Alerts

New York, December 30, 2002—Tigran Nagdalian, the 36-year-old head of the state-owned Armenian Public Television, was shot in the head as he was leaving his parents home in Armenia's capital, Yerevan, on Saturday, December 28. The journalist was rushed to a hospital, where he died during emergency surgery, according to press reports.

New York, December 27, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is shocked by the Christmas day attack on the home of Michèle Montas, news director of Port-au-Prince-based Radio Haïti-Inter. A bodyguard was killed in the apparent assassination attempt.

Montas is the widow of Jean Dominique, a renowned journalist and radio station owner, who was gunned down at Radio Haïti-Inter on April 3, 2000. Montas has run the station ever since, serving as anchor of the daily newscast.

New York, December 24, 2002—Tomorrow marks the one-year anniversary of Russian military journalist Grigory Pasko's four-year prison sentence.

"The imprisonment of Grigory Pasko one year ago was a politicized effort by military and security officials to silence him for writing articles about environmental dangers that jeopardized the health of the Russian people," said Ann Cooper, executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). "Pasko's continued imprisonment is an injustice that confirms the inability of the Russian judiciary to protect journalists' fundamental rights in politically sensitive cases."

New York, December 23, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) mourns the death of French television reporter Patrick Bourrat, who was killed in an accident while covering U.S. military exercises in northern Kuwait.

Bourrat, a veteran 50-year-old reporter with France's TF1, died yesterday of injuries sustained on December 21, 2002 when he was struck by a U.S. tank while covering U.S. military maneuvers in the Al-Udairi training area, near the Iraqi border. TF1 senior reporter Nahida Nakad told CPJ that the journalist died of heart failure in connection with internal injuries sustained to his spleen and kidneys.

New York, December 2, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about growing threats against Haitian journalists in the wake of anti-government protests in the northern city of Cap-Haïtien that began on November 17 and continue to rattle the country.

On November 21, seven journalists from four private media outlets—including the director and three reporters from the privately owned Radio Etincelle—in Gonaïves, a seaside town northwest of Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, went into hiding after receiving menacing telephone calls and verbal threats on the street for covering the Cap-Haïtien protests, said CPJ sources.

New York, December 18, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is disturbed by a Chilean court's decision to sentence television commentator Eduardo Yáñez to 18 months in prison.

Earlier today, the Chilean Court of Appeals convicted Yáñez, a panelist on Chilevisión's debate show "El Termómetro," of "disrespect." In addition to jail time, the court ordered the journalist, who is also a businessman and an environmental activist, to pay a US$425 fine.

New York, December 11, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) welcomes today's decision by the United Nations war crimes tribunal on Yugoslavia to limit compelled testimony from war correspondents.

The decision, announced this morning at the Appeals Chamber in the International War Crimes Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague (ICTY), came in response to the appeal by former Washington Post reporter Jonathan Randal, who had been subpoened to testify in the case of former Bosnian-Serb housing minister Radoslav Brdjanin, who is facing charges of genocide because of his alleged role in the persecution and expulsion of more than 100,000 non-Serbs during the Bosnian war.

New York, December 11, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) welcomes today's release of journalists Bruno Sorrentino and Zaiba Malik, who were working on a documentary for Britain's Channel 4 "Unreported World" series.

However, CPJ demands the immediate release of Bangladeshi free-lance journalists Priscilla Raj and Saleem Samad, who were working for the documentary team as interpreters and are still detained in the capital, Dhaka.

New York, December 10, 2002--The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is concerned for the safety of Internet essayist Liu Di, who has been missing since November 7. Public security officials have notified Liu's family that she is being investigated, but her current whereabouts are unknown.

December 9, 2002

Comments on the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government's Consultation Document on proposals to implement Article 23 of the Basic Law*

Submitted to the Security Bureau by the Committee to Protect Journalists

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) submits this memorandum in response to the Consultation Document dated September 24, 2002 released by the Security Bureau in connection with legislation proposed to implement Article 23 of the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). CPJ is a non-profit, non-partisan organization of journalists dedicated to the defense of press freedom worldwide. CPJ works in every region of the world to defend journalists against physical attack, imprisonment, censorship and other threats to free expression. CPJ is firmly committed to the principle, recognized in international law, that free expression is the foundation of a free society. CPJ firmly believes that no journalist should ever be criminally punished because of the content of an article or broadcast. Freedom itself is imprisoned when a journalist goes to jail.

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NOT IN OLD HONG KONG

Newsday (New York, NY)
November 24, 2002
Copyright 2002 Newsday, Inc.

By A. Lin Neumann.


In many ways Hong Kong looks as good as ever. The soaring Bank of China building and its many gleaming neighbors in Central, the downtown business hub, still have the air of cocky optimism that built this former colony into an economic powerhouse and the freest Chinese city in the world. The streets are jammed with well-dressed office workers, the subway is crowded and yuppies belly up to the overpriced bars and fill the streets of the trendy Lan Kwai Fong district.

New York, December 9, 2002—Liberian authorities released journalist Hassan Bility, whom authorities had held incommunicado since June 24 as a "prisoner of war."

According to news reports, Bility, editor of the independent weekly The Analyst, was released without being charged or tried. He left the country this weekend for an undisclosed location.

On December 1, the Liberian government issued a statement saying that Bility and his colleagues would be released if the U.S. Embassy agreed to take them out of the country.

New York, December 3, 2002—Colombia's Constitutional Court has overturned sections of a government decree requiring foreign journalists to obtain authorization from the Interior Ministry before entering state-run security zones.

On November 25, the country's nine-member Constitutional Court ruled unanimously that the earlier decree requiring that foreigners traveling to the zones get permission first from the government could not be applied to journalists who are already accredited, according to a copy of the ruling obtained by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

New York, December 2, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about growing threats against Haitian journalists in the wake of anti-government protests in the northern city of Cap-Haïtien that began on November 17 and continue to rattle the country.

On November 21, seven journalists from four private media outlets—including the director and three reporters from the privately owned Radio Etincelle—in Gonaïves, a seaside town northwest of Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, went into hiding after receiving menacing telephone calls and verbal threats on the street for covering the Cap-Haïtien protests, said CPJ sources.

New York, November 26, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the arrest in Bangladesh yesterday of three journalists working on a documentary for Britain's Channel 4 "Unreported World" series.

Reporter Zaiba Malik, director and cameraman Bruno Sorrentino, and Priscilla Raj, a free-lance journalist working for the documentary team as an interpreter, were taken into custody along with their driver, Misir Ali.

New York, November 25, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) welcomes Russian president Vladimir Putin's decision today to veto restrictive amendments to the Law on the Struggle with Terrorism and the Law on Mass Media that were passed by Parliament earlier this month.

Putin announced his decision during a meeting with media chiefs. He also asked both houses of the Russian Parliament to form a commission to redraft the amendments.

New York, November 25, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed that Irada Huseynova, a correspondent with the Azerbaijani weekly Bakinsky Bulvar who currently works for the Moscow-based Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations (CJES), was detained today in Moscow and could be extradited.

CJES director Oleg Panfilov told CPJ that Moscow police arrived at CJES offices and detained Huseynova at the request of Azerbaijan's Prosecutor General's Office. The journalist faces extradition to Azerbaijan, where she was facing possible jail time for criminal defamation charges.

New York, November 19, 2002—An appeals court in the central Italian city of Perugia announced this week that it had convicted former prime minister Giulio Andreotti, 83, and sentenced him to 24 years in prison for ordering the murder of muckraking journalist Mino Pecorelli in 1979.

Pecorelli, who was preparing to publish compromising information about Andreotti, was gunned down on March 20, 1979, while sitting in his car in central Rome. A gunman using a pistol fitted with a silencer shot him once in the head and three times in the back.

New York, November 19, 2002—A body suspected to be that of Mykhailo Kolomyets, director of Ukrainski Novyny news agency, was found on October 30 hanging from a tree in a forest in northwestern Belarus, near the city of Maladzechna, said a news report that Ukrainski Novyny published today.

Kolomyets' colleagues at the news agency said that he did not show up for work on October 21, and that they reported him missing to law enforcement authorities a week later. According to Ukrainian police, the journalist had traveled to neighboring Belarus on October 22, where he telephoned a friend, Lyubov Ruban, who said that Kolomyets informed her that he was planning to commit suicide.

New York, November 18, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about recent attacks on Venezuelan journalists, the latest of which occurred yesterday at the 24-hour news channel Globovisión.

On Sunday, November 17, a bomb went off in the parking lot of Globovisión's offices, which are located in the eastern section of the capital, Caracas. According to local news reports, no one was injured, but three vehicles—one car belonging to a journalist and two Globovisión mobile units—were destroyed.

New York, November 13, 2002-Paul Kamara, the founding editor of one of Sierra Leone's leading newspaper, For Di People, was sentenced yesterday to six months in prison for defaming a local judge, said sources in the capital, Freetown.

Kamara was taken to Freetown's Pa Demba Road Prison on November 12 after the High Court convicted him on 18 counts of criminal libel under sections 26 and 27 of Sierra Leone's Public Order Act. The journalist was also fined US$2,100 for nine of the 18 counts, sources reported. On the remaining counts, Kamara can either pay a US$1,350 fine or serve an additional three months in jail.

New York, November 13, 2002-The board of directors and staff of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) are saddened by the death of Zimbabwean journalist Mark Chavunduka.

Chavunduka, 37, died on November 11 at West End Hospital in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, according to his relatives. The cause of death is unknown, but friends and family said he had been in poor health for a long time and was checked into the hospital for severe dehydration.

New York, November 11, 2002—Yasser Abu Hilala, a columnist for Al-Rai newspaper and a former correspondent for Al-Jazeera satellite channel, and his cousin, Samir Abu Hilala, who writes for the daily Al-Arab al-Youm, were released today by Jordanian authorities after being held for 24 hours.

Yesterday, Jordanian police and intelligence agents detained Yasser Abu Hilala after raiding his home in the capital, Amman, at around 10 p.m. Officials searched his house and confiscated a laptop computer and some of his files. Yasser's arrest came soon after the journalist sent information to Al-Jazeera's Qatar headquarters about the current clashes taking place between government forces and Islamist militants in the southern Jordanian city of Maan.

New York, November 11, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) welcomes the recent decision by Mozambique's judicial authorities to extend their investigation into the murder of journalist Carlos Cardoso to Nymphine Chissano, a son of President Joaquim Chissano.

Cardoso, Mozambique's leading investigative reporter, was gunned down, execution-style, on November 22, 2000. Six people were arrested in March 2001 for the murder.

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.

New York, November 6, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) welcomes the release of prominent Iranian journalist and reform politician Abdullah Nouri.

On Tuesday, November 5, Iranian authorities announced that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had commuted the remainder of Nouri's five-year prison term. The pardon came while Nouri was furloughed from prison to attend the funeral of his brother, who was killed last week in a car accident.

New York, November 5, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) welcomes today's release of five journalists, four of whom have been imprisoned for nearly a year on suspicion of supporting Maoist rebels in Nepal.

The journalists released today are Ishwarchandra Gyawali, executive editor of the monthly magazine Dishabodh; Manarishi Dhital, a reporter for Dishabodh; Deepak Sapkota, a reporter for the weekly Janadesh; Dipendra Rokaya, of the daily Janadisha; and Mina Tiwari Sharma, publisher and editor of the monthly magazine Eikyavaddatha.

New York, November 5, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is concerned that New York Post columnist and Red Herring magazine contributing editor Chris Byron's phone records have been illegally obtained by individuals seeking access to his journalistic sources.

In an October 19 article, the New York Post first reported that Byron's phone records had been stolen. Yesterday, Byron told CPJ that the records included the numbers of several confidential sources for a Red Herring column in which he criticized the operations and management of the Vancouver-based company Imagis Technologies. Imagis produces biometric facial recognition software, which helps identify criminals. Oliver "Buck" Revell, a former associate deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), is director and chairman of the company.

New York, November 4, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns yesterday's decision by Kuwaiti authorities to suspend Al-Jazeera's Kuwait bureau.

