World Watch Archive / February 2007
Australia
Court hears evidence on death of five journalists
A coroner’s court heard evidence on Feb. 7 in the deaths of five Australian television journalists killed in East Timor more than 30 years ago. The Guardian reported that details emerged in the ongoing inquiry that a top Indonesian military commander, Captain Mohammed Yunus Yosfiah, who later became a cabinet minister in Jakarta, intentionally killed the five men from England, Australia and New Zealand. An East Timorese witness testified that he saw the commander and 20 soldiers fire on the journalists as they tried to surrender in Balibo on Oct. 16, 1975. Mr. Yosfiah has dismissed the allegations and called the unnamed witness a liar. The Indonesian government has maintained the men were killed in crossfire, but the families of the deceased believed they were targeted and murdered for their footage of the East Timor government, according to The Guardian’s report of the recent inquest.
Court hears evidence on death of five journalists
A coroner’s court heard evidence on Feb. 7 in the deaths of five Australian television journalists killed in East Timor more than 30 years ago. The Guardian reported that details emerged in the ongoing inquiry that a top Indonesian military commander, Captain Mohammed Yunus Yosfiah, who later became a cabinet minister in Jakarta, intentionally killed the five men from England, Australia and New Zealand. An East Timorese witness testified that he saw the commander and 20 soldiers fire on the journalists as they tried to surrender in Balibo on Oct. 16, 1975. Mr. Yosfiah has dismissed the allegations and called the unnamed witness a liar. The Indonesian government has maintained the men were killed in crossfire, but the families of the deceased believed they were targeted and murdered for their footage of the East Timor government, according to The Guardian’s report of the recent inquest.
China
Editor freed from prison; paper's president r
ditor freed from prison; paper's president remains
Li Minying, former editor of the Chinese newspaper Nanfang Dushi Bao (Southern Metropolitan Daily), was released Feb. 12, three years before completing a six-year prison sentence. Minying's original sentence of 11 years had already been previously reduced. Li and the newspaper's president, Yu Huafeng, were arrested in 2004 for alleged corruption after Li reported on the beating of a man at a Guangzhou police station. Yu's remains in prison on embezzlement and graft charges though his eight-year sentence has been reduced to seven. Reporters Without Borders reports that various sources have claimed the arrests were punishment against the liberal daily newspaper for investigative stories including some about SARS. “Li spent three years of his life in prison after being unfairly convicted in order to punish him for being a bold and dynamic newspaper executive,” Reporters Without Borders said. “His release is very good news, but there is now an urgent need to press for the release of Yu, who is still in prison for his role at the head of Nanfang Dushi Bao.”
For more information, see http://www.topix.net/content/ap/2565819568097971445426103104502867462096
Cuba
Reporter arrested after speaking out for journalis
Cuban journalist Ramon Velázquez Toranso, reporter for the independent newspaper Libertad, was arrested along with his wife and daughter on January 23 after launching a march to press for respect of basic freedoms, reports Reporters Without Borders. The peaceful protest called March for Unity was planned to launch in Las Tunas and Havana. Toranso’s family, who were released shortly after their detainment, are not allowed to visit the journalist until he stops his hunger strike that has continued since January 30. Reporters Without Borders says Velazquez has been sentenced to three years of “surveillance” by the La Tunas provincial court as a “pre-criminal danger to society.” In the six months Raul Castro has taken over as acting president, there have been about 40 journalists detained, attacked or threatened.
On the Web: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=20914a
Egypt
Blogger Receives Four-year prison sentence
Blogger Abdel Kareem Nabil Suleiman, who writes under the pseudonym “Kareem Amer,” was sentenced Feb. 22 to a total of four years in prison. Suleiman was arrested Nov. 6 for inciting hatred of Islam and insulting the president on his blog, http://karam903.blogspot.com/. A judge dismissed an added charge of spreading rumors liable to disturb the peace, which had been included in the prosecution's indictment. Suleiman had regularly criticized the government's “religious and authoritarian excesses,” according to Reporters Without Borders. He also criticized Egypt's highest religious institutions, such as Sunni university of Al-Azhar, where Sulieman studied law. Egypt is one of 13 Internet enemies determined by Reporters Without Borders in 2006.
