Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)

(CPJ/IFEX) – Leftist guerrillas abducted seven journalists who they had invited to cover alleged atrocities committed by paramilitary forces against local farmers. The seven journalists were intercepted on 29 October 1999 by members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). This is the second Colombian media kidnapping in less than a week. Reuters photographer […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – In a letter dated 29 October 1999, CPJ expressed that they are deeply disturbed by the closing and continued harassment of the Baku independent station Sara TV and Radio. ** Updates IFEX alert of 15 October** At 11:30 a.m. on 9 October, some 15 police officers, along with officials from the Baku City […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – In a 29 October 1999 letter to President Henri Konan Bedie, CPJ expressed its grave concern over the continued deterioration of the press freedom situation in Côte d’Ivoire. **Updates IFEX alerts of 29 October 1999, 13 September, 27 August, 30 June, 10 June, 4 June and 2 June 1999** While CPJ welcomed the […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – CPJ is dismayed to learn that twelve journalists with the independent daily newspaper “The Post” have been summoned to appear in the High Court in Lusaka on 1 November 1999 on charges of espionage. **Updates IFEX alerts of 25 May, 30 April, 19 April, 1 April, 26 March, 25 March, 22 March, 19 […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – CPJ is greatly troubled by the government’s recent attempts to censor four opposition newspapers prior to the 31 October 1999 presidential elections. In four apparently separate incidents on 13 to 15 October, local printing houses in the cities of Kryviy Rih and Luhansk, under pressure from authorities, refused to print four newspapers that […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – A Northern Irish journalist does not have to hand over his notes on the 1989 murder of a Belfast lawyer, the province’s senior judge ruled on 27 October 1999. **Updates IFEX alerts of 10 September and 3 September 1999** Ed Moloney, the Northern Ireland editor of the Dublin-based “Sunday Tribune”, had faced up […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – On the afternoon of 26 October 1999, Colombian leftist rebels kidnapped Henry Romero, a freelance photographer who works regularly for Reuters. The rebels said Romero would be put on “trial” for revealing the identity of one of their regional commanders in a photograph. Members of the José María Becerra unit of the National […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – CPJ is strongly protesting the arrest and continued detention of journalist Jerry Needam, acting editor of the “Ogoni Star”, a bimonthly newspaper published by the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP). On 11 October 1999, Rivers State police arrested Needam at his home in Port Harcourt and detained him at […]