CPJ Welcomes Release of Burmese Journalist San San Nwe
New York, July 18, 2001–CPJ welcomes the release today of San San Nwe, a journalist, novelist, and political activist who was jailed by the Burmese military government in August 1994 on charges of spreading information damaging to the state. She was released along with 10 other members of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD),…
Journalists released on bail
New York, July 18 — A judge in the northern city of Abbottabad today ordered the release on bail of four journalists from the Urdu-language daily Mohasib who had been imprisoned under Pakistan’s notorious blasphemy laws. The journalists, who had been jailed for about six weeks, were released after vigorous protests by local and international…
CPJ concerned about Belgian journalists missing in Papua
New York, June 27, 2001 — CPJ is gravely concerned about the apparent abduction of two Belgian documentary filmmakers in the Indonesian province of Papua. Philippe Simon and Johan van Den Eynde were reported missing on June 7, when they left for the jungle east of Nabire, a coastal city about 500 kilometers (310 miles)…
JAILED CHINESE WEB PUBLISHER’S TRIAL POSTPONED
New York, June 26, 2001 — The Chengdu Intermediate Court in Sichuan Province announced today that the trial of Internet publisher Huang Qi had been postponed indefinitely. Huang was scheduled to face trial tomorrow on charges of subversion. No reason was given for the postponement, according to a U.S.-based source who had spoken with Huang’s…
Internet essayist jailed for “subversion”
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is dismayed by the recent imprisonment of essayist Liu Weifang on subversion charges. We call for his immediate and unconditional release. The government’s case against Liu is based on essays that he had posted on the Internet. In mid-June, the Ninth Agricultural Brigade district’s Intermediate People’s Court in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region sentenced him to serve three years in prison, according to a June 15 report in the Xinjiang Daily.
State media launch smear campaign against Tamil journalist
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about the security of Dharmeratnam Sivaram, veteran journalist and editor of the TamilNet Web site. Over the past two weeks, state media have featured articles accusing Sivaram of being a spy for the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)–a charge that seriously endangers him and his family.
CPJ welcomes journalists’ release, but says sedition charges should be dropped
New York, June 18, 2001 — Three journalists with the Nepali-language daily Kantipur, Yubaraj Ghimire, Kailash Shirohiya, and Binod Raj Gyawali, were released from jail on June 15. They face a trial next month on sedition charges stemming from an opinion piece that suggested a conspiracy behind the assassination of Nepal’s royal family. “We are…
CPJ and Human Rights Watch protest editor’s contempt prosecution
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists and Human Rights Watch are writing jointly to protest the prosecution of Vineet Narain, founding editor of the New Delhi-based investigative journal Kalchakra. Narain faces contempt of court charges in Jammu and Kashmir State, where he says his life would be in serious danger. We urge you to order an immediate inquiry into possible political motivations behind Narain’s prosecution, and to provide him with appropriate protection if he is required to appear in court in Jammu.