Letters

I am writing once again to express CPJ’s ongoing concern about the deterioration of press freedom conditions in Serbia, and about the continued harassment and prosecution of journalists there. I last wrote on September 30, to remind you of the commitment you made during our September 20 meeting in Belgrade to investigate a number of press freedom abuses. In your October 6 response, you objected to statements I made to the Serbian press regarding the April 23 bombing of Radio and Television Serbia (RTS). As you well know, the concerns I raised about RTS officials not taking sufficient action to safeguard the security of their employees prior to the NATO attack have been voiced repeatedly in the local press, and by the families of the victims.

Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is gravely concerned by the death of Supian Ependiyev, a veteran correspondent for the independent Chechnya weekly Groznenskiy Rabochiy, in a recent rocket attack on the Chechen capital, Grozny

Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to express its profound concern about the arrest on Tuesday of Mashallah Shamsolvaezin, editor-in-chief of the daily Asr-e-Azadegan.

Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is greatly alarmed by a murder attempt and series of death threats against Sergei Zhubinsky, a reporter with the privately-owned local XXI Vek television station in Achinsk, in the Krasnoyarsk region.

Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about the health of Nizar Nayyouf, a Syrian journalist, writer, and human rights activist who is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence in solitary confinement at Mezze military prison in Damascus. Our organization has recently received reports that Nayyouf continues to suffer from Hodgkin’s disease, a form of cancer, and that his life may be in jeopardy unless he receives proper treatment.

Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is gravely concerned by the continued deterioration of the press freedom situation in Cote d’Ivoire. While we welcome the release from prison today of Le Populaire publisher Raphael Lakpe, threats and attacks against opposition media have intensified alarmingly in recent weeks. In a September 10 letter to Your Excellency, CPJ expressed its deep concern that the prolonged detention of Lakpe and Le Populaire editor Jean Khalil Sylla (who remains in prison) would negatively affect press freedom in Cote d’Ivoire.

Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is greatly troubled by your government’s recent attempts to censor four opposition newspapers prior to the October 31 presidential elections.

Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is dismayed to learn that twelve journalists with the independent daily newspaperThe Post have been summoned to appear in the High Court in Lusaka on November 1 on charges of espionage.

Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply disturbed by the latest brutal assault on photojournalists committed by the Dhaka police. On Friday, October 22, riot police were dispatched to subdue a demonstration held in the capital by Islamic activists. The police turned their batons on two newspaper photographers who were documenting their treatment of the protesters. Babul Talukder, a photographer for Dainik Dinkal,and Mintu, who works for Dainik Janata, were both badly beaten.

Your Excellencies, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply disturbed by today’s violent attack against Zeljko Kopanja, the founder and chief editor of Nezavisne Novine,the largest independent Serb daily in Bosnia-Hercegovina.