Saad al-Enezi, the Al-Jazeera bureau chief in Kuwait, told CPJ he received a telephone call from the Ministry of Information yesterday informing him of the Kuwaiti government's decision. He said that no specific reason was given for the decision, other than that Al-Jazeera was "biased" against Kuwait.

New York, October 31, 2002—Judicial authorities in Zimbabwe have agreed to postpone the prosecution of Lloyd Mudiwa, a reporter with the independent Daily News, after the government acknowledged that the section of the country's harsh new press law under which Mudiwa is charged violates the constitution.

However, rather than dropping the case against Mudiwa, the government is seeking to amend the press law and plans to prosecute the journalist under the redrafted legislation.

New York, October 30, 2002—Rising crimes against journalists in Colombia prompted the Attorney General's Office this month to add 12 new prosecutors to a unit dedicated to investigating attacks against the press, according to a statement from the office released on Monday, October 28.

The unit, which previously had four prosecutors based in the capital, Bogotá, will now have prosecutors working in seven additional towns and cities throughout the country.

New York, October 29, 2002—CPJ is deeply concerned that Sergei Duvanov, a prominent 49-year-old journalist known for his criticism of Kazakh authorities, was arrested on October 27 on suspicion of raping a minor.

The journalist, who remains in detention, has been officially charged, the opposition party Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan reported today.

Duvanov has denied the charges, saying the authorities "decided to use the dirtiest, most deceitful means to discredit me in from of the eyes of my Western colleagues...in order to prevent me from writing articles which aren't pleasing for those who sit in power," The Associated Press reported.

New York, October 28, 2002—The trial of Internet essayist Le Chi Quang, originally scheduled for today, has been postponed until further notice, said international news reports and CPJ sources. According to Agence France-Presse, an official at the People's Court in the capital, Hanoi, told reporters that, "Our judges need more time to prepare." A new trial date has not yet been announced.

Quang was arrested on February 21 after he wrote a number of essays criticizing government policy.

New York City, October 28, 2002—Iraqi officials have denied reports that the government has expelled foreign journalists from the country.

On Friday, CNN reported that its Baghdad bureau chief, Jane Arraf, and five other non-Iraqi reporters and staff members were ordered to leave the country by today, because officials were angered by the network's coverage, most recently of anti-government protests last week.

New York, October 25, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the recent attack on journalist Hedley Thomas and his family at their home in Brisbane, on the east coast of Australia. Thomas is a reporter with the Courier-Mail, a national daily.

At about 10:30 p.m. on October 23, an unidentified gunman fired four shots at Thomas' home, according to Australian media reports. No one was injured, although one bullet missed Thomas' wife, Ruth Mathewson, by only inches. The couple's two children, aged 18 months and 3 years, were sleeping at the time of the attack.

New York, October 25, 2002—The Colombian government announced yesterday that it will require foreign journalists to obtain authorization from the Interior Ministry before entering two state-run security zones.

Yesterday's announcement clarified an earlier decree, released on September 9, requiring all foreigners traveling to the zones to get permission from the government first. It was unclear until yesterday how the new regulations applied to foreign journalists.

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."

New York, October 10, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) welcomes the release of two Palestinian journalists detained by Israeli authorities for five months and urges the Israeli government to release another journalist still in detention.

Youssry al-Jamal, a soundman for Reuters, was released yesterday, October 9, without charge. Israeli forces detained him in the West Bank town of Hebron on April 30 while he was filming with a colleague near the Al-Ahli Hospital. He was held the entire time without charge in administrative detention.

New York, October 7, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns yesterday's attack on the Taipei offices of Next (Yi Zhoukan) magazine.

At about 1 p.m. on October 6, at least 10 men stormed the Next offices in Taipei, destroying office equipment and carrying away two computers, according to Taiwanese and international news reports. Three security guards were injured when they tried to stop the assailants.

New York, October 4, 2002—An appeals court in the northern breakaway region of Cyprus yesterday released from prison two journalists with the opposition daily Afrika, according to international press reports.

On August 8, a court of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) sentenced Afrika editor-in-chief Sener Levent and editor Memduh Ener to six months in prison for libeling Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash in a July 1999 article titled "Who is the number one traitor?" The journalists appealed the sentence.

New York, October 4, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) welcomes the release late yesterday of Philippine journalists Carlo Lorenzo and Gilbert Ordiales, who were held captive for five days while reporting on the southern island of Jolo, in Sulu Province.

CPJ remains, however, deeply concerned about allegations made by Lorenzo that members of the Philippine military were responsible for their abduction and is investigating these charges.

New York, October 2, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is concerned about the safety of television reporter Carlo Lorenzo and cameraman Gilbert Ordiales, who went missing on the southern island of Jolo, Sulu Province, on September 28. CPJ fears that the journalists may have been kidnapped.

Lorenzo and Ordiales, who work for GMA television broadcasters, were in Jolo to report on rebel groups in the region, according to Philippine and international news reports. The journalists were last seen after they met a group of armed men in the town of Indanan, according to an account by their driver. The driver left the group momentarily to check on his car, and when he returned, the journalists and the armed men had disappeared.

New York, October 1, 2002—Brazilian journalist Domingos Sávio Brandão Lima Júnior was murdered yesterday afternoon. Brandão was the owner, publisher, and a columnist of the daily Folha do Estado, which is based in the city of Cuiabá, in the central Brazilian state of Mato Grosso.

Brandão, 40, was shot at least 5 times by two unidentified men on a motorcycle, according to several news reports. The two men had been waiting for Brandão near the paper's new offices, which are under construction.

New York, September 27, 2002—An Argentine federal judge has subpoenaed the phone records of Thomas Catan, the Buenos Aires correspondent for the U.K.-based Financial Times. The records could potentially reveal the journalist's sources.

On August 20, 2002, Catan, citing unnamed bankers and diplomats he interviewed, reported that Argentine legislators had solicited bribes from foreign banks operating in Argentina as a condition for stalling a bill that, among other things, sought to reinstate a 2 percent tax on interest and commissions for a failed health scheme for bank workers. The tax has been strongly opposed by foreign banks, which could reportedly lose hundreds of millions of dollars.

New York, September 26, 2002—Roddy Scott, 31, a British free-lance cameraman working for Britain's Frontline, a television news agency, was killed in the Russian republic of Ingushetia. Russian soldiers found his body earlier today in Ingushetia's Galashki region, near the border with Chechnya, following clashes between Russian forces and a group of Chechen fighters.

The cameraman had accompanied the Chechens as they crossed from Georgia into Russia, United Press International reported.

New York, September 25, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is gravely concerned about the safety of journalists covering the ongoing military crisis in the Ivory Coast.

According to several sources in the capital, Abidjan, at least one local journalist was badly beaten by troops loyal to the government of President Laurent Gbagbo, who have been fighting mutinous soldiers variously described as rebels, foreign mercenaries, and "terrorists" by the state media.

New York, September 20, 2002—Brazilian police yesterday captured a local drug trafficker who was the leading suspect in the disappearance and murder of prominent journalist Tim Lopes.

Elias Pereira da Silva, also known as Elias the Madman, was apprehended in one of Rio de Janeiro's favelas, or shantytowns, after a two-day search. In early August, several members of his gang, who were charged with murdering the journalist, were arrested or killed in a shootout with the police.

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.

Nova York, 13 de setembro de 2002 --- O Comitê de Proteção aos Jornalistas vê com preocupacão a situação do jornalista Lúcio Flávio Pinto, que responde a diversas ações criminais por suas reportagens sobre o Estado do Pará.

Lúcio Flávio é um respeitado jornalista independente de Belém do Pará. Ele escreve a coluna "Carta da Amazônia" para o jornal O Estado de S. Paulo e publicou e editou durante mais de 14 anos o pequeno jornal quinzenal Jornal Pessoal, que cerrou suas portas em julho.

New York, September 13, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned about Brazilian journalist Lúcio Flávio Pinto, who faces several criminal and civil lawsuits because of his reporting from the Amazon rain forest in Brazil's northern state of Pará.

Lúcio Flávio, as he is known in Brazil, is a well-respected free-lance reporter based in Belém, the capital of Pará. He writes the column "Carta da Amazônia" (Letter from the Amazon) for the São Paulo­based daily O Estado de S. Paulo and was the publisher and editor for more than 14 years of the small, Belém-based fortnightly Jornal Pessoal, which ceased publication this July.

New York, September 13, 2002—Two years after the disappearance of Ukrainian journalist Georgy Gongadze, the Committee to Protect Journalists is dismayed by the lack of progress in the government's inquiry into this case.

"President Leonid Kuchma's government continues to obstruct the official inquiry," said CPJ executive director Ann Cooper. "Journalists in Ukraine will not feel safe until the government's role in Gongadze's disappearance is fully clarified, and those responsible for his abduction and death are behind bars."

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Reconstruction and Development of Media in Afghanistan
The Ministry of Information and Culture Policy Directions
Kabul
6th June 2002

Our plan for the reconstruction and development of Afghanistan's media is rooted in the vision of a social and political future that our people deserve and aspire to, and has been promised by our government - a free, independent and united Afghanistan, where government is the servant of the people and accountable to them; where there is peace, justice and the rule of law; and where people can build a modern society in accordance with the principles of Islam, democracy and human rights.

New York, September 11, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is concerned that Iosif Costinas, a 62 year-old reporter for the Romanian independent daily Timisoara, has been missing since early June.

Costinas' journalism focused on highly sensitive political issues, including a number of unsolved murders that occurred during the 1989 anti-communist revolt, which began in the western city of Timisoara, as well as the continued presence of communist-era secret police agents in the government.

New York, September 9, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) mourns the death of our colleague Larry Greene, a 24-year veteran cameraman for the Los Angeles­based television station KCBS.

Greene died Friday, September 6, when a Navy helicopter crashed over the Persian Gulf. According to several news reports, the helicopter, which carried Greene and four sailors, "had been hovering over a Syrian-flagged vessel" observing a routine health inspection and "crashed when the rotor blade struck the ship's mast," said Brig. Gen. John Rosa, the deputy operations director for the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

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 6, 2002—The Interior Ministry of Macedonia announced today that it is filing criminal libel charges against Marjan Djurovski, a journalist with the weekly magazine Start, which is based in the Macedonian capital, Skopje. The ministry also stated that additional steps would be taken against other local journalists.

According to the Interior Ministry, the charges were in response to an article by Djurovski in today's issue of Start (www.start.com.mk) claiming that the government was prepared to start a war to delay the September 15 parliamentary elections.

New York, September 5, 2002--The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) confirmed today the detention of Web publisher and AIDS activist Wan Yanhai. Wan had been missing since August 24.

Public security agents informed Wan's colleagues in Beijing that they are holding him on suspicion of "leaking state secrets," according to Wan's wife, Su Zhaosheng, who is currently studying in Los Angeles. He has not been formally charged, and authorities have not informed Wan's friends or family where he is being held.

New York, September 5, 2002—Lebanese security officers yesterday raided the private Lebanese television station Murr TV (MTV) and Mount Lebanon Radio Station, roughed up employees, and forcibly shut down the stations.

One MTV employee told the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) that the Internal Security Forces did not present a judicial order and that they were verbally abusive—pushing staff around as they raided the building and ordering all employees to leave immediately.

New York, September 3, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is gravely concerned about the recent escape from maximum-security detention of Anibal Antonio dos Santos Junior, better known as Anibalzinho, a leading suspect in the murder of Mozambican investigative journalist Carlos Cardoso.

A police spokesperson yesterday confirmed to reporters and to the Cardoso family that Anibalzinho had vanished from his prison cell in the capital, Maputo, on Sunday night, September 1.

New York, August 29, 2002—A prominent Kazakh journalist was seriously beaten by unknown assailants on the evening of August 28, according to sources in Almaty, a southern city in Kazakhstan.

Sergei Duvanov, who writes for opposition-financed Web sites, returned to his home in Almaty at around 9:45 p.m. yesterday after attending an English class. He took the elevator to his 4th floor apartment, where he was attacked by three men with clubs as he stepped on to the landing, said the sources. There is no light in the stairwell of Duvanov's apartment building so the journalist was unable to identify his attackers.