On the Web: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=20914a
Englad
Death of journalist in Iraq under investigation
Scotland Yard's war crimes unit has launched an investigation into the 2003 shooting death of Terry Lloyd, a reporter for Britain's ITN television news service. Lloyd was working independently in Iraq and not embedded with troops. Lloyd and his colleagues, cameraman Fred Nerac and translator Hussien Othman, were traveling in a Mitsubishi Pajero SUV clearly marked TV on the hood and door with black tape when they were caught in a skirmish between U.S. forces and Iraqi insurgents. Lloyd was hit in the shoulder by Iraqi gunfire and escaped the vehicle injured but alive. Lloyd was killed shortly thereafter when American bullets were fired, hitting him in the head, into the makeshift civilian ambulance carrying him to treatment. U.S. authorities described the shooting as a friendly fire incident, but a British coroner ruled last October that Lloyd had been unlawfully killed. Despite the refusal of American and British authorities to reveal the identity of the U.S. marines involved, lawyers and investigators acting for Lloyd's widow have uncovered the names, which they will pass along to Lord Goldsmith, the attorney general. Further complicating the issue is the revelation that four British special services soldiers were in the area during the incident, but the Ministry of Defense withheld the information. There is the outside possibility that this could create tension between the United States and Great Britain, who are close allies in the war on terror. Lloyd is best known for his reports from the Iraqi town of Halabja in 1988, which brought to the world's attention the first pictures of the effects of Saddam Hussein's chemical warfare against the Kurds.
On the Web: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1364707.ece
http://www.polare.com/news/click/-0,3120241/
Fiji
Soldiers attack photojournalist
Fiji Times photographer, Sitiveni Moce, was reportedly attacked and detained by soldiers after Moce took photos of an apparent military arrest of an unidentified person outside Centenary Church in Suva. Witnesses were said to have seen soldiers hit and kick Moce and then take him away, according to an International Federation of Journalists report. After he was released from Nabua military camps, Moce sought hospital treatment.
IFJ said military harassment and censorship have risen in past months in Fiji since last year’s coup d’etat and called for a full investigation into the incident.
Guyana
Government accused of restricting state advertisin
The Stabroek News and the Guyana Press Association is accusing Nanda Gopaul, the permanent secretary at the office of the president, of restricting state advertising to the Stabroek newspaper, which publishes critical political reporting. According to International Freedom of Expression Exchange, Gopaul ordered the Government Information Agency (GINA) not to assign any more advertising to the newspaper. Although the newspaper’s editor-in-chief David de Caires has requested a meeting with GINA’s advertising head about the situation, no reply for a meeting has been received.
On the web: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/80475
http://www.stabroeknews.com/
Lebanon
Broadcast journalists released from Beirut prison
Two broadcast journalists were released on bail after 44 days in Beirut prison. Firas Hatoum and Abdel-Azim Khayat were charged with theft for entering the apartment of a leading prosecution witness, Mohammed Zouheir Siddik, in the murder of former Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri on Dec. 19. Hatoum and Khayat received permission for entry by Siddik. The staff of New TV, a satellite news station based in Beirut, staged a demonstration on January 17 outside the information ministry to demand the release of their colleagues. Other Lebanese journalists and cameramen participated in the protest. The pair will face three to eight years in prison if charged under criminal law, not press law. Under Lebanese Press Law, journalist found guilty pay fines not imprisonment.
