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…
New York, March 20, 2003— The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) calls on India’s Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to reverse its earlier decision to deny a certificate to the documentary “Aakrosh,” which prevents the film from being shown publicly. “Aakrosh,” or “Cry of Anguish,” is a 20-minute, Hindi-language documentary that features interviews with…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the murder of journalist Parvaz Mohammed Sultan, editor of an independent wire service based in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir State. On the evening of January 31, Sultan, editor of the News and Feature Alliance (NAFA), was shot dead by an unidentified gunman.…
New York, January 13, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) welcomes the release from prison today of Iftikhar Gilani, New Delhi bureau chief for the Jammu-based newspaper Kashmir Times. Authorities had accused Gilani of possessing classified documents “prejudicial to the safety and security of the country,” a charge they finally admitted was unsubstantiated. “Iftikhar Gilani’s…
New York, January 10, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) mourns the death of our colleague Vikram Singh Bisht, who died yesterday from internal injuries after falling from his wheelchair. On December 13, 2001, a suicide squad shot Bisht, a cameraman for the New Delhibased news agency Asian News International, while he was covering an…
New York, September 18, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns yesterday’s attack on Ghulam Mohammad Sofi, a prominent editor in Srinagar, the summer capital of India’s Jammu and Kashmir State. Two young men entered the offices of Sofi, editor of the popular Urdu-language daily Srinagar Times, at about 6:30 p.m. yesterday and opened fire.…
New York, September 18, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns yesterday’s attack on Ghulam Mohammad Sofi, a prominent editor in Srinagar, the summer capital of India’s Jammu and Kashmir State. Two young men entered the offices of Sofi, editor of the popular Urdu-language daily Srinagar Times, at about 6:30 p.m. yesterday and opened fire.…
New York, August 1, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is shocked by the recent attack on the office of the Tamil-language newspaper Dinamalar in Thanjavur, a city in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. On the afternoon of July 30, about six people armed with wood sticks charged into the Dinamalar office and…
New York, July 10, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed by today’s attack on Shahid Rashid, editor of the Urdu-language daily State Reporter. Rashid was shot this morning by masked gunmen as he rode his scooter to the newspaper office in the Chanapora area of Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir…