New York, March 23, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is saddened and alarmed by the death yesterday of Palestinian journalist Mohamed Abu Halima, who was killed outside the city of Nablus in the West Bank. According to local Palestinian journalists, Abu Halima, who was a journalism student at Al-Najah University in Nablus and a…
New York, March 23, 2004—The prison sentence of a journalist convicted of libeling a local official has been postponed after a large group of journalists protested the imprisonment. Andrzej Marek, editor-in-chief of the weekly Wiesci Polickie (Police News) in the western Polish town of Police, was convicted in November 2003 of libeling Piotr Misilo, then…
New York, March 22, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the imprisonment of Jean-Baptiste Hounkonnou, publication director of the independent daily Le Nouvel Essor, which is based in Parakou, a city in the eastern central region of Benin. Honkounnou was arrested and imprisoned following a March 16 court conviction on charges of criminal defamation.…
New York, March 22, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is gravely concerned by the recent arrests of three editors of the Guangzhou-based Nanfang Dushi Bao (Southern Metropolis News). On Friday, March 19, the Dongshan District Court in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, sentenced Yu Huafeng, Nanfang Dushi Bao deputy editor-in-chief and general manager, to 12 years…
New York, March 19, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) welcomes the early release of freelance photojournalist Jae Hyun Seok but remains concerned that the charges against him have not been dropped. Seok, a South Korean national, was released today from prison in Shandong Province. He arrived at Inchon International Airport in Seoul late this…
New York, March 19, 2004—Ali al-Khatib, a reporter for the United Arab Emiratesbased satellite news channel Al-Arabiyya who was wounded yesterday when U.S. troops fired on a car carrying four station employees, has died. Al-Arabiyya news director Saleh Negm told CPJ that al-Khatib died in a hospital from a bullet wound to his head. Another…
New York, March 18, 2004—The Chinese government today announced that South Korean freelance photographer Jae Hyun Seok will be released from prison tomorrow, March 19. Seok is serving a two-year prison term on charges of human trafficking. In responding to a reporter’s question at a press briefing today, Foreign Affairs Ministry Spokesman Kong Quan confirmed…
New York, March 18, 2004 —The Central Jakarta District Court today ordered Tempo magazine to publicly apologize and to pay a fine of 500 million rupiah (US$59,000) in a case filed by prominent businessman Tomy Winata. “This verdict, coming on the heels of a criminal defamation suit filed by Tomy Winata, sends a chilling message…
New York, March 18, 2004—U.S. troops in Iraq’s capital, Baghdad, today shot and killed a journalist from the United Arab Emiratesbased satellite news channel Al-Arabiyya and seriously wounded another. Cameraman Ali Abdel-Aziz was fatally shot at a checkpoint in Baghdad. The AP reported that Al-Arabiyya correspondent Ali al-Khatib was also wounded. In a separate incident…
New York, March 18, 2004—Imprisoned freelance journalist Khawar Mehdi Rizvi is scheduled to appear at a court hearing tomorrow in the southwestern city of Quetta, Pakistan. According to local journalists, the court will consider whether Rizvi’s upcoming trial on sedition charges will be held in anti-terrorism court or regular court. The charges against Rizvi stem…