Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned that political pressure may have prompted the recent wave of resignations, suspensions, and lay-offs at The Sun newspaper. Local journalists have told CPJ that the radical retrenchment of the daily’s staff is part of an effort to rein in its political coverage, which had been more independent and aggressive than that of any other mainstream news outlet in Malaysia.
January 19, 2002, New York—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns in the strongest terms Israel’s destruction today of the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation building in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Early this morning, Israeli forces entered the five-story building, which houses administrative offices and broadcasting facilities for the Palestinian National Authority’s Voice of Palestine…
New York, January 17, 2002—Shodi Mardiev, the Uzbek radio reporter who was sentenced in 1998 to an 11-year prison term for defamation and extortion, was released under an amnesty earlier this month, according to local and international sources. The journalist’s lawyer, Khakim Bobonorov, who met with Mardiev shortly after his release, told CPJ in a…
New York, January 17, 2002—After a week of intense international pressure, Zimbabwe’s government delayed its vote yesterday on a harsh media bill that would stifle dissent during the run-up to the presidential elections, scheduled for early March, until certain changes can be made to the legislation, according to Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to protest the ongoing prosecution of Marcelo Mosse, formerly chief reporter for the now defunct daily Metical, on criminal defamation charges. Your son, Nympine Chissano, filed charges against Mosse and Metical over a February 21 Metical article reporting that Nympine was briefly detained in South Africa, around February 15, on unspecified charges.
Your Majesty: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to protest the recent arrest of Fahd al-Rimawi, editor of the weekly newspaper Al-Majd. On January 13, according to press reports and CPJ sources, a State Security Court prosecutor in Amman summoned al-Rimawi and accused him of publishing “false information,” an offense under Jordan’s Penal Code. He was subsequently ordered detained for 15 days for questioning.
New York, January 11, 2002—CPJ is gravely concerned over today’s ruling by the Presidium of the Highest Arbitration Court upholding the liquidation of the Moscow Independent Broadcasting Company (MNVK), parent company of Russia’s only independent, nationwide television channel, TV-6. The suit was originally lodged in September by the pension fund of LUKoil-Garant, a minority shareholder…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply disturbed by the banning of the January 10 issue of the Hong Kong-based Far Eastern Economic Review. This act of censorship by your government is out of character with Thailand’s commitment to press freedom.