On the Web: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=20486
For more information on Lebanese Press Laws: http://www.pressreference.com/Ky-Ma/Lebanon.html
Malaysia
New report on government's freedom of informa
The human rights organization ARTICLE 19 and the Center for Independent Journalists have unveiled a new report about the Malaysian government’s restrictive legislation and practices regarding rights to access and the free flow of information. “A Haze of Secrecy: Access to Environmental Information in Malaysia” comes just three weeks after Malaysia’s most devastating floods in 30 years. According to the report, there is current concern regarding victims’ ability to get aid information and other protective assistance. ARTICLE 19 and CIJ say the government’s “culture of secrecy” has affected all levels of its administration and that the effects of secrecy have created a lack of information on environmental health issues, such as their haze crises in 1997, 1998 and 2005. The report also criticizes The Official Secrets Act that legally restricts the release of environmental, health and other rights to access information. In response to additional information barriers that prohibit communities from openly accessing Environmental Impact Assessments on large-scale development projects that are removing people from their land, ARTICLE 19 and CIJ make recommendations to address the access issues that are negatively impacting the Malaysian population. Recommendations include legislation that promotes access and complies with international standards, training and guidelines for public officials that develop “a culture of openness,” the improvement on how EIA notices are handled and their availability to the public and the necessary government measures that should be taken in the event of environmental and natural disasters to consistently and immediately release potentially life-saving information.
For the full report, go to http://www.article19.org/pdfs/publications/malaysia-a-haze-of-secrecy.pdf.
Morocco
Two independent magazines brought to court for cri
Two independent news magazines were brought to court and fined by the government last month for criticizing the king, Islam and Morocco’s occupation of Western Sahara, according to The Guardian. Driss Ksikes, editor in chief of Nichane and Sanaa Al Aji, a journalist of the weekly magazine, were fined more than $9,300 each and sentenced to three years’ probation for printing an article called “Jokes: How Moroccans Make Fun of Religion, Sex and Politics.” The magazine itself was banned from publishing for two months, according to The New York Times. The article included jokes about God, the Prophet Muhammad and Mohammed VI. Nichane was shut down after religious conservatives started a campaign to punish the magazine. The journalists were brought to court for printing material “offensive to the Islamic religion.” Meanwhile, Aboubakr Jamai, editor of Le Journal Hebdomadaire, and Fahd Iraqi, a former journalist of the magazine, are facing $350,000 in damages in a government-supported libel suit, according to The Guardian. The magazine questioned the impartiality of a report written by Claude Moniquet, the director of the European Strategic Intelligence and Security Center. The report was in favor the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara.
According to The New York Times, Nichane has announced that it will not appeal the case, and Le Journal Hebdomadaire’s editor has resigned from his post and will leave the country.
For more information see: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/03/opinion/03lalami.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6362899,00.html
Russia
Chechen police investigated for role in killing of
The Committee to Protect Journalists has announced that some Chechen police are being investigated for a possible role in the killing of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, the Novaya Gazeta reporter killed in her apartment in October 2006. According to the Associated Press, a Foreign Ministry official told CPJ on Monday that the Prosecutor General's Office had opened a criminal investigation into several police officials in the region because Politkovskaya was on the verge of printing an article asserting their involvement in torturing people in custody. An official at the Foreign Ministry, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity, said that prosecutors in Chechnya had opened the criminal probe. According to the official there has been no connection made between the article and Politkovskaya’s death. The Russian Foreign Ministry released a statement that said CPJ’s announcement “did not correspond with the facts.” Denying that the Chechen police officials had been involved in Politkovskaya’s death, pro-Kremlin Chechen premier Ramzan Kadyrov told Interfax, “Anna Politkovskaya was a journalist, a person in a peaceful profession, and Chechen policemen are not fighting peaceful people. Their goal is to fight terrorists.” Kadyrov, who has commanded paramilitary formation of former rebels, has been targeted by some of Politkovskaya’s supporters as a possible suspect in her death. She had published numerous articles about him and his forces, but he has denied committing any crimes. According to The New York Times, 13 Russian journalists have been killed in “contract-style killings” since 2006, which ranks Russia as the third-most-deadly country for journalists after Iraq and Algeria.
On the web: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/24/world/europe/24russia.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003536463
Putin Promises to Protect Press in Russia
At a press conference on Feb. 1, Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to protect the press in response to international protest over investigative reporter Anna Politkovskaya. Putin also acknowledged the importance of Politknovskaya’s work. “For our country … the issue of journalist persecution is one of the most pressing. And we realize our degree of responsibility in this,” Putin said, according to CJR. “We will do everything to protect the press corps.” Putin spoke to domestic and foreign journalists for over three hours, talking about Politkovskaya and Paul Klebnikov, the American editor of Forbes-Russia. CJR reports Putin saying, “I remember not only Anna Politkovskaya – she was a rather sharp critic of authorities, and this is good – I remember other journalists, too, including Paul Klebnikov. Recently one of our American partners said some very true words: ‘Paul Klebnikov died for a democratic Russia, for the development of democracy in Russia,’ I completely agree with this assessment.”
