Attacks on the Press - Committee to Protect Journalists

attacks on the press in 2009international press freedom awardswent online after being denied the right to publish a print edition, and OLPECare banned in Tunisia.In 2007, after ignoring a series of anonymous threats against her and herfamily, Rejiba was subjected to a vile smear campaign featuring obscene, fabricatedphotos of her husband, lawyer and former Member of Parliament MokhtarJellali. In 2008, vandals hacked into Kalima and shut down the site. When Réjibawrote an article accusing the government of involvement in the vandalism, shewas summoned before a public prosecutor. Although she has not been charged,lawyers said that under the press law she could still face up to three years in prisonfor publishing “false news.”i n t e r n a t i o n a l press freedom award recipients 1991-200819911992Byron Barrera, La Época, Guatemala; Bill Foley and Cary Vaughan, United States;Tatyana Mitkova, TSN, former Soviet Union; Pius Njawe, Le Messager, Cameroon;imprisoned: Wang Juntao and Chen Ziming, Economics Weekly, ChinaMuhammad al-Saqr, Al-Qabas, Kuwait; Sony Esteus, Radio Tropic FM, Haiti;David Kaplan, ABC News, United States; Gwendolyn Lister, The Namibian,Namibia; Thepchai Yong, The Nation, ThailandJ.S. Tissainayagam, Sri LankaOn March 7, 2008, J.S. Tissainayagam, editorof the news Web site OutreachSL and a columnistfor the English-language Sri LankanSunday Times, went to the offices of the government’sTerrorism Investigation Division toask about a colleague who had been arrestedthe day before. He never made it back home.Tissainayagam, also known as Tissa, wasamong dozens of ethnic Tamil journalistswho were swept up during the 26-year-longconflict between the Sinhalese-dominatedgovernment and Tamil separatists. TerrorismInvestigation Division officials arrested Tissainayagamand held him without charge forAFPsix months. In August 2008, he was chargedwith inciting “communal disharmony,” an offenseunder the Prevention of Terrorism Act, in connection with two articleswritten nearly three years earlier in a now-defunct magazine, North EasternMonthly. In September 2009, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison.Local journalists say Tissainayagam wrote political columns about Tamil issuesthat were frequently critical of the government but not partisan to the separatistLiberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. U.S. President Barack Obama highlightedTissainayagam’s case during his World Press Freedom Day address in May2009.1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993Omar Belhouchet, El Watan, Algeria; Nosa Igiebor, Tell, Nigeria; Veran Matic,Radio B92, Yugoslavia; Ricardo Uceda, Sí, Peru; imprisoned: Doan Viet Hoat,Freedom Forum, VietnamIqbal Athas, The Sunday Leader, Sri Lanka; Daisy Li Yuet-wah, Hong KongJournalists Association, Hong Kong; Aziz Nesin, Aydinlik, Turkey; In memoryof staff journalists, Navidi Vakhsh, Tajikistan; imprisoned: Yndamiro Restano,freelance, CubaVeronica Guerin, Sunday Independent, Ireland; Yevgeny Kiselyov, NTV, Russia; FredM’membe, The Post, Zambia; José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, Siglo Veintiuno,Guatemala; imprisoned: Ahmad Taufik, Alliance of Independent Journalists,IndonesiaJ. Jesús Blancornelas, Zeta, Mexico; Yusuf Jameel, Asian Age, India; Daoud Kuttab,Internews Middle East, Palestinian Authority Territories; imprisoned: Ocak IsikYurtcu, Ozgur Gundem, TurkeyYing Chan, Yazhou Zhoukan, United States; Shieh Chung-liang, Yazhou Zhoukan,Taiwan; Victor Ivancic, Feral Tribune, Croatia; Yelena Masyuk, NTV, Russia;Freedom Neruda, La Voie, Ivory Coast; Imprisoned: Christine Anyanwu, TheSunday Magazine, NigeriaGrémah Boucar, Radio Anfani, Niger; Gustavo Gorriti, La Prensa, Panama;Goenawan Mohamad, Tempo, Indonesia; Pavel Sheremet, ORT, BelorusskayaDelovaya Gazeta, Belarus; Imprisoned: Ruth Simon, Agence France-Presse, EritreaMaría Cristina Caballero, Semana, Colombia; Baton Haxhiu, Koha Ditore, Kosovo;Jugnu Mohsin and Najam Sethi, The Friday Times, Pakistan; Imprisoned: JesúsJoel Diáz Hernández, Cooperativa Avileña de Periodistas Independientes, Cuba3483 4 9