New York, July 25, 2002—To mark the one-year anniversary of the murder of Georgy Sanaya, a popular anchor for the Tbilisi-based independent television station Rustavi-2, Committee to Protect Journalists executive director Ann Cooper issued the following statement: “We are disheartened that one year after Georgy Sanaya’s July 26, 2001, murder, justice has not been done.…
New York, July 25, 2002—Zimbabwe’s Daily News editor-in-chief Geoff Nyarota and reporter Lloyd Mudiwa, who are charged with “abusing journalistic privilege” and “publishing false information,” have successfully petitioned a magistrate’s court in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, to have their case referred to the country’s Supreme Court. . Magistrate Sandra Nhau granted a motion from defense lawyers…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about recent incidents of official legal harassment of the press in Yemen. On July 9, three journalists–Faisal Mukarram, a reporter for the London-based Al-Hayat daily, Ahmed al-Hajj, a reporter with The Associated Press, and Khaled al-Mahdi, a correspondent for Deutsche Presse Agentur–were summoned by a state prosecutor and accused of violating article 103 of the press law, which bans journalists from publishing “any secret document or information that might jeopardize the supreme interests of the country or expose any of its security or defense secrets.”
New York, July 24, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is gravely concerned about the deteriorating health of imprisoned journalist U Win Tin, one of Burma’s most prominent political prisoners. A former editor-in-chief of the daily Hanthawati and vice-chairman of Burma’s Writers Association, U Win Tin, 73, is currently serving the 13th year of a…
New York, July 24, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) strongly condemns the decision announced today by a Tehran appeals court confirming the banning of Norooz, Iran’s main reformist daily, and the six-month jail sentence handed down to the paper’s editor, Mohsen Mirdamadi. According to press reports and CPJ sources in Tehran, an appeals court…
New York, July 23, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists has just learned that writer Nguyen Vu Binh has been released from Vietnamese police custody. Authorities, however, have summoned him for questioning each day since his detention on July 21. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Phan Thuy Thanh told reporters today that, “Mr. Nguyen Vu Binh has committed…
New York, July 22, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the detention of writer Nguyen Vu Binh, who is currently being held incommunicado. At around 9 a.m. on July 20, police officers picked up Binh from his home in Vietnam’s capital, Hanoi, and brought him to the local precinct. Officers also searched his computer,…
New York, July 22, 2002—The attorney representing three journalists from Zimbabwe’s Daily News who went on trial today for violating the country’s harsh press laws asked that the case be referred to the Supreme Court, claiming that the section of the law under which the journalists have been charged is unconstitutional. A ruling is expected…
New York, July 19, 2002—After delaying its decision for nearly four years, the Tajik government last week refused a broadcast license to the independent media agency Asia Plus. Asia Plus applied in August 1998 to open a radio station in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, where only state-run television and radio stations operate. The agency received…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about the recent sentencing of Tewodros Kassa, former editor-in-chief of the Amharic-language weekly Ethiop, to two years’ imprisonment. Kassa is the second journalist to be convicted and jailed in Ethiopia during the last four months.