Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about recent death threats against Sunday Standard reporter Ray Choto. The threats began in November, shortly after Choto returned to Zimbabwe after collecting an international press freedom award in Canada, along with his colleague Mark Chavunduka, editor of the Sunday Standard. On November 21 a package arrived at Choto’s home in Harare, containing a teddy bear, two live bullets, and a note threatening him and his family. Two other independent journalists, Basildon Peta of the Financial Gazette and Ibbo Mandaza of the Zimbabwe Mirror, received anonymous threats at around the same time.
Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is gravely concerned about a series of recent attacks on journalists covering the conflict in Chechnya. Two Chechen cameramen have been killed in recent weeks, while a Russian reporter and a French photojournalist have disappeared.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to condemn the three-year prison sentence handed down on Saturday against Mashallah Shamsolvaezin, editor of the reformist daily Asr-e-Azadegan. We are also greatly alarmed by the conviction and jailing of Abdullah Nouri, the former Interior Minister and publisher of the daily Khordad, which also took place on Saturday.
Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply disturbed by the closing and continued harassment of the Baku independent station Sara TV and Radio. At 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, October 9, some 15 police officers, along with officials from the Baku City Prosecutor’s Office, the Baku and Yasamal district police departments and the Ministry of the Interior entered the offices of Sara TV, halting all broadcast transmissions and demanding that staff evacuate the office immediately.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned over your administration’s decision to impose draconian regulations governing all media coverage of the ethnic tensions there. On June 28, the Governor General issued an amendment to the Emergency Powers Act of 1999 (see below) that threatens journalists who violate state–imposed reporting restrictions with up to two years imprisonment or a fine of up to SI$5,000 (US$1,050), or both. The regulations prohibit any reporting that “may incite violence,” “is likely to cause racial disharmony,” or that is “likely to be prejudicial to the safety or interests of the state.” There are also provisions in the amendment that criminalize the possession of an official document by anyone “who has no right to retain it.”
Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply alarmed by recent police attacks against journalists covering this week’s political demonstrations in Belgrade, and by police attempts to close down the opposition newspaper Glas Javnosti.
Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to express its outrage over Sunday’s bomb attack on the Cali office of the Bogotá-based daily El Tiempo. We urge you ensure that this attack on press freedom is fully investigated and its authors duly punished.
Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to express its deep concern about the continued inclusion of a provision guaranteeing the right to “timely, truthful, and impartial information” in the draft constitution of Venezuela. This provision violates international standards for freedom of expression.
Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply dismayed by your administration’s recent expansion of censorship regulations on media coverage of the civil war between the government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The latest restrictions follow news reports that as many as 1,000 government troops may have been killed by LTTE forces last week.