CPJ condemns pre-election press freedom abuses
Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is outraged by your government’s relentless attacks on the independent press during the run-up to the September 9 presidential election. Without the unfettered circulation of ideas and exchange of information, free and democratic elections are not possible. Your recent actions against the press indicate a strong likelihood that next week’s elections will be neither free nor fair.
Army takes legal action against newspaper
New York, September 4, 2001—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) today expressed its deep concern about the Lebanese army’s recent lawsuit against two journalists working with the leading Lebanese daily newspaper Al-Nahar. On August 31, Al-Nahar was informed that the army had taken legal action against Joseph Nasr, the paper’s editor, and Raffi Madian, an…
Newsweek article criticizing controversial blasphemy laws is censored
New York, September 4, 2001—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the decision of Pakistani censors to order the removal of an article from the September 3 edition of Newsweek as a condition of the magazine’s distribution in the country. The censored article, titled “Talking is Dangerous,” highlights the prosecution of Shaikh Mohammed Younus, a…
CPJ CONDEMNS SENTENCING OF JOURNALIST TO LABOR CAMP
New York, August 31, 2001—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the sentencing of free-lance writer Liu Haofeng to three years at a labor camp for “endangering national security.” Documents recently provided to CPJ indicate that Liu was sentenced on May 16 to “reeducation through labor,” a form of administrative detention that allows officials to…
Cameraman assaulted in city park
New York, August 30, 2001—Aleksey Movsesyan, a 23-year-old cameraman with the independent television station Efir-1 in the eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk, was assaulted on the evening of Sunday, August 26, CPJ has confirmed. An assailant struck Movsesyan with a hard object between 11 p.m. and midnight while the journalist was walking in a park…
Supreme Court refuses to consider lifting ban on controversial book
New York, August 29, 2001—The Chilean Supreme Court has refused to consider journalist Alejandra Matus’ appeal against the court-ordered banning of The Black Book of Chilean Justice, her muckraking book about the Chilean judiciary. Matus’ book was banned more than two years ago. Since then, several court rulings have upheld the ban, even though a…
Radio station bombed in Medellín
New York, August 29, 2001—On the evening of August 23, a powerful bomb exploded in a street behind the Medellín offices of Caracol Radio, an affiliate of the national Caracol Radio Network, according to local news reports. The blast partially destroyed Caracol’s broadcasting facilities along with nearby buildings and houses. At least 35 people suffered…
Editor charged with “promoting disharmony”
Dear Chief Minister Chamling: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed by last week’s arrest of Rajesh Bhattarai, editor and publisher of the Nepali-language daily Aajo Bholi. Although Bhattarai has been granted interim bail on medical grounds, he must appear by August 31 before a judge in Sikkim’s capital, Gangtok, to face a criminal charge.
Government forces closure of independent TV station
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned by your government’s unrelenting harassment of the independent Baku station ABA Television. The station recently closed its doors, apparently under government pressure, and Tax Ministry officials have since confiscated some of ABA’s equipment.
Journalist murdered on eve of scheduled testimony in defamation case
New York, August 27, 2001—In a letter sent today to Rio de Janeiro State attorney general Francesco Conte, CPJ expressed deep concern about the August 16 murder of journalist Mário Coelho de Almeida Filho and requested more information about the case. Coelho was killed one day before he was to testify in a criminal defamation…