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.
New York, December 1, 1999 — In a major step forward for press freedom in Panama, the country’s Legislative Assembly approved a bill repealing some of the more onerous provisions of the country’s “gag laws.” The new bill, passed last night with the approval of 70 of the Legislative Assembly’s 71 members, repeals part of…
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.
New York, November 30, 1999 — CPJ is deeply concerned about the November 28 murder of cameramen Alberto Sánchez Tovar and Luis Alberto Rincón Solano outside the town of El Playón, in the north-eastern department of Santander. On the morning of November 28, the two cameramen left Bucaramanga, capital of Santander Department, to shoot a…
New York, November 29, 1999 –Rafael Marques, a freelance journalist and Angola representative of the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa, was released on bail on November 25, after spending 40 days in prison. His trial is scheduled to begin on December 15. Marques had been in police custody since October 16. Angolan police informally…
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.
New York, November 1, 1999 — Leftist guerrillas abducted seven journalists whom they had invited to cover alleged atrocities committed by paramilitary forces against local farmers. The seven journalists were intercepted on October 29 by members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). This is the second Colombian media kidnapping in less than a…