Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)

(CPJ/IFEX): On 7 June 1998, at approximately 8.30 pm, Tesfaye Tadesse, the owner and editor of the magazine “Mestawet” and the newspaper “Lubar” (both presently out of circulation), was murdered in front of his residence. He was stabbed and hacked to death by two unidentified individuals using a knife and a machete. The attackers escaped […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – On 2 June 1998, the Amman Court of First Instance sentenced Nidal Mansour, editor-in-chief of the weekly “Al-Hadath”, to six months in prison. Mansour was charged under Jordan’s penal code with harming the country’s relations with a friendly state in connection with a 1994 article published in the weekly “Al-Bilad”, which Mansour headed […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – On 30 May 1998, “Cairo Times” publisher Hisham Kassem was informed by his printer, Sahara Printing House, that his magazine could no longer be printed in Egypt by order of the General Authority for Free Zones and Investment (GAFI). Like several other publications, the English-language “Cairo Times” has been printing in the free […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – On 2 June 1998, the district court in Pleven confirmed a three-month suspended sentence and 250,000 leva penalty (roughly US $300) against Yovka Atanassova, the owner and editor of the independent local daily “Starozagorski Novini”, who was convicted of criminal libel against a former local prosecutor, Gospodin Gospodinov. **Updates IFEX alerts dated 11 […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – On 1 June 1998, Son Chung Mu, publisher of “Inside the World” magazine, was arrested on charges of criminal defamation growing out of the presidential campaign of 1997. Son was arrested by agents of the Seoul Public Prosecutor’s office at his home in Seoul, according to family members. Prosecutors have charged Son with […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – In its protest letter dated 28 May 1998, calling on the Bulgarian government to amend its criminal libel statutes, CPJ listed an outdated fax number for President Petar Stoyanov. Nerry Terzieva, the president’s press secretary, provided Stoyanov’s current fax number, +3592 987 5601 or +3592 6766, and her own fax number is: +3592 […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – On 7 February 1998, Albert Gilbert Bosanga Yema, editor of the opposition newspapers “L’Alarme” and “L’Essor Africain”, was arrested in connection with an article published in both newspapers calling for the release of jailed opposition leader Joseph Olengankoy. Recommended Action Send appeals to authorities: urging them to immediately and unconditionally release Yema, who […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – CPJ supports the Bulgarian Helsinki Watch Committee and a number of independent journalists’ associations who have recently petitioned the Bulgarian Parliament and the Constitutional Court to repeal articles in the Bulgarian Penal Code punishing journalists with imprisonment for criminal libel. In mid June 1998, the Constitutional Court is scheduled to rule on the […]