New York, August 29, 2002—Unknown persons bombed the offices of the Voice of the People (VOP) Communications Trust yesterday morning. The private news production company, which has been producing shows since June 2000, was housed in a suburb of the capital city, Harare.

The explosion is the fourth such attack on the independent media in the last two years. Since 2001, the Daily News, Zimbabwe's only independent daily newspaper, has been bombed three times.

New York, August 27, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) protests yesterday's statement by the Palestinian Journalists' Syndicate, a professional press association based in the Gaza Strip, barring Palestinian and foreign journalists from photographing images of Palestinian children wearing military uniforms or carrying weapons.

It is unclear how this ban will be enforced and whether any punitive measures will be taken against those who violate it.

San Pablo, Philippines, August 27, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about the murder of journalist and broadcaster Sonny Alcantara in the city of San Pablo, south of Manila, and calls on the government of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to ensure a thorough and impartial investigation into the slaying.

Alcantara, 51, was killed when a lone gunman shot him in the forehead near his home as he was riding a motorcycle, police investigators told CPJ. Investigators said that they believe at least one accomplice informed the gunman by cell phone of Alcantara's departure from his home at about 10 a.m. on August 22.

New York, August 26, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) mourns the death of our colleague Alistair McLeod, 41, a freelance reporter on assignment in Afghanistan for The Australian newspaper.

McLeod, a New Zealand citizen, was killed over the weekend in a car accident outside Kabul. Luis Alvarez, a reporter for the Spanish news agency EFE, and an Afghan driver were injured in the accident. The accident occurred when the car carrying the two journalists tried to dodge another vehicle and rolled over, according to international news reports.

New York, August 26, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the brutal murder by Maoist rebels of Nava Raj Sharma, editor of the Nepali-language weekly Kadam, published from Kalikot District in Nepal's remote Midwestern region.

News of Sharma's murder earlier this summer surfaced only last week, after a team of journalists and human rights activists organized by the government's National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) visited Kalikot and other districts in the area.

Xiao Qiang, a 2001 MacArthur Fellow, is executive director of Human Rights in China, a monitoring and advocacy organization based in New York and Hong Kong. Sophie Beach is Asia research associate at the Committee to Protect Journalists.


NEW YORK -- Last month, the Chinese government announced that some 45.8 million of its citizens had access to the Internet. Three years ago, only 2 million Chinese people were online. At this rate, half of China's nearly 1.3 billion people will be online in five years.

New York, August 19, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned by the recent attack on Artur Platonov in Almaty, a city in southern Kazakhstan. Platonov is a well-known host of the weekly television program "Portrait of the Week" on the private station KTK.

Three assailants brutally assaulted Platonov as he was driving home on the evening of Friday, August 16, according to Kazakh and international reports. The journalist was hospitalized with a broken nose and contusions as a result of the incident.

New York, August 19, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed that Mexican journalist and author Isabel Arvide has been charged with criminal defamation.

Judge Armando Rodrígues Gaytán of the Second Penal Court in the district of Morales, Chihuahua, in north central Mexico, confirmed to CPJ that Arvide has been charged with criminal defamation. According to Mexico's Criminal Code, Arvide faces six months to two years in prison if convicted.

New York, August 15, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is pleased to announce that a Kenyan journalist who was serving a six-month sentence in a maximum-security prison just outside the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, was released yesterday by presidential decree.

Njehu Gatabaki, an opposition member of Parliament and the publisher and editor-in-chief of Finance magazine, was found guilty on August 9 of publishing an "alarming" article and sentenced to six months in jail. On August 12, he was transferred to Kamiti Maximum Prison, which is notorious for its violent criminals [See CPJ's letter, August 12]

Bogotá, August 14, 2002—Paramilitary fighters are threatening to kill members of the Colombian press in a northeastern region of Colombia where a journalist was recently shot and killed.

A July 29 e-mail message sent to Radio Meridiano-70 and to Caracol Televisión correspondent Rodrigo Ávila accuses press members and media owners in the Arauca Department of flouting justice and warns that they could be declared military targets. The Arauca Liberators Block of the paramilitary United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) signed the letter.

August 14, 2002, New York—Authorities in Vietnam will soon bring Internet essayist Le Chi Quang, 32, to trial on national security charges, according to CPJ sources. Quang has been in prison since February 21, 2002, when he was arrested for writing articles that criticized Vietnam's border agreements with China.

Officials from the Prosecutor's Office informed Quang's mother that her son would be tried soon under Article 88 of the Criminal Code, which bans the distribution of information that opposes the government. The exact date of the trial is unknown.

New York, August 13, 2002—A journalist who was sentenced to six months' imprisonment for publishing an "alarming report" was transferred yesterday to a maximum-security prison outside the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

On August 9, 2002, Njehu Gatabaki, an opposition member of Parliament and the publisher and editor-in-chief of Finance magazine, was found guilty of publishing an "alarming" article and sentenced to six months in jail without the option of a fine, according to Kenyan sources and news reports. [See CPJ's August 12 letter]

New York, August 12, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed that an Israeli reporter and his photographer came under Israel Defense Forces (IDF) gunfire yesterday in the West Bank town of Tulkarem.

On August 11, Gideon Levy, of the Israeli daily Ha'aretz, his photographer, Miki Kratsman, their driver, and a representative from an international human rights organization were traveling by taxi in Tulkarem. As they approached the IDF's District Coordination Office (DCO) at about 15 kph (10 mph), they came under fire from a soldier at a lookout post about 150 meters (165 yards) away. Three bullets hit the armor-plated taxi's windshield, but no one was injured.

Bogotá, August 9, 2002—The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) detained two newspaper journalists and their driver in Colombia on Tuesday, August 6, freeing them unharmed two days later, CPJ has learned.

Iván Noguera and Héctor Fabio Zamora, a correspondent and photographer, respectively, for El Tiempo, Colombia's largest daily, and their driver, Henry Gómez, were forced out of their vehicle by about 10 FARC fighters outside the town of Mistrató in western Colombia.

August 9, 2002, New York—A court in the Turkish breakaway region of northern Cyprus yesterday sentenced two editors from the opposition daily Afrika to six months in prison for criticizing a Turkish Cypriot leader, according to international press reports and CPJ sources.

On Thursday, August 8, Afrika editor-in-chief Sener Levent and editor Memduh Ener were sentenced to six months in prison for libeling Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash in a July 1999 article titled "Who is the number one traitor?"

New York, August 7, 2002—In a fresh series of actions against Cuba's independent press corps, Cuban state security agents have harassed, detained, and threatened several independent journalists during the last 10 days.

Journalist detained
Ángel Pablo Polanco, 60, director of the independent news agency Noticuba, was detained on July 30. According to Polanco's wife, at around 11:30 a.m. that morning, seven or eight plainclothes state security agents arrived at the journalist's apartment, in the Havana municipality of Diez de Octubre.

New York, August 7, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about the investigation ordered yesterday by a state prosecutor in Lebanon into accusations that Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation International (LBCI), a private television station, is responsible for "inciting sectarian strife" and "disturbing general peace."

Under investigation are LBCI's news editor, Jean Feghali, and chairman, Pierre Daher. The charges for which they are being investigated carry penalties of up to three years in prison and a fine of as much as 100 million Lebanese pounds (US$66,100).

New York, August 6, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) today confirmed that Eritrean journalist Simret Seyoum, a writer and general manager at the banned private weekly Setit, has been in Eritrean government custody since early January.

This puts the total of jailed Eritrean journalists at 14, although government sources recently acknowledged holding only "about eight" media professionals. [See CPJ's August 2 alert]

New York, August 2, 2002—During a recent fact-finding mission to Eritrea, a presidential official told a delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) that eight independent journalists are currently imprisoned and held incommunicado.

Although the official, presidential spokesperson Yermane Gebremesken, cited eight journalists, CPJ puts the total number of journalists jailed in Eritrea at 13.

New York, August 2, 2002—On July 31, Abdullah Keskin, a Turkish publisher charged with "separatist propaganda" for publishing a U.S. journalist's book about Turkey's Kurdish minority population, was convicted and sentenced to a six-month prison sentence, which the court converted to a fine of about US$500.

An Istanbul State Security Court ruled on Wednesday that Keskin had violated Article 8 of Turkey's Anti-Terror Law when his publishing house, Avesta, printed a Turkish edition of After Such Knowledge, What Forgiveness? My Encounters in Kurdistan, a book about the Kurds written by retired Washington Post correspondent Jonathan Randal.

New York, August 1, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is shocked by the recent attack on the office of the Tamil-language newspaper Dinamalar in Thanjavur, a city in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

On the afternoon of July 30, about six people armed with wood sticks charged into the Dinamalar office and began destroying equipment and furniture. They assaulted employees who attempted to stop them, and several staffers were badly injured, said a news editor at the paper.

New York, July 26, 2002—The Court Martial Board, Liberia's military court, yesterday gave the government an August 7 deadline to produce Hassan Bility, a prominent newspaper editor who has been detained incommunicado since June 24.

Bility, editor of the weekly Analyst newspaper, was arrested with two other individuals—Ansumana Kamara and Mohammed Kamara—and charged with collaborating with the rebel group Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD). The three have been held incommunicado since then and have not been formally charged. The rebel group has denied any connection with the detained men.

New York, July 25, 2002--The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed by news reports that Czech investigative reporter Sabina Slonkova was the target of a murder plot allegedly planned by Karel Srba, the former general secretary of the Czech Foreign Ministry.

Srba was arrested on July 19--in addition to three others who were arrested on July 18--on suspicion of planning to kill the journalist, according to Czech and international sources.

Addis Ababa, July 25, 2002—After a five-day fact-finding mission to Ethiopia, a delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has found that the Ethiopian government is planning alarming changes to the country's 10-year-old press laws that would severely restrict the rights of Ethiopia's already beleaguered private press corps.

Although Information Minister Simon Bereket told the CPJ delegation that the new law would promote "constructive and responsible journalism," journalists said the statutes would lead to a crackdown, driving many of them out of business and behind bars.

New York, July 25, 2002—To mark the one-year anniversary of the murder of Georgy Sanaya, a popular anchor for the Tbilisi-based independent television station Rustavi-2, Committee to Protect Journalists executive director Ann Cooper issued the following statement:

"We are disheartened that one year after Georgy Sanaya's July 26, 2001, murder, justice has not been done. And although President Eduard Shevardnadze said yesterday that the murder has been solved, no further information about this heinous crime has been made public.

New York, July 25, 2002—Zimbabwe's Daily News editor-in-chief Geoff Nyarota and reporter Lloyd Mudiwa, who are charged with "abusing journalistic privilege" and "publishing false information," have successfully petitioned a magistrate's court in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, to have their case referred to the country's Supreme Court.
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Magistrate Sandra Nhau granted a motion from defense lawyers to have the case heard by the country's highest court after claims by Nyarota and Mudiwa that the sections of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, under which they have been charged, are unconstitutional.

New York, July 23, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists has just learned that writer Nguyen Vu Binh has been released from Vietnamese police custody. Authorities, however, have summoned him for questioning each day since his detention on July 21.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Phan Thuy Thanh told reporters today that, "Mr. Nguyen Vu Binh has committed actions which endangered security and public order. He was therefore summoned by local police to explain and clarify his actions." [See July 22 alert]

New York, July 22, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the detention of writer Nguyen Vu Binh, who is currently being held incommunicado.

At around 9 a.m. on July 20, police officers picked up Binh from his home in Vietnam's capital, Hanoi, and brought him to the local precinct. Officers also searched his computer, read his e-mails, and printed out personal documents, according to the Democracy Club for Vietnam, an organization based in both California and Hanoi.

New York, July 22, 2002—The attorney representing three journalists from Zimbabwe's Daily News who went on trial today for violating the country's harsh press laws asked that the case be referred to the Supreme Court, claiming that the section of the law under which the journalists have been charged is unconstitutional.

A ruling is expected on Wednesday, July 24.

The charges of "abusing journalistic privileges" and "publishing false information" stem from a story published in the April 23 edition of the Daily News. The story, written by reporter Lloyd Mudiwa, alleged that young members of the ruling ZANU-PF party beheaded an opposition supporter. The story was later declared inaccurate, and the newspaper published an apology.