For more information on this, see the CJR Web site: http://www.cpj.org/news/2007/europe/russia01feb07na.html
Reporter charged with insulting public official in
Dmitry Tashlykov, a reporter for the central Russian Kovrov-based weekly Vladimirsky Krai, was charged with defaming Vladimir regional Governor Nikolai Vinogradov in an Internet chat room in January 2006. The next session of his trial, which first began on Jan. 30, is scheduled for Feb. 28. Tashlykov is charged with Public Insult and Insulting a Public Official. Both charges carry up to one year of corrective labor. Tashlykov denies the charges and is reported as saying, “Press freedom is the ability to express one's point of view correctly and respectfully in the interests of currents affairs and society,” by the television channel NTV. The Moscow-based state daily Rossiskaya Gazeta reported that five other chat room participants were interrogated and some of their computers were confiscated, but only Tashlykov was charged.
For more information, visit www.cpj.org.
Newspaper editor and founder jailed since Jan. 21
Vladimir Chugunov, founder and editor of the independent weekly Chugunka, has been jailed since January 21, according to the independent Moscow daily Novaya Gazeta. According to Dmitry Chugunov, Vladimir's brother, he was called to police headquarters on Jan. 21 in Solnechnogorsk, 40 miles northwest of Moscow, supposedly as a witness in a robbery case and then jailed. Later, policemen showed up at his house and confiscated back issues of Chugunka, which he began self-publishing after the municipality-owned printing house refused to print the newspaper in Jan. 2005. Chugunov was the 2002 recipient the prestigious Sakharov award for his journalism, a prize named after Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov and given to those who work in defense of human rights and civil liberties. Authorities told Anna Zuyeva, Chugunov's sister, that the charge against her brother is for “threat to murder or cause serious health damage,” and carries a sentence of up to two years. On January 6, she was contacted by doctors at the district mental hospital informing her that her brother was there and that he is scheduled for a psychiatric evaluation on Feb. 23.
For more information, visit www.cpj.org.
http://www.cpj.org/news/2007/europe/russia22feb07na.html
Police search IWPR offices in the North Caucasus
Russian police searched and confiscated computers and documents at the Vladikavkaz office of the Institute for War & Peace Reporting, the London-based media organization. According to CPJ, two Vladikavkaz police officers searched the IWPR office for about an hour and took two computers that contain reporting resources along with all office documents, in particular “sensitive staff and source-related material and a list of IWPR seminar participants.” Police told Valery Dzutsev, the office's coordinator, that the materials would be returned once they had completed an investigation into the group's alleged tax evasion. A criminal investigation was opened at the end of January against IWPR for alleged tax evasion, though the institute denies the charges. This is the second time the Vladikavkaz office of IWPR has been under investigation. Last November Dzutsev was investigated for illegal business activities, but charges were dropped after police failed to prove any unlawful activity.
For more information, visit www.cpj.org.
Scotland
Government prosecuting editor and reporter for con
The Crown Office of Scotland is prosecuting Peter Wright, editor of The Mail on Sunday, and Scottish reporter Alan Caldwell for contempt of court after publishing an interview with a key witness in an ongoing murder trial. Peter Tobin is accused of murdering Polish student Angelina Kluk whose body was found in a Catholic church in Glasgow last September. The Crown Office had repeatedly warned the Scottish media about publishing articles linked to the Tobin case and had reminded editors as recently as Feb. 2 about the risks of being prosecuted. Contempt cases in Scotland are rare, even though Scottish judges are known to take a tougher stance on gagging orders than English courts. In a 1999 contempt case, a precedent was established when charges against The Daily Record were thrown out after judges said there needed to be a very substantial risk of prejudice to justify a contempt conviction.
