HIGH COURT SUSPENDS ARUNDHATI ROY CONTEMPT HEARING
Booker Prize-winning author Arundhati Roy is not yet out of the woods. On July 29, the Supreme Court postponed deciding whether to initiate contempt of court proceedings against Roy for publishing a highly critical essay about the social and environmental costs of Gujarat’s Sardar Sarovar dam, part of an ambitious irrigation and hydroelectric project along…
India: Dam essay lands writer Arundhati Roy in hot water
July 28, 1999 His Excellency Atal Behari Vajpayee Prime Minister of India Office of the Prime Minister South Block New Delhi 110 011, India Fax: 011-91-11-301-6857 Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned by the latest efforts to suppress discussion of the social and environmental costs of Gujarat’s Sardar Sarovar dam…
1999 Press Freedom Awards – Speeches
María Cristina Caballero, Colombia In July of 1997, I covered a terrible massacre in the town of Mapirip‡n. Right wing paramilitaries cut many of the inhabitants into pieces during five days. As I was leaving, a very old man without shoes ran to me and said, “Wait! Wait!” He told me, “All of my sons…
Philippines: President accused of masterminding ad boycott
July 21,1999 His Excellency Joseph Ejercito Estrada President of the Republic of the Philippines Office of the President Malacañang Palace Manila, Philippines Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned over persistent evidence that an ongoing advertising boycott of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, one of the Philippines’ top newspapers, may have been…
Pakistan: Legislator seeks to bar journalist Najam Sethi from public life
July 19, 1999 His Excellency Muhammad Nawaz Sharif Prime Minister Prime Minister’s Secretariat Islamabad, Pakistan Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned by the ongoing persecution of Najam Sethi, founding editor of the English-language weekly newspaper The Friday Times. On July 15, the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) summoned Sethi to appear…
Thailand: Government official invades newspaper office, threatens editor
July 15, 1999 His Excellency Chuan Leekpai Prime Minister Government House Bangkok, Thailand Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is concerned over a recent attempt to intimidate the staff of the Thai Post that was directed by an aide to Deputy Prime Minister Trairong Suwankhiri. We do, however, welcome Your Excellency’s pledge today to…
Introduction
On the eve of Indonesia’s first free elections in more than a generation, government officials eagerly point to the country’s open and virtually unfettered press as one of the major accomplishments of interim President B.J. Habibie’s tenure. With the Indonesian economy still reeling from the Asian economic crisis, unrest simmering in many provinces, and the…
