Alerts

New York, October 25, 2002—Iraq's government has ordered a number of foreign news reporters to leave the country after their recent coverage of events inside Iraq angered authorities.

The U.S. network CNN reported that its chief Baghdad correspondent, Jane Arraf, and five other non-Iraqi reporters and staff members were ordered to leave the country by Monday.

CNN said the network's coverage angered officials, particularly reports on anti-government protests that erupted last week at the Ministry of Information in Iraq's capital, Baghdad, following the release of amnestied government prisoners.

New York, October 25, 2002—The hostage standoff in central Moscow has highlighted growing restrictions on the Russian media, including this week's passage of legislation banning "propaganda of terrorism" in mass media. Although the legislation has not become law, the government is already using it to censor coverage of the hostage crisis.

A large group of heavily armed Chechen rebels seized some 700 people in a Moscow theater on October 23, demanding that Russian troops pull out of the war-torn region of Chechnya in southern Russia.

New York, October 24, 2002—Armenian free-lance journalist Mark Grigorian suffered serious shrapnel wounds to the head and chest from a grenade thrown at him as he walked through the center of the country's capital, Yerevan.

The grenade exploded at around 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday, October 22, as Grigorian walked past the entrance of the Yerevan Choreography School. He was taken to a hospital, where he underwent surgery to stop bleeding in his lungs, and is currently in stable condition.

New York, October 24, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) deplores the recent recommendation by a five-member military tribunal that editor Hassan Bility, who has been detained since June 24, be treated as a "prisoner of war."

According to a Liberian Defense Ministry statement, Bility, editor of the independent weekly The Analyst, is a prisoner of war because he allegedly colluded with the rebel Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), reported The Associated Press.

New York, October 22, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) welcomes today's release of Agence France-Presse (AFP) photographer Hussam Abu Alan, who had been held by Israeli authorities without charge for nearly six months.

Abu Alan was detained on April 24 at the Beit Einun checkpoint north of the West Bank town of Hebron while attempting to reach a nearby village to cover the funeral of Palestinian militants killed by Israeli forces.

New York, October 22, 2002—The trial of Internet essayist Le Chi Quang, 32, is scheduled for October 28 in Vietnam's capital, Hanoi. He is being tried on national security charges, including distribution of "reactionary and subversive documents," said CPJ sources.

Quang was targeted after he wrote a number of essays criticizing government policy. On February 21, Quang was arrested in a Hanoi Internet café and has been held in B14 Prison in Thanh Tri District outside the city since.

New York, October 21, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) urges the Israeli government to release Agence France-Presse (AFP) photographer Hussam Abu Alan, who has been held without charge for nearly six months. According to AFP's Jerusalem bureau, Abu Alan's period of administrative detention is scheduled to expire tomorrow.

Abu Alan was detained on April 24 at the Beit Einun checkpoint north of the West Bank town of Hebron while attempting to reach a nearby village to cover the funeral of Palestinian militants killed by Israeli forces.

New York, October 17, 2002--The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) welcomes the release from house arrest of Chen Ziming, a recipient of CPJ's 1991 International Press Freedom Award, but remains concerned that he has not been given total freedom.

On October 10, the 50-year-old formally completed a 13-year sentence for his role in the 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations. During the last week, he has been allowed to move about freely, but he is still under tight surveillance, and security officers tail him when he leaves his home.

New York, October 16, 2002—A group of about 50 people today looted and ransacked the offices of the private Mayama media group, publisher of three Ivory Coast pro-opposition newspapers, said several sources in the capital, Abidjan. The mob smashed computers and other equipment and damaged printing presses while chanting pro-government slogans.

The newsrooms of Le Patriote and Tassouman, both daily newspapers, and the weekly Abidjan Magazine were destroyed in the mayhem. All three are close to the opposition Rally of the Republicans, a party led by former prime minister Allassane Ouattara, whom some state officials suspect may be behind the bloody military uprising, which began on September 19 in the northern part of the country.

New York, October 15, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) strongly condemns the Ugandan government's raid on the Monitor media group, the detention of one of the organization's reporters, and the charges filed against three Monitor editors.

On October 10, three dozen police officers occupied the newsrooms of the private English-language daily Monitor and its sister station, Radio Monitor, which is headquartered in a suburb of the capital, Kampala. Authorities have accused the two news outlets of supporting "terrorists" by publishing "false news that alarmed the public."