New York, July 17, 2002—Haitian broadcast journalist Israel Jacky Cantave and his cousin, who went missing on July 15, were found tied and blindfolded by last night on the side of a road.

Cantave, who is known for his in-depth reports on sensitive issues, works for Radio Caraïbes, which is based in Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince.

From the hospital where both men were taken, Cantave, 28, gave the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) an account of what happened to him and his cousin, Frantz Ambroise, after they left the radio station on Monday night.

New York, July 17, 2002—Zimbabwe's High Court has suspended government orders to deport Andrew Meldrum, a U.S. citizen and the Zimbabwe correspondent for the British Guardian newspaper, and referred the case to the Supreme Court.

Meldrum was served with two deportation orders on July 15, just minutes after being acquitted of "publishing false information" and "abusing journalistic privileges" for a Guardian article about a story in Zimbabwe's independent Daily News. The Daily News story, which the paper later retracted, alleged that young members of the ruling ZANU-PF party had beheaded an opposition supporter.  [see Special Report].

New York, July 16, 2002—Haitian broadcast journalist Israel Jacky Cantave has been missing since last night, and colleagues said that they fear he has been kidnapped in reprisal for his reporting.

Guyler C. Delva, head of the Haitian Journalists Association told the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) that Cantave, who covers a range of sensitive issues for Radio Caraïbes, left his radio station in Port-au-Prince with his cousin Frantz Ambroise after finishing the 10 p.m. newscast on Monday.

New York, July 16, 2002—In the latest instance of Kazakhstan's official harassment of independent and opposition journalists, a prominent journalist has been charged with defaming Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

Sergei Duvanov, who writes for several Web sites financed by Kazakhstan's political opposition, was summoned to the Almaty office of the National Security Committee (KNB, successor to the KGB) on the morning of July 9, according to international and Kazakh news reports.

July 15, 2002 Monday 9:04 AM Eastern Time


By KATHY GANNON; Associated Press Writer

HYDERABAD, Pakistan

The British-born Islamic militant accused of masterminding the kidnap-slaying of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was convicted Monday and sentenced to death by hanging. Three accomplices were sentenced to 25 years imprisonment.

Pakistani authorities braced for a violent reaction by Islamic extremists, already angry over President Pervez Musharraf's support for the United States in the war against terrorism. The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad went on a "heightened state of security readiness" after the verdict, spokesman John Kincannon said. "We'll see who will die first, me or the authorities who have arranged the death sentence for me," the defendant, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, said in a statement read to reporters by his lawyers.

New York, July 15, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is very concerned about the safety of Natasa Odalovic, a correspondent for the U.S.-government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and a columnist for the weekly Danas, which is based in Serbia's capital, Belgrade.

"I have been under surveillance for the past three days and am very concerned about my security," Odalovic told CPJ in a telephone interview today.

New York, July 15, 2002—Andrew Meldrum, the Zimbabwe correspondent for the British Guardian newspaper, was today acquitted of "publishing false information" and "abusing journalistic privileges." However, Meldrum, the first journalist to be tried under Zimbabwe's repressive new media laws, was ordered to leave the country within 24 hours.

Meldrum, a U.S. citizen who has been a permanent resident of Zimbabwe for more than 20 years, was charged under the draconian Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act for a Guardian article that cited a report in Zimbabwe's independent Daily News. The Daily News story alleged that young members of the ruling ZANU-PF party had beheaded an opposition supporter [see Special Report].

New York, July 12, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has just learned that Mario Prada Díaz, of the weekly El Semanario Sabanero in the Santander Department in northeastern Colombia, was killed this week. His death occurred the same week in which another journalist in the region was threatened at gunpoint, one day after a paramilitary commander declared the local press a military target.

A source in Colombia told CPJ that Prada, 44, was abducted from his house in the municipality of Sabana de Torres at 11 p.m. on July 11. This morning, Prada's body was found riddled with gunshots not far from his home. The source said that it was not clear who killed Prada, or why.

New York, July 12, 2002—Palestinian free-lance photographer Imad Abu Zahra died this morning from gunshot wounds he sustained yesterday in the West Bank town of Jenin. Said Dahla, a photographer for the official Palestinian news agency WAFA who was accompanying Abu Zahra, was also wounded.

"We mourn the loss of our colleague Abu Zahra," said CPJ executive director, Ann Cooper, noting that he was the second journalist to be killed while covering conflict in the West Bank this year.

July 10, 2002, Wednesday, BC cycle

International News

By ZARAR KHAN, Associated Press Writer

HYDERABAD, Pakistan

The trial of four Islamic militants charged in the killing of Wall Street Journal correspondent Daniel Pearl wrapped up Wednesday with prosecutors calling for the death penalty.

Judge Ali Ashraf Shah scheduled court proceedings for Monday to hand down a verdict, although Pakistani courts sometimes delay such rulings beyond the scheduled delivery time. There is no jury, and Shah is the only judge deciding the case.

Manila, July 12, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about a case of mistaken identity that could jeopardize the safety of Philippine journalist Bernadette Tamayo, a veteran military correspondent with the People's Journal newspaper.

Military intelligence officials on the southern island of Mindanao have issued a "wanted poster" that mistakenly included a picture of Tamayo, identifying her as a member of the Abu Sayyaf guerrilla group and placing a 1 million peso (US$20,000) bounty on her head.

New York, July 11, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed that Iran's Supreme National Security Council has censored media coverage of the resignation of prominent cleric Ayatollah Jalaleddin Taheri.

According to a CPJ source in Tehran, the council, which is headed by the president and includes several top government officials, sent the written directive to newspapers late last night, Wednesday, July 10. The order instructed publishers not to take a position "for or against" Taheri.

New York, July 11, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply disturbed that Israeli authorities continue to detain three Palestinian journalists—Reuters sound technician Youssry al-Jamal, photographer Hussam Abu Alan of Agence France-Presse, and Al-Quds newspaper reporter Kamel Jbeil.

Al-Jamal was arrested on April 30 while filming near Al-Ahli Hospital in Hebron, and Abu Alan and Jbeil were picked up several weeks ago in the West Bank.

New York, July 10, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed by today's attack on Shahid Rashid, editor of the Urdu-language daily State Reporter.

Rashid was shot this morning by masked gunmen as he rode his scooter to the newspaper office in the Chanapora area of Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir State. Both Pakistan and India claim the disputed territory of Kashmir for their own.

Bogotá, July 1, 2002—The owner of a radio station, who recently had alerted the public to the presence of paramilitary fighters in the region, was shot and killed in northeastern Colombia.

Efraín Varela Noriega, owner of Radio Meridiano­70, was driving home from a university graduation in Arauca Department on the afternoon of June 28 when gunmen yanked him from his car and shot him in the face and chest, said Col. Jorge Caro, acting commander of Arauca's police.

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>New York, June 26, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about an incident yesterday in which a Reuters television cameraman came under gunfire in the West Bank town of Hebron.

New York, June 19, 2002—Belarusian journalists Mikola Markevich and Paval Mazheika, both of the independent weekly newspaper Pahonya, will give their final statements on Friday, June 21, in their ongoing criminal libel case. If convicted, the prosecution has requested prison terms of two-and-a-half years for editor-in-chief Markevich and two years for reporter Mazheika, said Belarusian news reports.

The journalists are accused of libeling President Aleksandr Lukashenko, which is a criminal offense under the Belarusian law.

New York, June 19, 2002—The Zimbabwean government has announced restrictive new licensing fees for journalists and media organizations.

The announcement comes after the March passage of the contentious Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, under which Andrew Meldrum, a U.S. citizen and the Zimbabwe correspondent for the London-based Guardian, is currently being tried for "publishing falsehoods." (read alert of June 11, 2002.)

Manila, June 18, 2002—The family of slain Filipino broadcast journalist Edgar Damalerio said they are facing harassment and obstruction as they search for justice in the May 13 murder.

They have traveled with a key witness to the crime to Manila from their home in the southern Philippines to present affidavits to senior police officials and press for the arrest of a key suspect in the case.

New York, June 18, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by the recent attack on German Galkin, deputy editor of the local newspaper Vecherny Chelyabinsk in the Ural city of Chelyabinsk.

Two unknown assailants assaulted Galkin outside of his apartment on the evening of Friday, June 14, according to Russian news reports. The journalist suffered minor injuries as a result.

New York, June 18, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the continued imprisonment of Basile Agboh, publication director of the independent Lomé­based weekly Le Scorpion. Agboh has been in prison for two weeks.

Agboh was arrested on June 5 along with Maurice Atchinou, editor-in-chief of Le Scorpion, who was released the following day. Their arrests came after an article in the June 3 edition of the paper alleged that Lieutenant Colonel Ernest Gnassingbé, son of Togo's president, Gnassingbé Eyadéma, issued death threats to Prime Minister Agbeyomé Kodjo.

Port-au-Prince, June 13, 2002—After a three-day fact-finding mission, a delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has found that journalists in Haiti face a troubling atmosphere of intimidation and fear.

Haitian journalists have told CPJ of violent attacks and threats that largely remain unpunished. Some have felt obliged to censor themselves, go into hiding, or even leave their country.

New York, June 11, 2002—A Brazilian judge has granted an injunction banning the country's media from publishing any information regarding proceedings against another judge. This is the second case of prior censorship in Brazil within two weeks.

On May 23, Judge Zélia Maria Antunes Alves, of the São Paulo State Court of Justice, granted an injunction requested by Judge Renato Mehana Khamis, of the Regional Labor Tribunal of the State of São Paulo, who faces administrative-disciplinary proceedings for alleged sexual harassment. The injunction banned the Brazilian media from circulating any information related to the proceedings.

New York, June 11, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned about the decision by a United Nations war crimes tribunal to compel the testimony of retired Washington Post reporter Jonathan C. Randal.

In its June 7 decision, the tribunal ruled that Randal will be forced to testify regarding the accuracy of a 1993 article in which he quoted Bosnian-Serb housing minister Radoslav Brdjanin as saying that those "unwilling to defend [Bosnian-Serb territory] must be moved out" in order to create "an ethnically clean space."

New York, June 11, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned about the decision by a United Nations war crimes tribunal to compel the testimony of retired Washington Post reporter Jonathan C. Randal.

In its June 7 decision, the tribunal ruled that Randal will be forced to testify regarding the accuracy of a 1993 article in which he quoted Bosnian-Serb housing minister Radoslav Brdjanin as saying that those "unwilling to defend [Bosnian-Serb territory] must be moved out" in order to create "an ethnically clean space."

New York, June 11, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the upcoming trial of Andrew Meldrum, a U.S. journalist based in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare, on charges of "abusing journalistic privilege" and publishing "false information."

Meldrum, who writes for the London Guardian, The Economist, and contributes to Radio France Internationale, is due to appear in court tomorrow, June 12.

Tashkent, June 10, 2002—A delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) today completed a nine-day mission to Uzbekistan by calling on President Islam Karimov to free three jailed journalists and to change government policies that severely restrict press freedom in the country.

In recent weeks, Uzbek officials formally abolished prior censorship. But local newspaper editors have been warned that they will be held personally accountable for what they publish, limiting the impact of this step.

New York, June 7, 2002—The Kenyan High Court has ordered copies of the Weekly Citizen off the streets following a complaint from a businessman.

High Court judge Andrew Hayanga issued a temporary injunction forbidding the managing editor of Weekly Citizen, a tabloid known for salacious reporting, and its vendors from continuing to distribute the June 3-9 issue until a libel suit filed by businessman Sunil Behal is heard and resolved, according to Kenyan news reports.

New York, June 6, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) welcomes the release of British journalist Amardeep Bassey but calls on the government to release his two Pakistani guides, Naoshad Ali Afridi and Khitab Shah Shinwari.

On May 10, Bassey, investigations editor for the British newspaper The Sunday Mercury, Afridi, and Shinwari were detained at the Torkham border crossing, near Peshawar, after crossing into Pakistan from Afghanistan.

