New York, September 27, 2001—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) today welcomed the release from prison of Iranian editor Mashallah Shamsolvaezin, who was freed on September 12 after spending 17 months in prison. In an e-mail sent to Shamsolvaezin, CPJ executive director Ann Cooper wrote: “We were happy to learn of your release from prison…
New York, September 27, 2001—After a barrage of criticism from the local media and civil society, the Paraguayan government repealed a controversial new access to information law that restricted the ability of journalists to obtain public records. On September 24, President Luis González Macchi repealed Law 1728 on Administrative Transparency and Free Access to Information.…
New York, September 27, 2001—Under pressure from the U.S. Department of State, the Voice of America (VOA) recently delayed airing a story containing parts of an exclusive interview with the leader of Afghanistan’s Taliban movement, Mullah Mohammed Omar. The federally funded broadcaster’s decision came after Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage and senior National…
New York, September 26, 2001— Japanese free-lance journalist Kosuke Tsuneoka has now been missing since late July, when he reportedly left Georgia for Chechnya to interview Chechen rebels. Tsuneoka, 32, last communicated with his family via e-mail at the end of July after arriving in Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital, the Japan Economic Newswire reported. He wrote…
Your Majesty: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed by news that your government is poised to enact sweeping amendments to existing press laws, an action that will severely curtail freedom of information in Brunei by imposing strict licensing requirements on newspapers and threatening journalists with jail terms for publishing “false news” and other offenses.
New York, September 25, 2001—Eritrean security forces have arrested at least nine journalists over the last few days, sources in the capital, Asmara, told CPJ. The arrests came less than a week after authorities abruptly closed all privately owned newspapers, allegedly to safeguard national unity in the face of growing political turmoil in the tiny…
New York, September 25—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is gravely concerned for the safety of seven Sierra Leonean journalists, all longtime critics of the government who received identical anonymous death threats during the last week. CPJ obtained a copy of one letter, postmarked September 14 and signed by an otherwise unidentified “Danger Squad.” Titled,…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned by the increased harassment of Senegalese journalists by government authorities since Your Excellency took office in April 2000. We are particularly disturbed by the prosecution of Alioune Fall, editor-in-chief of the independent Dakar-based daily Le Matin, on charges of publishing false information.
New York, September 24, 2001—Eduard Markevich, editor and publisher of a local newspaper in the town of Reftinskiy, Sverdlovsk Region, was found dead last Tuesday night, according to press reports. He had been shot in the back. Markevich, 29, edited Novyy Reft, a paper that was often critical of local officials. The journalist’s colleagues told…