CPJ calls on government to lift news ban
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply disturbed by an ongoing government ban on news programming on Radio Dzialandzé Mutsamudu (RDM), a popular, privately owned station based in Mutsamudu, capital of the semi-autonomous island of Anjouan.
Seeking journalists’ release, CPJ sends 400 signed appeals to government
New York, February 1, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists has sent 400 appeals to the government of Burma calling for the immediate and unconditional release of imprisoned journalists Aung Pwint and Thaung Tun, recipients of CPJ’s 2004 International Press Freedom Awards. The appeals—signed by leading journalists, media executives, and free press advocates—were delivered to the…
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
JANUARY 31, 2005 Posted: February 14, 2005 José Wakadila, La Référence PlusIMPRISONED Wakadila, a reporter with the private daily La Référence Plus, was taken into custody and imprisoned in the western town of Matadi on defamation charges brought by two national oil executives.
VENEZUELA
JANUARY 31, 2005 Posted: February 4, 2005 Patricia Poleo, El Nuevo País LEGAL ACTION The Attorney General’s Office announced that Poleo, a columnist and director of the Caracas daily El Nuevo País, would be prosecuted on charges of illegally obtaining and disclosing sealed case documents and violating anticorruption legislation. Poleo was accused of publicizing confidential…
CPJ urges vigorous investigations, reforms
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is heartened by your stated commitment to improve the poor press freedom climate in Ukraine. There is much to be remedied–and many benefits to be gained–as your administration ushers in what is widely hoped to be a new democratic era.
Publisher critically wounded in shooting
New York, January 31, 2005—Gunmen shot the publisher of a weekly newspaper four times in the chest as he left his office in Mindanao’s Tagum City on Saturday morning, leaving the journalist critically injured. The Committee to Protect Journalists is investigating the attack on Maximo “Max” Quindao, who also serves as editor of the weekly…
CHINA
JANUARY 29, 2005 Posted: March 28, 2005 Zhang Lin, Freelance IMPRISONED, LEGAL ACTION Zhang, a political essayist who wrote regularly for overseas online news sites, was detained on his return to Anhui Province after traveling to Beijing to mourn the death of Zhao Ziyang, the ousted general secretary of the Communist Party.
SOMALIA
JANUARY 28, 2005 Posted: February 7, 2005 HornAfrik Radio ATTACKED Two unidentified men threw two grenades at the premises of private radio station HornAfrik in the capital, Mogadishu, at around 10 p.m., according to local press freedom group SOJON. The grenades exploded, but the station confirmed that there were no serious casualties or serious damage…
ntelligence agents search for New York Times sources
New York, January 28, 2005—Intelligence agents have been assigned to look for anyone who might have provided interviews or information for the January 23 New York Times article on the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Bangladesh, according to a Bangladeshi intelligence source quoted in the Dhaka-based newspaper The Daily Star. The search has been extended…