New York, May 5, 2004—Authorities in Guinea have blocked distribution of this week’s edition of the France-based news weekly Jeune Afrique L’Intelligent, which carries an exclusive interview with François Lonsény Fall, who just resigned as Guinea’s prime minister. The magazine’s May 2-8 edition was expected on the streets of the capital, Conakry, on Monday but…
New York, May 4, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the Friday, April 30, attack on journalists covering an opposition rally in the city of Batumi, in the autonomous republic of Ajaria in southern Georgia. According to Alexi Tvaradze, a cameraman with the independent television station Rustavi-2, several police officers beat him with clubs…
New York, May 4, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned by yesterday’s police raid on the home of Dharmeratnam Sivaram, a veteran journalist and columnist, in Colombo, Sri Lanka’s capital. Sivaram edits Tamilnet (www.tamilnet.com), an online news service that covers Sri Lankan affairs with special emphasis on news of interest to the…
MAY 3, 2004 Posted: June 10, 2005 Mohamed Halane, HornAfrik ATTACKED Nuradin Mualin Muktar, Baydhabo.com and Midnimo.com ATTACKED Halane, a reporter for private radio HornAfrik and Mualin, an online journalist, were injured in a huge blast at a Mogadishu stadium, where they were covering a rally by Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi. At least 15…
New York, May 3, 2004—Jean-Baptiste Hounkonnou, publication director of the Beninese independent daily Le Nouvel Essor, was granted a provisional release after spending six weeks in jail on criminal defamation charges. On April 27, Benin’s Court of Appeal granted Hounkonnou’s request for provisional release, and he was freed the same day, according to CPJ sources.…
May 3, 2004, New York—On Wednesday, May 5, the Supreme People’s Court in Vietnam’s capital, Hanoi, will hear the appeal of journalist Nguyen Vu Binh, who is currently serving a seven-year sentence on charges of espionage. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) calls for his immediate release and for all charges against him to be…
New York, April 30, 2004—The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), which is based in Strasbourg, France, on Wednesday passed a resolution seeking sanctions against the authoritarian government of Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko for failing to properly investigate a series of abductions, including the July 2000 abduction of journalist Dmitry Zavadsky. PACE called…
New York, April 29, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns Tuesday’s vicious attack on Sumi Khan, a crime reporter with the newsmagazine Weekly 2000, who was knifed during an apparent kidnapping attempt in the southeastern port city of Chittagong. Khan was on her way home on the evening of April 27 when three unidentified…
New York, April 29, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed that two Brazilian radio journalists known for their coverage of corruption and crime were killed last week in remote regions. On April 24, radio host José Carlos Araújo was killed in the town of Timbaúba, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) from the state…