New York, June 5, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned about the June 2 disappearance of Tim Lopes, an investigative reporter with TV Globo in Brazil. According to news reports, he was last seen on assignment in the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro, at an impoverished community, known as a favela.

On June 2, the 50-year-old Lopes traveled to Favela Vila do Cruzeiro. According to a TV Globo press release published in Brazilian papers, the reporter was met by his driver at the favela at about 8 p.m., but told the driver that he needed more time to finish his work. They agreed to meet again at 10 p.m., but the reporter never arrived.

Kathmandu, June 6, 2002—In a press conference today, a delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists announced that it had met with Nepalese prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and Information Minister Jaya Prakash Gupta to raise concerns about press freedom abuses that have occurred since the government declared a state of emergency in November 2001. The CPJ team specifically brought up the illegal detention of journalists and the alleged torture by authorities.

New York, May 31, 2002—A three-judge appeals panel yesterday sentenced two men to a 13-year prison term for the 1998 murder of Philip True, a Mexico City correspondent for the San Antonio Express-News. The unanimous ruling overturned an August 2001 verdict that had acquitted the two men.

The men were found guilty of "intentional homicide," the San Antonio Express-News reported. The prosecution had sought a conviction on charges of "premeditated murder," which carries a sentence of up to 20 years. The defendants remain free while their lawyers consider whether to file a final appeal before a federal court.

New York, May 29, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the shooting of Zafar Iqbal, a journalist for the Srinagar, Kashmir­based English-language daily Kashmir Images.

Iqbal, who was shot by three unidentified assailants this afternoon, was seriously injured and is currently in the hospital in stable condition, according to journalists in Kashmir and Indian news reports.

New York, May 28, 2002—Reuters photographer Suhaib Jadallah Salem was released by Israeli authorities yesterday after being detained for five days. According to Reuters news reports, no charges were filed.

Israeli authorities detained Salem on May 22 at the Abu Holi checkpoint in the Gaza Strip.

Reuters reported that Salem was attempting to enter the town of Rafah, en route to Egypt, where he was scheduled to fly to Japan to cover the World Cup soccer tournament. He was traveling in a Reuters armored car, clearly identified as a press vehicle, with a driver and two other passengers.

New York, May 24, 2002—A Brazilian judge has censored CartaCapital, a weekly magazine based in the city of São Paulo. The magazine said it will fight the decision.

According to press reports in Brazil and court documents, copies of which were obtained by CPJ, Judge Marcelo Oliveira da Silva of the 21st Civil Chamber of Rio de Janeiro ordered the magazine to not disclose the contents of conversations between presidential candidate Anthony Garotinho and Guilherme Freire, a donor to Garotinho's previous campaigns, that Freire had recorded.

Bogotá, May 24, 2002--The leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have demanded that a newspaper in northern Colombia pay the equivalent of US$250,000 and publish a four-page communiqué to secure the release of a reporter and another employee who were kidnapped last week, the newspaper's director said yesterday.

Ulilo Acevedo, founder and director of Hoy Diario del Magdalena, said he and the other editors still haven't decided whether to submit to the demands. Acevedo fears that a rival right-wing paramilitary army could retaliate against the daily newspaper for publishing the communiqué.

New York, May 24, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the ongoing detention of several journalists by Israeli forces in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

At least five journalists remain in Israeli custody after being arrested in recent weeks. On May 22, most recently, Israeli troops detained Reuters photographer Suhaib Jadallah Salem at the Abu Holi checkpoint in the Gaza Strip. Salem was arrested while attempting to enter the town of Rafah.

New York, May 23, 2002—A homemade bomb exploded yesterday morning at the entrance of Bombo Radyo station in Cagayan de Oro City, on the southern island of Mindanao, in the Philippines. According to local news reports, no one was injured in the attack.

The bomb detonated at about 1:00 a.m. on May 22, causing superficial damage to the exterior of the building. The blast did not affect Bombo Radyo's ability to broadcast.

New York, May 22, 2002—This morning assailants threw Molotov cocktails into the office windows of Delovoye Obozreniye Respublika, an opposition newspaper based in the city of Almaty in southern Kazakhstan. In a separate incident, two employees of another opposition paper were attacked yesterday.

According to international reports and CPJ sources in Kazakhstan, no one was injured in today's attack, but the resulting fire destroyed much of the office, including the publication's technical equipment.

New York, May 22, 2002—Geoff Nyarota, editor-in-chief of Zimbabwe's Daily News and a 2001 CPJ International Press Freedom Award winner, was arrested by police on Monday, May 20, and charged with "publishing falsehoods." He was released after five hours of questioning.

If found guilty, he faces a fine of up to Z$100,000 (US$ 1,876) or a two-year jail term.
Nyarota is the fourth journalist to be arrested for the April 23 story about youths from the ruling ZANU-PF party beheading an opposition supporter in front of her two daughters. That story was later declared inaccurate.

New York, May 21, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) released a special report today calling on the government of Mozambique to step up its inquiry into the killing of investigative journalist Carlos Cardoso.

The report, "The Murder of Carlos Cardoso," was written by CPJ Africa program coordinator Yves Sorokobi and is based on new interviews and extensive research conducted by a CPJ delegation that visited Mozambique last year.

Bogotá, May 21, 2002—Two newspaper reporters and their driver were kidnapped by the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) on May 16 in northern Colombia. According to local police, the rebels freed one of the reporters the following day.

Nidia Álvarez Mariño and Ramón Vásquez Ruiz of the Santa Marta­based daily Hoy Diario del Magdalena were abducted Thursday morning in Magdalena Department, said Mónica Pimienta, an editor at the paper. Álvarez was freed unharmed the following morning, but the rebels continue to hold Vásquez and the driver, Vladimir Revolledo Cuisman, Pimienta told the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

New York, May 17, 2002—The man accused in the July 2001 murder of prominent television journalist Igor Aleksandrov was acquitted today by the Donetsk Court of Appeals in eastern Ukraine.

The court ruled that there was not enough evidence to convict Yuri Verdyuk and instructed officials to reopen the murder investigation, according to local and international news reports.

Law enforcement officials arrested Verdyuk in August 2001, a month after Aleksandrov's murder. The General Prosecutor's Office charged him with the murder in mid-December.

New York, May 15, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release of journalist Sein Hlaing, one of nine political prisoners freed this week by Burma's military rulers.

The journalist had spent more than 11 years in prison.

A spokesman for the regime announced yesterday, May 14, that the prisoners, all members of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), "are in good health and reunited with their respective families."

New York, May 13, 2002—Panamanian journalist Miguel Antonio Bernal will go to court tomorrow morning to face criminal defamation charges filed in 1998 by then-National Police director José Luis Sosa.

During a February 1998 broadcast of the news program "TVN-Noticias," Bernal held the National Police responsible for the decapitation of four Coiba Island Prison inmates by fellow prisoners. After Bernal made his remarks, Sosa was quoted in the Panama City daily La Prensa as saying, "Apart from being false, Bernal's assertions are slanderous of the good name of the institution and help to debilitate the confidence and support that the community has given to the National Police."

New York, June 5, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists joins with our colleagues at the Tribal Union of Journalists (TUJ) in mourning the death of Noor Hakim Khan, a correspondent for the Daily Pakistan and vice president of the TUJ in Peshawar. According to local media reports, Hakim was one of five people killed by a roadside bomb at about 6 p.m. on Saturday in the Bajaur region of the North West Frontier Province, near Pakistan's border with Afghanistan.

New York, May 10, 2002--In the latest wave of Iran's ongoing crackdown on the press, the country's conservative Press Court has sentenced two journalists to prison and banned three newspapers during the last two weeks.

CPJ learned that on May 8, Iran's Press Court convicted Mohsen Mirdamadi, a member of Parliament and director of the leading reformist daily, Norooz, of insulting the state, publishing lies, and insulting Islamic institutions in articles the paper had published.

New York, May 10, 2002—A Mexican newspaper publisher appeared on Wednesday, May 8, before a public prosecutor in Mexico City to respond to criminal defamation charges brought against him by a local politician.

Alejandro Junco de la Vega, president and publisher of the Mexico City daily REFORMA, was charged over an article alleging that Carlos Galán Domínguez, a member of the Mexico State Chamber of Deputies, had received improper payments from the Chamber.

New York, May 9, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists is extremely concerned about a series of menacing threats against four Colombian journalists, including an incident yesterday.

At around 6:30 a.m. on May 8, two men approached Carlos Pulgarín—a journalism professor at the Universidad de La Sabana, a private university in the capital, Bogotá—as he was walking toward the bus stop to go to work, the journalist told CPJ. One of the men grabbed him by the arm and the other patted him on the shoulder in a seemingly friendly manner. They were not visibly armed.

New York, May 8, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the Monday, May 6, confiscation of the intellectual and political magazine Wijhat Nadhar.

Wijhat Nadhar editor El-Mostafa Soulaih told CPJ that staff contacted him from Al-Najah al-Jadidah printing press in Casablanca and told him that agents from the secret service, the Direction de la surveillance du territoire (DST), had taken all 8,000 copies of the magazine, which was set for distribution on Tuesday, May 7.

New York, May 8, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by yesterday's decision of the Appeals Board of the Supreme Court to reinstate a Defense Ministry decree that was used to convict and jail Russian journalist Grigory Pasko.

Pasko was convicted of treason in December 2001, based on the charge that he intended to leak classified information to Japanese news outlets about the Russian Pacific Fleet's dumping of nuclear waste in the Sea of Japan. Pasko was sentenced to four years in prison and is currently serving his jail term in Vladivostok.

New York, May 7, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the Chilean government's recent pledge to reform Chile's onerous criminal defamation laws.

On May 3, World Press Freedom Day, government spokesman Heraldo Muñoz announced that the government would present a proposal to the Chamber of Deputies to achieve "the decriminalization of crimes of opinion ... and look to modify the concept of disrespect as well as deal with the crimes of libel and slander to take out any reference to freedom of expression and freedom of the press and opinion," according to a press release.

New York, May 7, 2002—A judge today dismissed charges of "abusing journalistic privileges" and "publishing false information" against Collin Chiwanza, reporter for the independent Daily News, citing lack of evidence.

Chiwanza appeared in court with fellow Daily News journalist Lloyd Mudiwa and Andrew Meldrum, a U.S. citizen who is the Zimbabwe correspondent for the London-based The Guardian newspaper. Mudiwa and Meldrum, who face the same charges, will remain free until their trial, which is scheduled for May 22.

New York, May 6, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists is gravely concerned by the recent passage of the National Media Commission Bill 2002, a pernicious piece of legislation that would give a state-dominated commission the right to license journalists and force reporters to reveal confidential sources.

Over the past year, Gambian journalists have made successful efforts to regulate themselves. During the run-up to last October's presidential elections, for example, the Gambia Press Union adopted a code of conduct for journalists. Partly as a result, the political coverage was some of the most balanced in the country's history.

New York, May 3, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the prison sentence imposed last week on Egyptian journalist Ahmed Haridy, editor of the online daily newspaper Al Methaq Al Araby.

On April 28, Haridy was sentenced to six months in prison after the Boulak Abu al-Aila Misdemeanor Court in the capital, Cairo, found him guilty of defaming Ibrahim Nafie, editor-in-chief and chairman of Egypt's largest newspaper, the semi-official Al-Ahram.

New York, May 2, 2002--CPJ condemns the recent sentencing of Iranian reformist journalist Ahmed Zaid-Abadi, a writer for the newspaper Hamshahri, to 23 months in prison.

On April 29, The Associated Press quoted Zaid-Abadi's wife as saying that he was originally charged in August 2000 with "insulting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei and publishing lies against the Islamic establishment for the purpose of disturbing public opinion." The charges came after he gave a series of lectures at several Iranian universities, according to a CPJ source.

New York, May 2, 2002—CPJ regrets that 15 years after the murder of Japanese journalist Tomohiro Kojiri, a reporter for the daily Asahi Shimbun, no one has been brought to justice for this crime. The statute of limitations on his case expired tonight at midnight, Tokyo time.

