Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the five-year sentence recently handed down to Internet publisher Huang Qi. The court has long delayed the verdict, which comes nearly three years after Huang’s arrest, compounding a case of grave injustice.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is gravely concerned by the prolonged detention of writers Yang Zili, Xu Wei, Jin Haike, and Zhang Honghai. On April 21, the Beijing Intermediate Court reopened the trial against the four men, who were arrested in March 2001. No verdict has been announced.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the prolonged detention of South Korean photojournalist Jae Hyun Seok, who was arrested on January 17. Seok is expected to appear for a court hearing within the next few days, according to his family. Seok was arrested while photographing the exodus of 48 North Korean refugees…
The vicious murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Pakistan focused international attention on the dangers faced by journalists covering the U.S. “war on terror,” yet most attacks on journalists in Asia happened far from the eyes of the international press. In countries such as Bangladesh and the Philippines, reporters covering crime and…
During the run-up to the 16th Communist Party Congress, which was held in November and marked the first orderly transfer of power in the party’s history, China’s leaders used the national media to launch a propaganda blitz reminiscent of Chairman Mao’s days. Throughout 2002, officials issued strict new guidelines to prevent any independent report- ing…
Shortly after U.S. president George W. Bush arrived in South Korea’s capital, Seoul, in February 2002 for a state visit, the North Korean state news agency, KCNA, reported a miracle: that a cloud in the shape of a Kimjongilia, the flower named after the country’s leader, Kim Jong Il, had appeared over North Korea. “Even…
March 18, 2003, New York—Journalist Jiang Weiping, a recipient of the Committee to Protect Journalist’s (CPJ) 2001 International Press Freedom Award, has had his prison sentence reduced by two years. He could now be eligible for parole in January 2004. In January 2002, the Dalian Intermediate Court sentenced Jiang to eight years in prison on…
March 12, 2003, New York—On the eve of a major leadership change in Beijing, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) calls on the Chinese government to release all journalists who have been jailed for their work. China currently holds 39 journalists in prison, making the country the world’s leading jailer of journalists for the fourth…
February 28, 2003, New York—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the illegal detention of Internet publisher Huang Qi, who has been imprisoned for more than two and a half years without being convicted of any crime. The Chengdu Intermediate People’s Court, in the southwestern province of Sichuan, had originally scheduled the sentencing for today,…
February 20, 2003, New York—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) today submitted a memorandum to the Hong Kong Security Bureau detailing serious concerns about the proposed National Security (Legislative Provisions) Bill drafted by the government. In its current form, this bill poses a grave threat to freedom of expression in Hong Kong. “The Hong Kong…