Alerts

New York, September 20, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) welcomes the release today of the prominent AIDS activist and Web publisher Wan Yanhai, who was detained for nearly a month on suspicion of "leaking state secrets."

China's official news agency, Xinhua, as quoted by Agence France-Presse, said that Wan was released after "confessing to his crimes and agreeing to cooperate with police in the investigation." Xinhua stated that an official from the State Information Office "revealed that Wan had delivered some illegally acquired interior classified documents . . . to overseas individuals, media sources, and Web sites on August 17, 2002."

New York, September 19, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) demands the immediate and unconditional release of Franklin Moliba-Sese, a reporter for the United Nations­operated Radio Okapi who was arrested by rebels on Friday, September 13.

That day, fighters from the Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC), an armed rebel group opposed to the government of President Joseph Kabila, arrested Moliba-Sese in the northwestern town of Gbadolite. He has been in the rebels' custody since.

New York, September 19, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) confirmed today that four more Eritrean journalists, who have been missing, are in government custody, according to several sources in the capital, Asmara.

CPJ had previously confirmed the detention of 14 journalists, many of whom were arrested one year ago today after President Isaias Afewerki banned the private press on September 18, 2001.

New York, September 18, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns yesterday's attack on Ghulam Mohammad Sofi, a prominent editor in Srinagar, the summer capital of India's Jammu and Kashmir State.

Two young men entered the offices of Sofi, editor of the popular Urdu-language daily Srinagar Times, at about 6:30 p.m. yesterday and opened fire. Sofi's bodyguard attempted to block the assailant and was shot in the thighs. The editor was hospitalized for a bullet injury to his right hand and is now recuperating at home.

New York, September 17, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) sent a letter today to Juan Carlos Maqueda, provisional president of the Argentine Senate, expressing concern about legislation that the Senate is scheduled to debate tomorrow.

The bill proposes adding three articles to the Penal Code that would criminalize operating a radio station without a license, putting at risk the thousands of stations currently broadcasting without permission. Under the new legislation, many radio journalists could face up to a year in jail.

Bogotá, September 17, 2002—Edgar Buitrago Rico, founder and director of the monthly Revista Valle 2000, today fled the city of Cali in fear of his life after receiving repeated death threats since May.

In response, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) today sent a letter to Colombian interior minister Fernando Londoño Hoyos urging him to ensure that the ministry's Program for the Protection of Journalists and Social Communicators responds to Buitrago's recent request for assistance to relocate to Bogotá.

New York, September 16, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is outraged by today's conviction of Viktar Ivashkevich, editor-in-chief of the independent newspaper Rabochy.

A Minsk district court found Ivashkevich guilty of libeling President Aleksandr Lukashenko and sentenced him to two years' hard labor. Under the Belarusian Criminal Code, defaming the president is punishable by as much as five years in prison.