Committee to Protect Journalists - East Timor

Attacks on the Press 2007: Asia Snapshots

2008-02-05T16:55:30Z

Attacks & developments throughout the region

Newspaper office attacked

2007-08-04T16:00:00Z

August 4, 2007
Posted September 28, 2007

Suara Timor Lorosa'e
ATTACKED

On August 4, amid rising political tensions surrounding the formation of a new government, unidentified men attacked the office of the country's leading daily, Suara Timor Lorosa'e (STL), according to the Bangkok-based Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA).

Attacks on the Press 2006: Asia Snapshots

2007-02-05T16:45:58Z

Attacks & Developments Throughout the Region

Attacks on the Press 2005: Asia Snapshots

2006-02-16T16:45:58Z

Attacks and developments throughout the region

Defamation bill threatens free press

2006-01-13T17:00:00Z

January 13, 2006

His Excellency Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão
President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste
C/o The Embassy of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste
3415 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20007

Via facsimile: 202 965-1517

Your Excellency:

The Committee to Protect Journalists urges you to refrain from signing a bill before you that threatens freedom of the press and free expression by imposing harsh penalties for defamation. As you know, Prime Minister Mari bim Altakiri approved on December 6, 2005, a bill revising the penal code, which had been passed by the National Parliament. The penal code revisions now before you allow for up to three years imprisonment and unlimited fines for publishing statements deemed defamatory of public officials.

EAST TIMOR

2005-02-03T17:00:00Z

FEBRUARY 3, 2005
Posted: March 30, 2005

Suara Timor LorosaeHARASSED

The East Timor government repeatedly harassed Suara Timor Lorosae, apparently in retaliation for the daily newspaper's reporting on famine.

Indonesian military hems in press on Aceh citizens

2004-12-13T22:42:01Z

Indonesian military hems in press on Aceh citizens
By A. Lin Neumann

The Asian Times Online

Attacks on the Press 2002: Asia Analysis

2003-03-31T17:10:45Z

The vicious murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Pakistan focused international attention on the dangers faced by journalists covering the U.S. "war on terror," yet most attacks on journalists in Asia happened far from the eyes of the international press. In countries such as Bangladesh and the Philippines, reporters covering crime and political corruption were as vulnerable to attack as those reporting on violent insurgency. Seven journalists were killed in 2002 for their work in Asia.

Attacks on the Press 2002: East Timor

2003-03-31T17:07:50Z

A decades-long struggle for independence ended on May 20, when the U.N. Transitional Authority for East Timor (UNTAET) formally handed power to East Timor's first elected government, making the tiny half-island state the first new nation of the millennium. A fledgling press has emerged from the destruction that followed the territory's vote for independence from Indonesia in 1999, and now the country has two daily newspapers, a handful of weeklies, and seven small private radio stations. Indonesia, which annexed East Timor in 1975 following the collapse of Portuguese colonial rule, did not tolerate an independent press.

Attacks on the Press 2002: North Korea

2003-03-31T17:03:40Z

Shortly after U.S. president George W. Bush arrived in South Korea's capital, Seoul, in February 2002 for a state visit, the North Korean state news agency, KCNA, reported a miracle: that a cloud in the shape of a Kimjongilia, the flower named after the country's leader, Kim Jong Il, had appeared over North Korea. "Even the sky above the Mount Paektu area seemed to be decorated with beautiful flowers," KCNA said. The piece was a whimsical effort to trump news of Bush's visit to the other side of the divided Korean peninsula, according to The New York Times.

EAST TIMOR INDICTS TWO INDONESIAN MILITARY OFFICERS FOR MURDER OF DUTCH JOURNALIST

2002-11-07T17:00:00Z

New York, November 7, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) welcomes yesterday's indictment in East Timor of two suspected murderers of Dutch journalist Sander Thoenes, who was killed in Dili on September 21, 1999, while he was reporting for The Financial Times and The Christian Science Monitor. Arrest warrants for both men, who are Indonesian military officers, are expected to be forwarded to the attorney general of Indonesia and to Interpol, which East Timor joined in October.

Attacks on the Press 2001: East Timor

2002-03-26T17:08:15Z

East Timor's media faced their first real test under a democratic environment when they covered September's United Nations-supervised poll electing a constituent assembly and a transitional government. The press performed admirably, with few cases of political harassment and most Timorese journalists attempting to be fair and balanced in their reporting.

Killers of Indonesian journalist convicted of "crimes against humanity"

2001-12-12T17:00:00Z

New York, December 12, 2001—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) welcomes yesterday's announcement that the killers of journalist Agus Muliawan were among those convicted of "crimes against humanity" in connection with the violence that surrounded East Timor's August 1999 vote for independence from Indonesia.

The Special Panel for Serious Crimes of the District Court in the East Timor capital, Dili, issued the verdicts on December 11. This landmark case marks the first successful prosecution for crimes against humanity in East Timor.

Attacks on the Press 2000: Asia Analysis

2001-03-19T17:10:30Z

DESPITE PRESS FREEDOM ADVANCES ACROSS ASIA IN RECENT YEARS, totalitarian regimes in Burma, China, North Korea, Vietnam, and Laos maintained their stranglehold on the media. Even democratic Asian governments sometimes used authoritarian tactics to control the press, particularly when faced with internal conflict.

Sri Lanka, for instance, imposed harsh censorship regulations during the year in order to restrict reporting on the country's long-running civil war. And in countries with a vibrant independent press, including India, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and Indonesia, journalists were frequently subjected to physical assault and intimidation.

CPJ Welcomes UN Investigation into 1975 Murders of Five Journalists in East Timor

2000-09-15T16:00:00Z

New York, September 15, 2000--The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) welcomes today's announcement that the United Nations is investigating the October, 1975 murders of five Australia-based journalists in East Timor. [Go to map of region]

CPJ urges UN authorities to expand the investigation to include the murder of Australian free-lance journalist Roger East, said to have been the only remaining foreign correspondent in East Timor at the time of the Indonesian military invasion. East reportedly was executed on December 8, 1975, but little public attention has been paid to his case.