EIGHTY-ONE JOURNALISTS WERE IN PRISON AROUND THE WORLD at the end of 2000, jailed for practicing their profession. The number is down slightly from the previous year, when 87 were in jail, and represents a significant decline from 1998, when 118 journalists were imprisoned. While jailing journalists can be an effective means of stifling bad…
Your Excellency: On the occasion of your recent confirmation as President, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to urge you to do everything in your power to ensure that your government upholds international press freedom standards and guarantees the rights of journalists to practice their profession freely.
New York, March 27, 2000 — Jailed Syrian journalist and human rights activist Nizar Nayyouf has been awarded the 2000 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize. Established in 1997, the award is given annually to individuals or institutions that have “made a notable contribution to the defense and/or promotion of press freedom anywhere in the…
By Joel CampagnaRoyal succession and rubber-stamp elections set the tone for a year in which Middle Eastern and North African governments continued to restrict press freedoms through a combination of censorship, intimidation, and media monopoly. Ballots in Egypt, Syria, Tunisia, and Yemen produced few surprises as longtime rulers stayed in power and maintained formidable obstacles…
With the passing of Morocco’s King Hassan II and King Hussein of Jordan, Syrian president Hafez al-Assad became the Arab world’s second-longest-surviving leader. Only Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi has ruled longer. During three decades of one-man rule, Assad has ruthlessly eradicated all internal dissent. His February “reelection” by referendum with nearly 100 percent of the…
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, I am writing to express concern about 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. I would like to request a meeting with you later this month in New York to discuss his case.
Washington, D.C., March 25 — The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reported today in its annual worldwide study of press freedom that at least 118 journalists were in prison in 25 countries at the end of 1998, and 24 journalists in 17 countries were murdered during the year in reprisal for their reporting.
Call for crackdown on China’s press In its effort to revive traditional socialist values, the Chinese Communist Party at its annual plenum in October resolved to tighten its grip on ideology and exert greater social control–a move that offers little hope for the relaxing of press restrictions in China.