Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)

Rodrigo Alonso, a Chilean national who works as a reporter for the Miami-based Telemundo television network, was kidnapped and robbed during a visit to Cuba in June 1996. Alonso traveled to Cuba on 10 June with two other representatives of Telemundo to research material and conduct interviews for a program about the life of Che […]

In a 1 August letter to Azeri President Haidar Aliev, CPJ expressed concern at the recent closure of “Avrazia” (see previous IFEX alert of 6 August), and at recent press reports of censorship exercised by both the government’s Committee for the Protection of Secrets and by the President’s office. **For background to “Avrazia” closure, see […]

On 1 August 1996, three unidentified men — one armed with a pistol — abducted Ashraf Shaban, the editor-in-chief of the Urdu-language daily “Al-Safa”, from the newspaper’s offices in Srinagar, Kashmir, and forced him into an auto-rickshaw taxi. Shaban has not been seen since and no one has claimed responsibility for his abduction. Shaban, who […]

According to local journalists, on 17 July 1996, Rustavi-2, the leading independent television station in Tbilisi, with an audience of more than one million viewers, was forced off the air by the Georgian Ministry of Communications. Authorities claimed afterwards that the commercial charter of Gamma Plus Agency Ltd., the parent company of Rustavi-2 in Tbilisi, […]

**Updates IFEX alerts dated 23 and 19 July 1996** On 24 July 1996, Edison Yongai, editor of “The Point” newspaper, was granted bail of 10 million leons (US$ 11,000). He was released from Pademba Road Prison the evening of 23 July. His trial for sedition is set for 9 August. Appeals To

**Updates IFEX alerts dated 14 June, 12 and 4 January 1996; 22 December 1995** Journalists Abou Drahamane Sangare, Emmanuel Kore and Freedom Neruda, of the independent daily newspaper “La Voie”, remain in detention. They are now appealing to the Supreme Court. Appeals To His Excellency Henri Konan Bedie President La Presidence Boulevard Clozel Abidjan, Cote […]

**Updates IFEX alerts dated 10 July and 19 June 1996** Below is a translation from Russion of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs’ reply to CPJ’s letter on Samara journalist Valery Yerofeyev, whose trial on fabricated charges resumed on 8 July 1996 (see IFEX alerts). Following that is the full text of CPJ’s response. Similar […]

**Updates IFEX alert of 19 July 1996** On 23 July 1996, Edison Yonghai, editor of “The Point” newspaper, was charged with sedition and libel, denied bail, and sent to Pademba Road Prison, the notorious central prison in Freetown. The trial is pending. It is possible he might appear again in court on 24 July to […]