Alerts

New York, April 2, 2002—CPJ welcomes the recent decision of a U.S. district judge to quash a subpoena served on Dolia Estévez, the Washington, D.C., correspondent for the Mexican daily El Financiero.

Estévez had been ordered to hand over material related to a 1999 news article about the Hank family of Mexico, which has been linked to drug trafficking. The subpoena asked for all research materials used to prepare her 1999 article, including e-mail correspondence, tape recordings, calendar and appointment books, draft articles, and lists of U.S. government contacts.

New York, April 2, 2002—CPJ calls for an independent, international inquiry into the July 2000 disappearance of Belarusian cameraman Dmitry Zavadsky.

Although two former members of the elite Almaz special forces unit were recently convicted of kidnapping Zavadsky, local sources view them as scapegoats. CPJ is disturbed that state prosecutors failed to investigate allegations that high-level government figures were involved in Zavadsky's disappearance. (Zavadsky's body has not yet been found, and no serious effort has been made to determine his fate.)

New York, April 1, 2002—CPJ is alarmed by the mounting press freedom crisis in the West Bank as Israeli forces widen their military offensive.

In the last few days, at least two journalists have been wounded by gunfire and Israel has tried to bar all reporters from the embattled city of Ramallah.

"Barring journalists from conflict areas constitutes censorship," said CPJ executive director Ann Cooper. "Although Ramallah is indeed a dangerous place, journalists are there because they have a duty to cover this important story."

Turkish Republic
State Security Court of the City of Istanbul
Chief Prosecutor

Charges
Presidency of the State Security Court

Accused: Abdullah Keskin, son of Ramazan and Selime, born 1969, in Nusaybin District, Mardin Province, registered in Yenituran district and residing in Istanbul, Beyoglu district, Mesrutiyet Street, number 1230/10

New York, April 1, 2002—CPJ welcomes the release yesterday of Zimbabwean journalist Peta Thornycroft after more than 72 hours in custody on suspicion of violating Zimbabwe's harsh press laws.

Local sources told CPJ that High Court judge Mohammed Adam ordered police to free Thornycroft, the Zimbabwe correspondent for South Africa's Mail and Guardian and Britain's Daily Telegraph, because there were no grounds to keep her in detention.

New York, March 29, 2002—Newspaper columnist Fernando Garavito recently fled Colombia after a series of events that made him fear for his life, CPJ has learned.

Garavito, who writes a Sunday column for the Bogotá-based newspaper El Espectador, left Colombia for the United States on March 21 and has no plans to return.

In a series of columns, Garavito attacked the right-wing United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), and described front-running presidential candidate Álvaro Uribe as an ultra-right candidate whose election would be dangerous for the country. (The presidential election is scheduled for May 26.)

New York, March 29, 2002—Cuban independent journalist and CPJ International Press Freedom awardee Jesús Joel Díaz Hernández has left Cuba for the United States, where he has been granted political asylum.

Díaz Hernández arrived in the United States on March 21 and has settled in Fort Worth, Texas.

Díaz Hernández, formerly the executive director of the independent news agency Cooperativa Avileña de Periodistas Independientes (CAPI), served two years in prison under degrading conditions after a 1999 sham trial in which he was convicted of "dangerousness," a crime unknown outside Cuba.

Nueva York, 29 de marzo de 2002 -- Jesús Joel Díaz Hernández, periodista independiente cubano que recibió el Premio Internacional a la Libertad de Prensa, galardón que otorga el Comité para la Protección de los Periodistas (CPJ, por sus siglas en inglés), abandonó Cuba con destino a los Estados Unidos, donde ha recibido asilo político.

Díaz Hernández llegó a los Estados Unidos el 21 de marzo y se radicó en Fort Worth, Texas.

New York, March 28, 2002—CPJ calls for the release of journalist Peta Thornycroft, the Zimbabwe correspondent for South Africa's Mail and Guardian and Britain's Daily Telegraph.

Yesterday, Thornycroft was arrested in the rural town of Chimanimani, 300 miles southeast of the capital, Harare, where she was investigating reports that supporters of the ruling ZANU-PF party were attacking members of the political opposition.

New York, March 26, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the prison sentences imposed last week on two journalists from the weekly independent newspaper Sawt Al-Umma.

On March 21, the Abdeen Misdemeanor Court convicted Adel Hammouda, editor, and Essam Fahmy, head of the paper's board of directors, of defaming prominent Egyptian businessman Naguib Sawiris and sentenced them to six months in prison.