New York, May 2, 2002—CPJ is deeply concerned about the draft Supreme Radio and Television Board Bill currently being debated by the Turkish Parliament.
The bill was passed last year but vetoed by President Ahmet Necdet Sezer in June 2001. Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit's government recently resubmitted the bill to Parliament.

Under the new law, Turkish broadcasters would face exorbitant fines if found to violate a wide range of Turkish laws that have historically been used to punish journalists for expressing their opinions. The fines range from 5 billion lira (about US$4,000) to 250 billion lira (about US$190,000), with a 50 percent increase for repeat offenders. Broadcasters convicted three times within a single year could have their licenses revoked.

Washington, D.C., May 2, 2002—In Senate testimony today, a CPJ representative argued that the U.S. government should never recruit journalists as spies, and that U.S. intelligence operatives should never pose as journalists.

Appearing before the Subcommittee on International Operations and Terrorism of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, CPJ Washington representative Frank Smyth underscored the need to maintain an inviolate firewall between U.S. intelligence agencies and the press.

New York, April 30, 2002—Valery Ivanov, editor of the newspaper Tolyatinskoye Obozreniye in the southern Russian city of Togliatti, was shot dead outside his home last night, CPJ has confirmed.

At approximately 11 p.m. Ivanov, 32, was shot eight times in the head at point-blank range while entering his car, a colleague at the newspaper told CPJ.

Eyewitnesses saw a 25 to 30 year-old man walk up to Ivanov's car and shoot him, according to local press reports and CPJ sources. The killer then fled the scene on foot.

New York, April 29, 2002—CPJ mourns the tragic deaths of three journalists who were killed yesterday morning when their Mi-8 helicopter crashed in the Krasnoyarsk Region of Siberia.

According to press reports, Natalya Pivovarova, of the 7 Channel television company; Igor Gareyev, of the Krasnoyarsk Regional Broadcasting Company; and Konstantin Stepanov, of the newspaper Segodnyashnyaya Gazeta, were traveling with Krasnoyarsk governor Aleksandr Lebed and other regional officials to the opening ceremony of a new downhill ski slope when their aircraft crashed.

Bogotá, April 26, 2002—On April 22 and 23, unidentified men threatened to kill television journalist Daniel Coronell and his 3-year-old daughter.

Coronell, news director of "Noticias Uno," a current affairs program on the Bogotá TV station Canal Uno, received threatening calls on his cellular phone and at his home and office after he aired an investigative report examining possible links between the country's leading presidential candidate and drug traffickers. The journalist reported the threats to police and on Wednesday sent his daughter out of the country with relatives.

New York, April 25, 2002— CPJ today sent a letter of inquiry to Dr. Vishnu Kant Shastri, governor of Uttar Pradesh State, India, requesting information about the April 14 death of journalist Paritosh Pandey.

Pandey, a crime reporter for the Hindi-language daily Jansatta Express, was shot dead at point-blank range at around 10:30 p.m. in his home in the residential neighborhood of Gomtinagar, in Lucknow, according to police. At least six shots were fired at Pandey's head and chest, and it appears he died instantly.

New York, April 25, 2002—CPJ is alarmed that Kenyan attorney general Amos Wako has reintroduced a repressive media bill in Parliament.

The contentious Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill would increase 100-fold the bond publishers must pay to insure against losses they may incur from libel or defamation suits. Currently, publishers must pay 10,000 shillings (US$129) to the Registrar of Societies. Under the new legislation, this bond would rise to 1 million shillings (US$12,863).

April 24, 2002, New York—CPJ deplores the continuing harassment of journalists by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops deployed in the West Bank.

In the most recent incident, the IDF today detained Reuters cameraman Mazen Dana, who was CPJ's 2001 International Press Freedom awardee, and Hussam Abu Alan, a photographer for Agence-France Presse (AFP). IDF troops stopped the two journalists at the Beit Einun checkpoint north of Hebron when they tried to reach a nearby village to cover a funeral for Palestinian militants killed by Israeli forces.

New York, April 23, 2002—After two earlier adjournments, the trial of four men charged with the kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl resumed this week in Karachi, Pakistan.

The trial, which is being held before a special anti-terrorism court convened at Karachi's Central Jail, remains closed to journalists and to the public.

Pakistani police have accused British-born militant Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh of masterminding Pearl's kidnapping. The three other defendants—Salman Saqib, Fahad Naseem, and Sheikh Mohammed Adeel—were allegedly involved in sending e-mail messages to news organizations announcing Pearl's abduction.

Bogotá, April 19, 2002—The campaign of presidential front-runner Álvaro Uribe Vélez said earlier this week that a radio network in central Colombia was targeted for a deadly April 7 bomb attack because the station had broadcast the candidate's speeches. But network officials denied the claims and said the statements endangered the lives of their staff, CPJ has learned.

Two explosions killed 12 people and shattered the windows of a Radio Súper office in the town of Villavicencio, about 40 miles southeast of the capital, Bogotá.

Bogotá, April 18, 2002--A man being held by authorities in Colombia's capital has confessed to murdering journalist Orlando Sierra, a newspaper editor and columnist who was shot and killed early this year, CPJ has learned.

Luis Fernando Soto told investigators that he shot 42-year-old Sierra, deputy editor of La Patria newspaper, on a whim after passing the journalist on a street and mistaking him for a man who had apparently killed his cousin years ago, said Carolina Sánchez, spokesperson for the Attorney General's Office.

Nueva York, 17 de abril de 2002 --- Luego del fallido golpe de estado de la semana pasada contra el presidente venezolano Hugo Chávez Frías, partidarios de Chávez hostigaron a varios medios de comunicación, según conoció el Comité para la Protección de los Periodistas (CPJ, por sus siglas en inglés).

El jueves, poco antes de ser derrocado, Chávez había acusado a los medios de radio y televisión locales de conspirar contra su gobierno.

New York, April 17, 2002—In a letter sent today to Serbian National Assembly president Natasa Micic, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) expressed strong support for Parliament's efforts to safeguard press freedom in Serbia.

CPJ believes that by passing the draft Broadcasting Law, currently under consideration, Parliament can create an effective legal framework for the broadcast media and thereby make a crucial contribution to the democratization of Serbian society.

New York, April 17, 2002—In the aftermath of last week's failed coup against President Hugo Chávez Frías, Chávez supporters harassed several Venezuelan media outlets, CPJ has learned.

On Thursday, just before his ouster, Chávez had accused local broadcasters of conspiring to overthrow his government.

At around 7 p.m. on Saturday, April 13, when President Chávez was still in the custody of the military officers who briefly forced him out of office, his supporters surrounded the offices of the private television channels Radio Caracas Televisión, Globovisión, and Venevisión.

New York, April 16, 2002—CPJ is deeply concerned for the safety of Associated Press (AP) reporter Mohamed Daraghmeh, who was detained by Israeli forces in the West Bank city of Nablus today.

Israeli troops took Daraghmeh and several other Palestinian men from his building early this morning during an army sweep of the neighborhood.

Dan Perry, AP bureau chief in Jerusalem and head of Israel's Foreign Press Association, told CPJ that Israeli authorities have refused to divulge Daraghmeh's current location. And while the authorities agreed to expedite Daraghmeh's release, the journalist was still in detention as of late this afternoon.

Bogotá, April 15, 2002—A rocket exploded late Friday, April 12, near the studios of RCN Televisión in the Colombian capital, CPJ has learned. Local authorities said the station was intentionally targeted.

The blast destroyed a brick wall surrounding the offices of a telephone company located less than 40 feet from the station in an industrial neighborhood in south Bogotá, said Sgt. Alberto Cantillo, a spokesman for the city's police department.

New York, April 12, 2002—Two members of a television news crew were shot and killed while covering fighting on Thursday between the Colombian army and leftist rebels, CPJ has learned.

Héctor Sandoval, a cameraman with RCN Televisión, died early today. Wálter López, the crew's driver, died on Thursday, said Rocío Arias, executive producer of RCN Televisión news.

"We are outraged by the deaths of Héctor Sandoval and his colleague Wálter López," said CPJ executive director Ann Cooper. "We urge the government to do its utmost to protect journalists who are covering this crucial story."

New York, April 12, 2002—Two journalists have been injured in separate attacks in Siberia and southern Russia, according to international reports.

Yan Svider, a journalist with the opposition newspaper Vozrozhdeniye Respubliki, was attacked today by two unknown assailants in the city of Cherkessk in the southern Karachaevo-Cherkessiya Republic, according to local and international news reports.

Svider was attacked in the entranceway of his apartment building when he was on his way to work. The region's deputy prosecutor told the Russian news agency RIA Novosti that the assailants beat the 55-year-old journalist with metal rods. He was hospitalized for a head injury and broken arms and legs.

New York, April 12, 2002—Venezuelan journalist Jorge Tortoza died last night after being shot in the head while covering the violent clashes in the capital, Caracas, that forced Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez Frías to resign this morning, CPJ has confirmed.

Eurídice Ledezma, a Venezuelan journalist and political analyst, told CPJ that Tortoza was shot by a military sniper she saw firing from the roof of City Hall in downtown Caracas.

New York, April 11, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by yesterday's assault on Ebadullah Ebadi, a translator and assistant working for the Boston Globe.

Ebadi was attacked by Afghan fighters working with U.S. Special Forces in Soroobi, a district roughly 45 miles (70 kilometers) east of the capital, Kabul. The assault occurred within view of the U.S. soldiers, who did not intervene to stop the beating, according to an account published in today's edition of the Globe.

Bogotá, April 11, 2002—A Colombian television reporter received a death threat last week after reporting extensively on the country's left-wing guerrilla movement, CPJ has learned.

Carlos José Lajud works for the Bogotá station Citytv. On April 4, Lajud received a letter at the Citytv offices. "Our sincere condolences...for the death of Carlos Lajud," read the note, a copy of which was obtained by CPJ.

New York, April 11, 2002—A bomb exploded last night (April 10) just outside the editorial offices of the Communist Party's newspaper Kommunist in the Moldovan capital, Chisinau, CPJ has confirmed.

The bomb, which was planted near the office entrance, caused structural damage to the building and shattered its windows, as well as those in a nearby apartment building. An elderly guard sustained minor injuries but was not hospitalized.

New York, April 11, 2002—A draft Panamanian press law contains a troubling provision that would require all journalists in the country to hold a license in order to practice journalism.

The proposed legislation is currently before the Legislative Assembly. Meanwhile, a government agency announced that it would fine violators of an existing law that imposes mandatory licensing on radio and television newsreaders.

New York, April 11, 2002—On the third anniversary of the murder of journalist Slavko Curuvija, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) remains deeply concerned that the government has made no progress investigating the case.

On April 11, 1999, Curuvija, editor-in-chief of the Belgrade daily Dnevni Telegraf, was gunned down near his home in central Belgrade by two men wearing dark clothing and black masks.

New York, April 10, 2002—The editor of a fortnightly publication that criticized alleged corruption at a university in the southern city of Arequipa has received death threats, CPJ has learned.

Mabel Cáceres Calderón, editor of El Búho, works in the afternoon at the engineering sciences library of the Universidad Nacional de San Agustín (UNSA). On March 26, Cáceres arrived at the library and was given a package that had arrived for her in the mail.

Washington, D.C., July 13, 2001 --- A CPJ delegation met with Eritrean ambassador to the U.S. Gima Asmeron to express its deep concern about 15 journalists alleged to have been jailed or forcibly conscripted for military service.

CPJ first raised the issue in a June 7 letter to Eritrean Justice Minister Foazia Hashim. In her June 11 reply to CPJ, Minister Hashim stated that five of the 15 journalists mentioned in the CPJ letter were employed with local publications or NGOs, and that "the remaining journalists are performing their obligations in the National Service Program."

New York, April 9, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the criminal prosecution of Mikola Markevich and Paval Mazheika, editor-in-chief and reporter, respectively, at the Hrodno-based independent weekly Pahonya.

The journalists are accused of libeling President Aleksandr Lukashenko and face up to five years in prison if convicted. The trial, which was set to begin today in the Leninsky District Court in Hrodno, has been postponed indefinitely due to the judge's illness, CPJ has confirmed.

