New York, July 7, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is gravely concerned about the safety of Ali Astamirov, a correspondent for Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency, who was abducted on Friday, July 4, by unknown armed assailants in Ingushetia, according to sources in Russia. Astamirov, who previously worked for Chechnya’s Grozny Television and reported…
New York, July 3, 2003—Algerian authorities banned foreign media from covering yesterday’s release of two convicted leaders of the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), a group that was outlawed in 1992 when its party was poised to win parliamentary elections. At least two French news crews were expelled today for ignoring the ban. According to CPJ…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about the safety of journalists Ersa Siregar and Ferry Santoro, who went missing over the weekend while reporting on the conflict in the northwestern province of Aceh for the private Indonesian television channel RCTI.
New York, July 2, 2003—At least two unidentified men killed Nicanor Linhares Batista, host of a radio show and owner of a radio station in Brazil’s northeastern state of Ceará. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is investigating whether the murder was related to Nicanor’s journalistic work. Nicanor, 42, was the owner of Rádio Vale…
Nova York, 2 de junho de 2003—Ao menos dois sujeitos não identificados mataram Nicanor Linhares Batista, apresentador de um programa de rádio e proprietário de uma emissora de rádio no estado do Ceará. O Comitê para a Proteção dos Jornalistas (CPJ, por sua sigla em inglês) investiga se o assassinato está vinculado com o trabalho…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an independent, nonpartisan organization dedicated to defending press freedom worldwide, is very concerned about a bill, titled “On Amendments and Addendums Brought into Certain Legislative Acts,” that was passed by the lower and upper houses of Russia’s parliament on June 18 and June 25, respectively. The bill, which seeks to strengthen state regulation over independent media outlets, particularly their coverage of election campaigns, currently awaits your approval.
New York, July 1, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed by the prosecution of Mansour al-Jamri and Hussein Khalaf, editor and reporter, respectively, of the independent Bahraini daily Al-Wasat. Today was the second hearing in a trial that began on June 21, and is to resume in September. The case against Al-Jamri and…
New York, July 1, 2003–A Czech court yesterday convicted the former general secretary of the Foreign Ministry, Karel Srba, of plotting to murder Sabina Slonkova, an investigative reporter for the independent Prague daily Mlada Fronta Dnes. According to local and international press reports, a regional court in the southern city of Ceske Budejovice convicted Srba…
New York, June 30, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the recent expulsion of Pavel Selin, a correspondent with the Russian television network NTV based in Belarus’s capital, Minsk. On Saturday, June 28, Selin was summon to the Internal Affairs Ministry, where he was told to leave the country within 24 hours, according to…
New York, June 30, 2003—Japanese photographer Takagi Tadatomo was released and deported from Indonesia’s war-torn Aceh Province on Sunday, June 29, after being held for two days. The 25-year-old photographer left Medan, the capital of neighboring North Sumatra Province, on a morning flight to Singapore. Indonesian military authorities in northern Aceh detained Tadatomo last Thursday,…