New York, June 17, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed by the decision of an appeals court in Morocco’s capital, Rabat, to uphold journalist Ali Lmrabet’s May 21 criminal conviction, which resulted in his imprisonment and the banning of his magazines. According to Lmrabet’s lawyer, the court decided to reduce the prison sentence…
New York, June 16, 2003—Internet essayist Pham Hong Son is scheduled to be tried this week on charges of espionage. Son has been in prison for more than a year for publishing an online article about democracy. An official from the Hanoi People’s Court told The Associated Press that the trial is set for Wednesday,…
New York, June 13, 2003—On Wednesday, June 11, state security officials in the Dominican Republic interrogated journalist Marino Zapete Corniel and accused him of insulting President Hipólito Mejía in a series of recent articles. According to Zapete, at around 6 a.m., four officials from the National Department of Investigations (DNI) and an assistant prosecutor arrived…
New York, June 12, 2003—A delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) met with Moroccan ambassador to the United States, Aziz Mekouar, in Washington, D.C., today to express its deep concern about the recent imprisonment of two Moroccan editors and to call for their immediate release. Ali Lmrabet, owner and editor of two weeklies,…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about the safety of two European journalists and their American guide who were arrested last week by Laotian authorities: Thierry Falise, a Belgian free-lance photographer and reporter; Vincent Reynaud, a French free-lance photographer and cameraman; and Naw Karl Mua, a U.S. citizen of ethnic Hmong origin who was working with the two journalists as a guide and translator. Falise and Reynaud are well-regarded, professional journalists based in Bangkok, Thailand.