New York, April 9, 2002--The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the detention of Li Yanling, wife of Jiang Weiping, imprisoned journalist and recipient of CPJ's 2001 International Press Freedom Award. On March 18, Li was detained after being called in for questioning by security officials in Dalian, where the couple live, according to CPJ sources.

Bogotá, April 9, 2002 — The body of Juan Carlos Gómez, an intern at a radio station in northern Colombia, was found floating in the Magdalena River on April 3, CPJ has learned. Authorities said he had been beaten to death.

Gómez, 23, began working as an intern at La Voz de Aguachica (The Voice of Aguachica) six weeks before he was killed. He helped operate equipment on an evening music program called "Romantic Nights," said station director Freddy Alfonso Carvajalino.

New York, April 8, 2002—CPJ is alarmed that the independent television channel A1+ has lost its broadcast frequency and been forced off the air.

On April 2, the National Committee on Television and Radio (NCTR), whose members are appointed by the president, awarded the A1+ frequency to the entertainment company Sharm, which has close government ties, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

A1+ is known for its critical stance toward the government of President Robert Kocharian, who is up for reelection in 2003. The government maintains that the NCTR's decision was impartial.

New York, April 8, 2002—CPJ is gravely concerned about the safety of journalist Demling Lama, who was abducted on April 5 by armed Maoist rebels, according to sources in Nepal.

Lama is the correspondent in the Sindhupalchok District for both Radio Nepal and the national Nepali-language daily Himalaya Times.

At some time during the morning of April 5, more than a dozen armed Maoist rebels entered Lama's house in Sindhupalchok and kidnapped him while he was sleeping, according to Nepalese press reports. His whereabouts are unknown.

New York, April 5, 2002---The trial of four suspects accused in the kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl began today at Karachi's Central Jail, and was closed to the public and the media. Chief prosecutor Raja Qureshi said that "journalists have not been allowed because of security and the sensitivity of the case," according to The Associated Press. Close relatives of the accused were permitted to attend the trial.

New York April 4, 2002—CPJ commends the efforts of Pakistani authorities to apprehend and prosecute the killers of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. The trial of four men charged with the journalist's kidnapping and murder is scheduled to begin tomorrow, April 5. Seven others accused in the case remain at large.

"Around the world, crimes against journalists are routinely committed with impunity," said CPJ executive director Ann Cooper. "We hope that the extraordinary level of international attention to the murder of Daniel Pearl will help to ensure that his killers are brought to justice."

Who: Terry Anderson, Honorary Co-Chair of the Committee to Protect Journalists, former AP Bureau Chief in Beirut; Chris Cramer, president of CNN International Networks, author of Hostage, a first-hand account of the 1980 Iranian Embassy siege, where he was held hostage; Robert Klamser, Executive Director, Crisis Consulting International, a non-profit organization providing security, crisis management, training, risk assessment and hostage negotiation services to the international non-profit community; Charles Rogers, Director Corporate Security, World Vision International, specializes in security for relief workers during war and complex emergencies. Rogers has authored a guide called, "A Shield About Me: A Security Handbook for World Vision Staff."

New York, April 3, 2002—Ten independent Eritrean journalists who have been jailed without charge since September began a hunger strike on March 31 to protest their continued detention, according to local and international sources.
In a message smuggled from inside the Police Station One detention center in the capital, Asmara, the journalists said they would refuse food until they are either released or charged and given a fair trial.

New York, April 3, 2002— The trial of Abdullah Keskin, a Turkish publisher charged with "separatist propaganda" in connection with a U.S. journalist's book about the Kurdish issue, opened today in a State Security Court in Istanbul.

The charges against Keskin came after his publishing house, Avesta, printed a Turkish edition of After Such Knowledge, What Forgiveness?—My Encounters in Kurdistan, a book about the Kurds written by retired Washington Post correspondent Jonathan Randal. The state prosecutor's indictment cited several passages from the book that contained references to "Kurdistan."

New York, April 2, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) today reiterated its alarm at mounting press restrictions and attacks on reporters in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

In a letter sent today to Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon, CPJ protested the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) declaration that the West Bank towns of Bethlehem and Qalqiliya are "closed military areas" and therefore off-limits to the press. [Read CPJ's letter to Prime Minister Sharon]

New York, April 2, 2002—The body of 26-year-old Sergei Kalinovsky, editor-in-chief of the daily Moskovsky Komsomolets—Smolensk, was found yesterday by a lake outside the city of Smolensk in central Russia.

Kalinovsky, who reported on local politics and crime for the Smolensk edition of the Moscow daily Moskovsky Komsomolets and the local SCS television station, disappeared on the evening of December 14, 2001.

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.

New York, March 22, 2002—The Venezuelan state news agency has sparked widespread furor by accusing three local independent journalists of involvement in an alleged global drug trafficking conspiracy controlled by international banks and political leaders from developed countries.

On March 13, the state information agency Venpres published an opinion piece on its Web site (http://www.venpres.gov.ve) under the byline of J. Valverde, which appears to be a pseudonym.

New York, March 20, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed by increasing state restrictions on the press in Jordan, including the detention of some journalists and the harassment of others by security agents.

On March 17, a State Security Court prosecutor imposed a 15-day detention on Hashem Khalidi, editor of the weekly newspaper Al-Bilad. Khalidi is being investigated on charges of publishing "false information" and harming the "honor or reputation of the government and its officials."

New York, March 19, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is very concerned about two recent crippling libel judgments against the satirical weekly Feral Tribune.

The judgments were issued in two separate libel suits filed by Marica Mestrovic, the daughter of a famous Croatian sculptor, and Zeljko Olujic, an attorney and former ally of the late president Franjo Tudjman.

New York, March 19, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about the recent detention of Shyam Shrestha, editor of the leftist monthly Mulyankan.

On March 16, authorities detained Shrestha at the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu. Shrestha was on his way to New Delhi, India, to take part in a conference on the current conflict between Maoist rebels and the Nepalese government, local sources said.

New York, March 18, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) today called on Israel to provide a full accounting of a series of incidents in which a journalist was killed and several others were shot at during the Israel Defense Forces' (IDF) large-scale military operation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip last week.

"The attempts now under way to achieve a cease-fire provide an opportune time for the Israeli authorities to investigate incidents that left one journalist dead and put several others in life-threatening situations," said CPJ executive director Ann Cooper. "Covering conflict is an inherently dangerous business, but the IDF must exercise maximum restraint to avoid further harm to journalists reporting on this important news story."

March 15, 2002—In his first major act since his controversial reelection, Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe today signed into law the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Bill.

The new law requires all journalists in Zimbabwe to be licensed by a new Media and Information Commission. Under the law, only citizens or permanent residents can be accredited as journalists, although foreigners can be accredited for an unspecified "limited" period.

New York, March 14, 2002—An independent Cuban journalist is recuperating at home after suffering a brutal assault by local police earlier this month, CPJ has learned. Two other journalists who protested the attack remain in detention.

Around 11:30 a.m. on March 4, CubaPress correspondent Jesús Álvarez Castillo was covering a demonstration by the human rights organization Fundación Cubana de Derechos Humanos (FCDH) in the city of Ciego de Ávila when police applied a chokehold to the journalist, injuring his neck.

New York, March 13, 2002—CPJ is shocked and saddened by the death of Italian free-lance photographer Raffaele Ciriello, who was killed this morning by Israeli gunfire in the West Bank city of Ramallah, according to press reports and eyewitness testimony.

Ciriello, who was on assignment for the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, is the first foreign journalist killed while covering the current Palestinian uprising, which began in September 2000.

New York, March 13, 2002—Natalya Skryl, a business reporter working for the Nashe Vremya newspaper in the city of Rostov-on-Don in southwestern Russia, died on March 9 from head injuries sustained during an attack the night before, according to local press reports.

Skryl, 29, reported on local business issues for a newspaper owned by Rostov regional authorities.

Just before her death, the journalist was investigating an ongoing struggle for the control of Tagmet, a local metallurgical plant. Nashe Vremya editor-in-chief Vera Yuzhanskaya believes that Skryl's death was related to her professional activities, the ITAR-TASS news agency reported.

New York, March 12, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is gravely concerned that Israeli forces opened fire on a hotel housing numerous journalists near the West Bank city of Ramallah.

In the early morning hours of March 12, Israeli forces directed heavy machine gun fire at the City Inn hotel, from which some 30 to 40 reporters and cameramen, most of them representing western media outlets, were filming an Israeli army operation against the nearby al-Amari refugee camp.

Bogotá, March 11, 2002— Seven journalists who have covered high-profile criminal investigations for major Colombian media organizations were threatened with death and given three days to leave the country.

A message typed on a card used to request a Catholic prayer for the dead accused the journalists of being "gossipy sons-of-bitches who with their lies have led the Attorney General's Office to screw around with our people."

New York, March 8, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed at the recent detention of two Al-Jazeera cameramen by Egyptian security forces.

Mohamed Ezzedine El-Najjar and Mohamed Eid Galal were filming a pro-Palestinian student protest at the campus of Alexandria University on the morning of March 5, according to sources at Al-Jazeera's Cairo bureau.

Egyptian security officers approached El-Najjar and Galal as the two journalists were loading equipment into their car. El-Najjar and Galal displayed their press credentials, but were told that they did not have permission to film and would be taken in for questioning at the Bab Sharq police station.

Bogotá, March 7, 2002—Leftist guerrillas forced a radio station to shut down after accusing it of serving government interests.

Onda Zero, based in the southern Colombian town of Acevedo, Huila Department, stopped broadcasting on the evening of February 28, when some 10 fighters from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) threatened to blow up the station and then made off with a transmitter, antennas, and other equipment valued at US$12,500, said director José Vicente Rodríguez.

Moscow, March 7, 2002—Three representatives of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) today completed a four-day mission to Russia with an urgent call for the release of jailed Russian journalist Grigory Pasko.

"We are here to support our Russian colleagues in attempting to free Grigory Pasko, and to halt what seems to be an increasingly heavy-handed attempt to crush the development of a free press in Russia," said Terry Anderson, CPJ's honorary co-chairman, at a press conference in Moscow.

New York, March 6, 2002—The British-led international peacekeeping force warned reporters today of a credible threat to kidnap foreign journalists.

"Information about threats come and go all the time, but this is the first one assessed as credible enough to pass on to journalists," said Lt. Col. Neal Peckham of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), according to CNN. Peckham said that the kidnap plans concerned journalists in Kabul. However, an ISAF press officer said the threat was not specific to any region of Afghanistan, according to the Agence France-Presse news agency.

New York, March 5, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned about a recent Jordanian court decision to delay the publication of the opposition weekly Al Majd.

On March 3, the State Security Court banned the publication of the March 4 issue of Al-Majd unless the paper's management agreed to remove two articles about alleged government corruption.

One of the articles detailed a large-scale financial scandal. The second article was critical of former internal security chief Samih El-Bateekhi.

New York, March 5, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release of Tamrat Zuma, former publisher and editor-in-chief of the defunct Amharic-language weekly Atkurot, after more than nine months in prison.

At the beginning of 2001, seven Ethiopian journalists were in prison for their work, according to CPJ research, making Ethiopia Africa's leading jailer of journalists. With Zuma's release, there are now no journalists in jail because of their professional activities.

New York, NY, March 4, 2002 —Kathleen Kenna, a correspondent for the Toronto Star, was seriously wounded when her car was attacked by unidentified assailants, according to press reports. Kenna was traveling with her husband, freelance photographer Hadi Dadashian; Star photographer Bernard Weil; and an Afghan driver on the main road from Kabul to Gardez. None of the other passengers were hurt.

Weil told the Toronto Star that one man threw a rock at the car from left side, and then an explosion from an unidentified object hit the right side, where Kenna was sitting. Kenna was hit in the leg.

Vladivostok, March 4, 2002 —Three representatives from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called for the release of jailed Russian journalist Grigory Pasko at a press conference in Vladivostok today.

A CPJ request to meet with Pasko in prison was turned down by a local military official, who said the request would be given a written response only within the next month. Pasko is serving a four-year sentence for treason.

