Letters

Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply troubled by an intense campaign of official harassment against the now-shuttered opposition weekly Novye Kolyosa (New Wheels) in the western city of Kaliningrad.

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by Israeli military actions that sharply restrict the ability of the press to cover the current conflict in Lebanon and that endanger the lives of civilians, including members of the press. We are particularly concerned about the safety of an estimated 250 journalists in Tyre, who are hunkered down in hotels and unable to move because of Israel’s threats to target all vehicles on the roads.

Mr. President: The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by the cancellation of two independent shows on state-owned media amid allegations of government censorship and editorial interference.

Dear Mr. Wildhaber: We are writing from the Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based organization dedicated to defending press freedom worldwide, to ask that you give priority to the case of Zoya and Yuri Kholodov v. Russia (Case No. 30651/05).

Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists is troubled by the government’s recent order to ban certain Web sites, an action that has resulted in blocked access to domains hosting many thousands of Web logs. We urge you to lift the ban, which has disrupted the flow of news, information, and commentary in a medium of growing importance in India. We are concerned as well that the order was imposed with no official explanation and without judicial or independent review.

Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists urges you as chairman of the African Union to discuss with your fellow heads of state and government at your summit in the Gambian capital, Banjul, from July 1, the need to defend press freedom on the continent.

Dear President Bush: In advance of your July 14 meeting in St. Petersburg with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Committee to Protect Journalists draws your attention to the acute problem of impunity in violent crimes against journalists in Russia.

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is greatly concerned that your government summoned journalists to a meeting with intelligence officials and issued guidelines that would restrict their freedom to report.

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is troubled by a recent string of attacks on journalists in Liberia, some of which were carried out by government security forces. The Press Union of Liberia wrote to you on May 30 to express concern about these attacks and call for an investigation. However, despite an Information Ministry statement the following day affirming the government’s commitment to press freedom, there has been no evidence of an investigation into these incidents nor any public effort to punish those responsible.

Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists is increasingly alarmed by repeated attacks against the media in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Such attacks are all the more troubling in the current context of campaigning for presidential and parliamentary elections due July 30. While one journalist was released on bail Wednesday, another has been jailed for more than six months in connection with his work. At least two radio stations remain off the air after attacks by security forces, while CPJ sources report at least one violent attack on a journalist in recent weeks. The government has also blocked the accreditation of a veteran correspondent for Radio France Internationale (RFI).