Remarks Presented Before the Congressional-Executive Committee on China By Kavita Menon June 24, 2002 Thank you for inviting the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) to participate in this round-table discussion about media freedom in China. CPJ has been monitoring press freedom conditions in China, and around the world, for more than 20 years. The organization…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply disturbed by the announcement last week that Indonesian officials are abandoning their investigation into the murder of Sander Thoenes, a Dutch journalist who was reporting for The Financial Times and The Christian Science Monitor when he was killed in East Timor in September 1999. Separate investigations conducted by the United Nations, Dutch authorities, and The Christian Science Monitor identified members of Indonesian army Battalion 745 as prime suspects in the murder.
Manila, June 18, 2002—The family of slain Filipino broadcast journalist Edgar Damalerio said they are facing harassment and obstruction as they search for justice in the May 13 murder. They have traveled with a key witness to the crime to Manila from their home in the southern Philippines to present affidavits to senior police officials…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned about the arrest of Iftikhar Gilani, the New Delhi bureau chief for the Jammu-based newspaper Kashmir Times and a regular contributor to the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, as well as to the Pakistani newspapers The Friday Times and The Nation.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the recent detention and deportation of Canadian journalist Jiang Xueqin, who was filming labor unrest in northeastern China. We call for an immediate easing of restrictions on journalists trying to cover the protests, which are the largest to hit China since the 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations.
New York, June 6, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) welcomes the release of British journalist Amardeep Bassey but calls on the government to release his two Pakistani guides, Naoshad Ali Afridi and Khitab Shah Shinwari. On May 10, Bassey, investigations editor for the British newspaper The Sunday Mercury, Afridi, and Shinwari were detained at…
Kathmandu, June 6, 2002—In a press conference today, a delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists announced that it had met with Nepalese prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and Information Minister Jaya Prakash Gupta to raise concerns about press freedom abuses that have occurred since the government declared a state of emergency in November 2001.…
389 journalists killed between 1992 and 2001, most murdered with impunity New York, June 4, 2002–The majority of journalists killed in the line of duty during the last decade were murdered because of their reporting, concludes a study released today by the Committee to Protect Journalists. This comprehensive analysis of journalists killed between 1992 and…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is outraged by the continued detention of Internet publisher Huang Qi, who was arrested on June 3, 2000, and today completes two years in prison. Although Huang was secretly tried on August 14, 2001, authorities have not yet delivered a verdict in his case. In October 1998, Huang Qi and his wife, Zeng Li, launched Tianwang Web site (www.6-4tianwang.com), a missing-persons search service based in Chengdu, Sichuan Province.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the recent attack on Nazmul Imam, Kushtia correspondent for the national Bengali-language daily Manavzamin. We call for an immediate and thorough investigation into this incident. At approximately 1:30 a.m. on May 28 about five men stopped Imam’s rickshaw as he was on his way home in Kushtia. According to several Bangladeshi and international news reports, after the men brandished knives, Imam gave them his wallet and cell phone. When he then tried to run away, one of the men shouted, “Catch the journalist.”