New York, April 12, 2002—Two journalists have been injured in separate attacks in Siberia and southern Russia, according to international reports. Yan Svider, a journalist with the opposition newspaper Vozrozhdeniye Respubliki, was attacked today by two unknown assailants in the city of Cherkessk in the southern Karachaevo-Cherkessiya Republic, according to local and international news reports.…
New York, April 12, 2002—Venezuelan journalist Jorge Tortoza died last night after being shot in the head while covering the violent clashes in the capital, Caracas, that forced Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez Frías to resign this morning, CPJ has confirmed. Eurídice Ledezma, a Venezuelan journalist and political analyst, told CPJ that Tortoza was shot by…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed by your government’s ban on the April 4 edition of the Hong Kongbased weekly Far Eastern Economic Review. The cover story of the edition, “Bangladesh: Cocoon of Terror,” described the country as besieged by “Islamic fundamentalism, religious intolerance, militant Muslim groups with links to international terrorist groups, a powerful military with ties to the militants, the mushrooming of Islamic schools churning out radical students, middle-class apathy, poverty and lawlessness.”
related article: Press freedom crisis worsens in the occupied territories New York, April 4, 2002— Israeli forces continue to restrict the movements of journalists attempting to cover events in the West Bank. Since Friday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have declared at least six West Bank towns “closed military areas” and therefore off-limits to the…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is gravely concerned about the safety of 13 Eritrean journalists currently in the custody of your government. The journalists have not been charged with any crime since their September 2001 arrests. On March 31, 10 of the jailed journalists began a hunger strike to protest their unfair imprisonment. In a message smuggled out of Asmara Police Station One, where they are being detained, the journalists said they would refuse food until they were either released or charged and given a fair trial.
New York, April 11, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by yesterday’s assault on Ebadullah Ebadi, a translator and assistant working for the Boston Globe. Ebadi was attacked by Afghan fighters working with U.S. Special Forces in Soroobi, a district roughly 45 miles (70 kilometers) east of the capital, Kabul. The assault occurred within…
Bogotá, April 11, 2002—A Colombian television reporter received a death threat last week after reporting extensively on the country’s left-wing guerrilla movement, CPJ has learned. Carlos José Lajud works for the Bogotá station Citytv. On April 4, Lajud received a letter at the Citytv offices. “Our sincere condolences…for the death of Carlos Lajud,” read the…
New York, April 11, 2002—A bomb exploded last night (April 10) just outside the editorial offices of the Communist Party’s newspaper Kommunist in the Moldovan capital, Chisinau, CPJ has confirmed. The bomb, which was planted near the office entrance, caused structural damage to the building and shattered its windows, as well as those in a…
New York, April 11, 2002—A draft Panamanian press law contains a troubling provision that would require all journalists in the country to hold a license in order to practice journalism. The proposed legislation is currently before the Legislative Assembly. Meanwhile, a government agency announced that it would fine violators of an existing law that imposes…
New York, April 11, 2002—On the third anniversary of the murder of journalist Slavko Curuvija, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) remains deeply concerned that the government has made no progress investigating the case. On April 11, 1999, Curuvija, editor-in-chief of the Belgrade daily Dnevni Telegraf, was gunned down near his home in central Belgrade…