New York, May 17, 2004—The Brazilian government dropped its threat on Friday, May 15, to expel New York Times correspondent Larry Rohter, restoring the journalist’s visa. The Ministry of Justice made its decision after receiving a letter from Rohter’s Brazilian lawyers stating that he had not meant to offend Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da…
New York, May 17, 2004—Judes Zossé, publication director of the private daily newspaper L’Hirondelle (The Swallow) in the Central African Republic, was released from prison on Friday, May 14, under a presidential pardon. He had served more than two months of a six-month sentence for defaming President François Bozizé. On March 12, Zossé was sentenced…
New York, May 17, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) welcomes the release of Fery Santoro, a cameraman for Indonesia’s privately owned Rajawali Citra Televisi (RCTI) television station, on Sunday, May 16. Santoro was taken hostage by the Free Aceh Movement (known by its Indonesian acronym, GAM) in June 2003 along with RCTI senior reporter…
New York, May 17, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned that Sami Yousafzai, a stringer for Newsweek who was detained in late April, has been moved from a detention facility in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province to North Waziristan Agency in the country’s semi-autonomous tribal areas. The tribal areas, which are not…
New York, May 14, 2004—A Brazilian judge has allowed New York Times Brazil correspondent Larry Rohter to continue working in Brazil while a government decision to revoke his visa is reviewed. Rohter’s visa was revoked earlier this week after he wrote an article about the drinking habits of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.…
New York, May 14, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the harassment and detention of several Pakistani journalists in connection with the Tuesday, May 11, return of exiled politician Shahbaz Sharif to Lahore. Zaffar Abbas, a producer with the BBC, and Ali Faisal Zaidi, a cameraman with the BBC, accompanied Sharif on his flight…
New York, May 14, 2004—Two months after U.S. government–funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) broadcasts were pulled off the air in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, a radio station in central Ukraine has begun carrying news from RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service. Radio Takt, an independent station based in the city of Vinnitsya, began broadcasting RFE/RL programming on its…
New York, May 12, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the Brazilian Ministry of Justice’s decision to revoke the visa of New York Times Brazil correspondent Larry Rohter. The move came after Rohter wrote an article about the drinking habits of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, known as “Lula.” Rohter is currently…
New York, May 12, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is appalled by the brutal April 30 attack on Mukhamed Berdiyev, a correspondent for the Turkmen Service of the U.S. government–funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), who was beaten by unknown assailants in his apartment in Moscow. He was discovered lying unconscious three days later…
New York, May 11, 2004—Freelance journalist Liu Shui has been sentenced to two years’ administrative detention in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province. CPJ is very concerned that authorities may have arrested Liu in retaliation for his recent writing on sensitive political topics. On May 2, police in Shenzhen detained Liu and a friend on charges of “soliciting…