Alerts

New York, December 28, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Thursday's court decision upholding the conviction of Internet writer Zheng Yichun on charges of "inciting subversion" for his articles criticizing the government. The Liaoning Supreme People's Court rejected Zheng's appeal, making it more likely that he will serve a prison term of seven years.

"Zheng has done nothing more than peacefully express his opinions online, an activity protected by the Chinese Constitution and international law," CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper said. "This writer does not deserve to be imprisoned, and we call for his immediate release."

New York, December 28, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is disturbed that a criminal case against veteran Hong Kong reporter Ching Cheong could be handed over to prosecutors in mainland China by the end of next week.

Ching, a correspondent for the Singapore-based daily The Straits Times, was detained in the mainland on April 22 and has been held without trial or access to a lawyer on suspicion of spying for Taiwan. His wife, Mary Lau, has said that he was detained while seeking transcripts of interviews with ousted former leader Zhao Ziyang, who died in January following 15 years of house arrest.

New York, December 23, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the indictment of New York Times researcher Zhao Yan on charges of leaking state secrets. Prosecutors notified Zhao's lawyers today of the charges, which could 10 years or more in prison, according to international news reports.

Zhao's lawyers have not seen the indictment and do not know the details of the charges. He is expected to stand trial within six weeks. Zhao has been imprisoned since September 2004 after The New York Times printed an article correctly predicting the retirement of Jiang Zemin from his post on the Central Military Commission. Zhao's New York Times colleagues have denied that he provided them with state secrets. Zhao has also been indicted on a lesser charge of fraud, according to news reports.

New York, December 23, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the indictment of two Nigerian radio journalists for airing an erroneous report of a bridge collapse, which their station retracted.

Klem Ofuokwu and Cleopatra Taiwo, journalists for the private radio station Rhythm 93.7 FM in the southeastern city of Port Harcourt, were remanded today on charges of disseminating false information and threatening state security over a report that a local bridge had collapsed, according to news director David Obi.

New York, December 22, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists deplores a new law that makes criticism of authoritarian President Aleksandr Lukashenko and his government punishable by up to five years in prison. Lukashenko secretly signed the amendments to the penal code on December 15. They were registered on December 20 and will become law at the end of the year, the Minsk-based human rights organization Charter 97 said in a statement.

Washington, December 22, 2005—A delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists that met today with the Ethiopian ambassador to the United States expressed outrage at the jailing of at least 16 journalists and demanded their immediate release.

"Ethiopia and Eritrea are by far Africa's worst jailers of journalists in 2005," CPJ Africa Program Coordinator, Julia Crawford, told ambassador Kassahun Ayele. "They trail only China and Cuba on CPJ's annual list of the world's worst jailers of journalists."

New York, December 22, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists voiced outrage at the censorship of the Kazakh opposition newspaper Zhuma-Taims which has reported on vote rigging and corruption in the government of President Nursultan Nazarbayev. The Economic Court in Almaty suspended the paper's print-run in a December 20 ruling, according to the Kazakh International Bureau for Human Rights & Rule of Law (KIBHRRL). The newspaper was not notified of the hearing and was not represented in court.

New York, December 21, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned about recent attacks on ethnic Tamil journalists amid a spike in violence that threatens a ceasefire between the Sri Lankan government and separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels.

On Monday, security forces assaulted three Tamil journalists reporting on a student demonstration in the northern city of Jaffna, according to the Colombo-based press freedom advocacy group Free Media Movement. Thinakkural reporter T. Sabeswaran, Thinakaran reporter Wintson Jeyan and Namathu Eelanaadu reporter G. Jerad—all journalists for Tamil-language dailies—were beaten and their cameras destroyed while they covered student protests against army harassment.

New York, December 21, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes an appeals court's ruling today ordering the release of magazine editor Ali Mohaqiq Nasab in the capital, Kabul. The court reduced his sentence from two years to six months, and suspended the remaining three months. Nasab will be released from prison within days, according to court spokesman Wakil Omeri.

Police arrested Nasab on October 1 after clerics deemed articles published in his monthly Haqooq-i-Zan (Women's Rights) "offensive to Islam". The articles questioned harsh interpretations of Islamic law. He was convicted of blasphemy on October 22 and sentenced to two years in prison.

New York, December 21, 2005—Twenty-one Ethiopian journalists and the president of the Ethiopian Free Press Journalists' Association were charged today with involvement in an alleged attempt to overthrow the government, according to CPJ sources.

Among those charged were five journalists of Ethiopian descent who work in Washington, D.C., for the Voice of America's Amharic-language service, according to a CPJ source present at today's hearing. The five were charged in absentia.