CPJ is alarmed by the resignation of Shaheen Sehbai, the influential editor of The News, one of Pakistan's leading English-language newspapers. Sehbai said today in a resignation letter addressed to his boss but circulated among colleagues and friends that he was leaving his post under pressure from the government, warning that Pakistani officials were sending a message to the press to "Get in line, or be ready for the stick."

New York, February 28, 2002—Police and state security agents yesterday attacked Reuters journalists Alfredo Tedeschi and Andrew Cawthorne with batons while they covered an incident in front of the Mexican embassy in Havana.

A group of Cuban citizens used a bus to crash into the gates of the embassy in hopes of seeking asylum, according to international news reports.

Police chased, beat, and detained several onlookers who had congregated outside the embassy. Two Reuters journalists were caught in the fray: Tedeschi, a cameraman, was beaten to the ground by police, and his camera was taken. Cawthorne, Reuters' Cuba correspondent, was beaten on the arm and back.

New York, February 28, 2002—Four radio stations were attacked and destroyed on February 23 as violence erupted over disputed presidential election results.

Supporters of President Didier Ratsiraka allegedly attacked the offices of the Madagascar Broadcasting Service's (MBS) radio station in Fianarantsoa, some 90 miles south of the capital, Antananarivo. The station's facilities were set ablaze, seriously injuring three security guards.

Bangkok, February 25, 2002— Thai immigration authorities have ordered the expulsion of two foreign correspondents for the Hong Kong­based Far Eastern Economic Review (FEER) magazine on the grounds that they are a threat to national security.

Shawn Crispin, the magazine's bureau chief, and correspondent Rodney Tasker, who is also president of the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand, received an official notice revoking their visas dated February 22, the same day that Thai-language newspapers carried stories saying that the police had placed the two reporters on a so-called blacklist.

Dear Little Pearl:

By the time you read these words, God willing, you will not be a "Little Pearl" anymore. As I write these words, you are not yet born. It is March and you are due in May.

Last weekend President Bush mentioned you at the annual dinner of the Gridiron Club. The 117-year-old organization of Washington-based newspaper reporters and columnists invites our nation's president and Cabinet to a dinner each year so we can make fun of each other with songs and dance. This year Bush broke with tradition to ask us to do one serious thing.

New York February 21, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the destruction of a Palestinian broadcasting facility in the Gaza Strip by Israeli forces today. Early this morning in the Gaza city of Al-Shijaieh, Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) troops entered a two-story building that houses offices and studios used by the Palestinian National Authority's broadcast outlets, Voice of Palestine radio (VOP) and Palestine Television.

New York February 21, 2002--The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the destruction of a Palestinian broadcasting facility in the Gaza Strip by Israeli forces today. Early this morning in the Gaza city of Al-Shijaieh, Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) troops entered a two-story building that houses offices and studios used by the Palestinian National Authority's broadcast outlets, Voice of Palestine radio (VOP) and Palestine Television.

New York, February 20, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed at subpoenas recently served to several Mexican and American journalists. All of them were ordered to hand over material related to 1999 news articles about the Hank family of Mexico, which has been linked to drug trafficking activities.

On February 22, a U.S. District Court will hear a motion to quash the subpoena served to Dolia Estévez, the Washington, D.C., correspondent for the Mexican daily El Financiero.

New York, February 19, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) deplores the suspended prison sentences and fines imposed last week on two journalists from the weekly Le Journal Hebdomadaire.

On February 14, a Casablanca court of appeals convicted Abou Bakr Jamai, publications director of Le Journal Hebdomadaire, and Ali Ammar, the newspaper's general director, of defaming Foreign Minister Muhammed Ben Aissa.

New York, New York, February 14, 2002--CPJ delivered nearly 600 petitions to Chinese president Jiang Zemin today calling for the release of journalist Jiang Weiping, a recipient of CPJ's 2001 International Press Freedom Award. The petitions urge President Jiang to "release Jiang Weiping and other jailed Chinese journalists immediately and unconditionally, and to uphold the rights of all journalists to work freely and safely."

New York, May 8, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the Monday, May 6, confiscation of the intellectual and political magazine Wijhat Nadhar.

Wijhat Nadhar editor El-Mostafa Soulaih told CPJ that staff contacted him from Al-Najah al-Jadidah printing press in Casablanca and told him that agents from the secret service, the Direction de la surveillance du territoire (DST), had taken all 8,000 copies of the magazine, which was set for distribution on Tuesday, May 7.

New York, February 14, 2002—CPJ remains hopeful that kidnapped Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl is alive, despite today's statement by a key suspect in the abduction that he thinks the reporter has been killed.

Ahmad Omar Saeed Sheikh, the man investigators say is responsible for Pearl's kidnapping, told an anti-terrorism court in Karachi today that, "As far as I know, Pearl is dead." Saeed had earlier told investigators that Pearl is alive, according to official sources.

New York, February 14, 2002—Facing strict government regulations, capricious censors, and corrupt bureaucrats, journalists in Burma persevere against odds unheard of in almost any other country, according to a CPJ special report, "Under Pressure: How Burmese journalism survives in one of the world's most repressive regimes."

The report was released as United Nations envoy Paulo Sergio Pinheiro visited Burma to investigate the country's deplorable human rights record. One journalist, Myo Myint Nyein, was among a small group of political prisoners released on February 13 to coincide with Pinheiro's visit, but press conditions in Burma remain abysmal.

New York, February 14, 2002—CPJ welcomes the release yesterday of Burmese journalist Myo Myint Nyein, former editor of the magazine Pe-Phu-Hlwar, who was freed along with four other political prisoners during a visit by United Nations envoy Paulo Sergio Pinheiro.

Myo Myint Nyein had served more than 11 years of a 14-year prison term.

"CPJ is extremely pleased that Myo Myint Nyein is finally free," said CPJ executive director Ann Cooper. "But he should never have been arrested in the first place, and 11 of his colleagues remain in jail for doing their professional duty as journalists."

New York, February 13, 2002—CPJ commends today's decision by the Military Collegium of the Russian Supreme Court to nullify a clause in a 1990 Defense Ministry decree used to convict military journalist Grigory Pasko.

Pasko was convicted of treason in December 2001, based on the charge that he intended to leak classified information to Japanese news outlets about the Russian Pacific Fleet's dumping of nuclear waste in the Sea of Japan. Pasko was sentenced to four years in prison and is currently serving his jail term in Vladivostok.

New York, February 12, 2002—CPJ is hopeful that apparent progress made by Pakistani authorities in their investigation of the abduction of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl will soon lead to the journalist's safe release.

Police said today that they have arrested Ahmad Omar Saeed Sheikh, whom they have identified as the chief suspect in the kidnapping.

New York, February 12, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is concerned about reported threats to journalists from the Abu Sayyaf, an armed group active in the southern Philippines that American and Filipino officials have linked to the al-Qaeda network.

More than 600 American troops arrived recently on the southern island of Basilan to help the Philippine army in its efforts to crush the Abu Sayyaf, which claims to be fighting for a separate Islamic state.

New York, February 12, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) welcomes today's decision by the Military Collegium of the Russian Supreme Court to nullify a controversial Ministry of Defense decree used to convict and jail Russian journalist Grigory Pasko.

Pasko was convicted of treason in December 2001 for allegedly leaking information to Japanese news outlets about the Russian Pacific Fleet's dumping of nuclear waste in the Sea of Japan.

New York, February 11, 2002—The Bulawayo city bureau of the independent Daily News was bombed in the early hours of Monday morning, CPJ has learned.

At about 3 a.m., two gasoline bombs were thrown at the Daily News building from a moving vehicle. No one was hurt in the explosion, and the office suffered only minor damage. A nearby building housing the Daily Press, a private printing business unrelated to the Daily News, was also bombed.

New York, February 8, 2002 — The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) welcomes yesterday's decision by a Colombo High Court judge to sentence two Air Forces officers to nine years in prison for their role in a nighttime raid on the home of Iqbal Athas, the award-winning defense correspondent for The Sunday Times. The raid, which occurred on February 12, 1998, was intended to silence Athas after he had written a series of exposés on corruption within the military.

New York, February 7, 2002—On February 5, explosions from several homemade bombs rocked the area surrounding the Chittagong Press Club, where journalist Shahriar Kabir was attending a reception to celebrate his release on bail. One bystander was killed in the attack, and several others were injured. Kabir was not harmed.

Kabir, a documentary filmmaker, regular contributor to the national Bengali-language daily Janakantha, and author of several books about Bangladesh's war for independence, was arrested on November 22 for "anti-state activities on the basis of intelligence reports and at the instruction of higher authorities," according to a police report. He was released on bail on January 20, 2002.

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[Statement from the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists - issued February 2, 2002]

From the Pakistani newspaper DAWN -- 2.4.02

PFUJ's concern over kidnap of newsman

By Our Reporter

LAHORE, Feb 3: The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) has expressed grave concern over the disappearance and fate of American journalist Daniel Pearl of The Wall Street Journal and urged the government to trace him and step up its efforts to arrest his kidnappers as early as possible.

February 1, 2002

I, being the president of Hazara Union of Journalists and Secretary General, Press Club, Abbottabad, Pakistan appeal to the abductors/captors of Daniel Pearl to release the WSJ reporter unconditionally and immediately. Islam does not permit or cordone such acts. Rather it teaches us to show hospitality to even one's enemies let alone one's guest. Mr. Pearl was a guest in Pakistan and his captors must treat him as such and release him without any delay.

New York, January 31, 2002—In a letter sent today to U.S. defense secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, CPJ requested information about the circumstances behind the U.S. bombing of the Kabul office of the Al-Jazeera satellite television channel in mid-November.

During the early morning hours of November 13, 2001, U.S. aircraft dropped two 500-pound bombs on the building housing the station, according to a U.S. Central Command spokesperson. No Al-Jazeera staff remained in the building at the time of the bombing, which destroyed the facilities.

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We, the undersigned, are colleagues of Daniel Pearl, who has become a captive while reporting for The Wall Street Journal in Pakistan.

Like Daniel himself, we are journalists. As he used to, we report on events in the Middle East. We are Americans, Arabs, and others, who have spent many years, in some cases lifetimes, in the Arab part of the Islamic world.

We would like to state without hesitation that Daniel is a professional journalist of the highest standard. During his own assignment covering the Arab part of the Muslim world, he worked with honesty, courage, and independence of mind to write the truth about the conflicts and problems of the region as he saw it. Like the rest of us, he did his best to convey the opinions and emotions of the people of the region.

New York, January 31, 2002—In a letter sent today to U.S. defense secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, CPJ requested information about the circumstances behind the U.S. bombing of the Kabul office of the Al-Jazeera satellite television channel in mid-November.

During the early morning hours of November 13, 2001, U.S. aircraft dropped two 500-pound bombs on the building housing the station, according to a U.S. Central Command spokesperson. No Al-Jazeera staff remained in the building at the time of the bombing, which destroyed the facilities.

Pakistan: CPJ urges kidnappers to release Daniel Pearl (January 28, 2002)

 

New York, January 30, 2002—In response to his captors' demands and threats against Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl's life, CPJ called again for the reporter's release in a statement today.

"We appeal to the captors of Danny Pearl to release him immediately, so that he can rejoin his wife, who is pregnant with their first child, and resume his work of reporting the news," said CPJ executive director Ann Cooper.

New York, January 31, 2002—In a letter sent today to U.S. defense secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, CPJ requested information about the circumstances behind the U.S. bombing of the Kabul office of the Al-Jazeera satellite television channel in mid-November.

During the early morning hours of November 13, 2001, U.S. aircraft dropped two 500-pound bombs on the building housing the station, according to a U.S. Central Command spokesperson. No Al-Jazeera staff remained in the building at the time of the bombing, which destroyed the facilities.

New York, January 28, 2002—CPJ is deeply concerned about Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, who has been missing in Pakistan since January 23. A previously unknown group stated in an e-mail to news organizations that they had abducted Pearl and accused him of working for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.

"Daniel Pearl is a distinguished journalist, much admired by his colleagues in the press," said CPJ executive director Ann Cooper. "Targeting reporters who are working independently to report the news will never advance anyone's political agenda. CPJ calls on Daniel Pearl's kidnappers to release him immediately."