Bogotá, Colombia, January 24, 2003—A free-lance journalist with U.S. and Canadian citizenship and his two traveling companions have been freed in Colombia after allegedly being abducted by right-wing paramilitary fighters. Robert Pelton, Megan Smaker, and Mark Wedeven were turned over to a priest and human rights officials on the evening of January 23 in Colombia’s…
New York, January 24, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the 10-day suspension of Iran’s top selling daily, Hamshahri, by Tehran’s Press Court on January 22. The judiciary suspended the reformist leaning Hamshahri after the paper failed to print a letter of reply submitted for publication by Ali Reza Mahjoub, head of Iran’s Trade…
New York, January 24, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed by the assault earlier this week on two Palestinian photographers by Israeli border police in the West Bank city of Nablus. On Monday, January 21, The Associated Press’ Nasser Ishtayeh and Jaafar Ishtayeh, with Agence France-Presse (AFP), were preparing to photograph an Israeli…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the detention of free-lance photographer Jae Hyun Seok, a South Korean national. On January 17, Seok was photographing two groups of about 60 North Korean refugees in Yantai, Shandong Province, who were trying to board two fishing boats bound for Cheju Island, South Korea, and Sasebo…
Bogotá, Colombia, January 23, 2003—Leftist rebels have detained two journalists, who were on assignment for The Los Angeles Times in the lawless Arauca Department, in eastern Colombia. Scott Dalton, a photographer from Texas, and reporter Ruth Morris, a British national, along with their driver, Madiel Ariza, were removed from their car at a rebel roadblock…
New York, January 23, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the continued detention of three Jordanian journalists, who have been held without charge since January 16. Editor-in-chief Nasser Qamash, managing editor Roman Haddad, and writer Mohannad Mubaidin, all with the weekly magazine Al-Hilal, have been detained for the last week after an article written…
New York, January 23, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) welcomes today’s decision by a court in the city of Ussuriisk, in the Russian Far East, to grant parole to military journalist Grigory Pasko. The journalist was released immediately and traveled to his home in Vladivostok. Under Russian law, Pasko, who had served two-thirds of…
New York, January 23, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed that the Infrastructure Ministry is investigating private television stations Globovisión and Radio Caracas Televisión (RCTV) to determine whether they violated media broadcast regulations. The ministry could fine the stations or suspend or revoke their licenses. CPJ believes that the stations are being targeted…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is outraged by the recent police raid on the offices of the online newspaper Malaysiakini, one of the few independent news outlets in Malaysia. Though police have not yet filed any charges against the publication, authorities said they are investigating the online paper for sedition. Earlier today, January…
New York, January 21, 2003—Four days after the High Court in Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka, ordered his release, journalist and press freedom activist Saleem Samad was freed on Saturday, January 18. Police had arrested Samad on November 29, 2002, for his work with a documentary crew that was preparing a report on Bangladesh for the “Unreported…