboy Tolibov to two years in a prison colony on charges of hooliganism, illegally entering a residence, and abusing his office as a local government administrator, according to local and international reports. The defense intends to appeal the verdict. Nuriddin Karshiboyev, head…
State broadcaster told to stop opposition coverage
New York, July 28, 2005—A group of armed, uniformed soldiers yesterday stormed the Abidjan offices of state broadcaster Radiodiffusion Télévision Ivoirienne (RTI) and instructed directors not to broadcast footage of opposition members, according to CPJ sources and local news reports. The soldiers identified themselves as members of the Republican Guard but refused to give their…
Company seeks massive damages in defamation cases
Bangkok, Thailand, July 28, 2005—A Thai company with ties to a former government official has filed criminal defamation complaints seeking massive damages from two daily newspapers owned by the Matichon media company. The Committee to Protect Journalists said today it is deeply concerned about the cases, part of a troubling trend toward litigation against the…
Steiger, Brokaw visit Miller in prison, present message from CPJ
Alexandria, Va., July 28, 2005—A delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists met with jailed New York Times reporter Judith Miller in the Alexandria Detention Center tonight to deliver a message of support and call for an immediate end to her imprisonment. Paul Steiger, CPJ chairman and Wall Street Journal managing editor, headed the delegation,…