Spain
Judge issues warrant to U.S. soldiers for death of
On Jan. 16 Madrid judge Santiago Pedraz issued an international arrest warrant for three U.S. soldiers wanted in connection to the death of Spanish cameraman Jose Couso. Couso, an employee of the privately owned television station Telecinco, was killed on April 8th, 2003, when a U.S. tank fired a shell at a Baghdad hotel used by the international media. The warrant names Sgt. Thomas Gibson, Capt. Phillip Wolford and Lt. Col. Phillip de Camp, the three soldiers in charge of the tank that fired the shell at the Hotel Palestine. Judge Pedraz said consideration should also be given to freezing the assets of the soldiers involved in case they are ordered to pay compensation to the Couso family.
The U.S. army concluded in a 2003 report that the coalition forces had committed no misconduct or negligence, and that the shell was fired at what was believed to have been the source of enemy fire. Furthermore, the U.S. embassy in Madrid stated that Couso’s death was already the subject of an investigation that concluded the soldiers acted according to the rules of engagement enforced in that war zone.
If U.S. authorities refuse to extradite the three soldiers, they could still be arrested if they travel to a country that has signed an extradition treaty with Spain. Judge Pedraz had previously issued a warrant for the three soldiers in October 2005, but a criminal court dismissed the case in March 2006. However, the Spanish Supreme Court (Tribunal Supremo) overruled the decision on December 5th, 2006, ordering the investigation into Couso’s death be reopened.
Sri Lanka
Press limited by ink shortage
Ink shortage in Jaffna, Sri Lanka limits press. Heavy fighting has closed the main road connecting Jaffna, on the Northern tip of Sri Lanka, to the capital city, Colombo in the South according to Wan-Press.org. The main roads that connect Jaffna and Colombo have been closed for a year because of massive fighting. The commissioner of Jaffna will not allow ships carrying supplies to include newsprint and ink in the cargo. As a result, Jaffna’s three newspapers can print only four pages. Without radio or TV stations, Jaffna newspapers are the only source of news for the region. Jaffna-based Namatha Ealanadu newspaper was forced to close down after its managing director was gunned down last year. Additionally, the International Press Institute wrote a letter to the ambassadors of the United States, Norway, Japan and to the Head of the European Commission Delegation to Sri Lanka in response to the shortage. The shortage means a shortage of information and a potential shut down of the areas newspapers.
On the Web: http://www.freemedia.at/cms/ipi/statements_detail.html?ctxid=CH0055&docid=CMS1169823833685
Sweden
Worlds oldest newspaper now online only
The world’s oldest newspaper still in publication, Post-och Inrikes Tidningar out of Sweden, has converted from paper press to online only. The newspaper was first produced in 1645. The final print issue of the newspaper was printed for 1,500 subscribers on Dec. 29 and the publication made its crossover on Jan. 1. Queen Kristina founded the newspaper, and it continues 362 years later as an online and official government publication. Originally, the queen used the newspaper to keep Swedish citizens informed on matters of the state. Now, however, the newspaper reports mainly on corporate and government issues. Agence France-Presse broke the story first. “The change in format is of course a major departure, for some possibly a little sad, but it is also a natural step,” Roland Haegglund, the publication’s new editor, told AFP. Haegglund is now the newspaper’s only employee. Post-och Inrikes Tidningar will remain the world’s oldest newspaper despite its conversion to digital format because it has not ceased to publish.
Switzerland
Swiss journalists tried for violating CIA regulati
Three Swiss journalists will be tried for violating defense security of the U.S. foreign intelligence service (CIA). Journalists Christopher Grenacher, Sandro Brotz and Beat Jost, who all work for the weekly SonntagsBlick, leaked documents containing supposed places of detention and interrogation methods of the CIA. The article published in SonntagsBlick confirmed the existence of U.S. detention centers in Europe. According to Reporters Without Borders, the information was based on a fax from the Egyptian foreign ministry that was intercepted by Swiss military intelligence and then leaked to the three journalists. The Swiss military court plans to try the reporters under military criminal code. If found guilty, the journalists could be sentenced to up to five years in prison. Brotz says that publishing the information was “journalistically and politically judicious.”
On the Web: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=20956
Turkey
New suspects arrested for journalist's death
New suspects were arrested for the death of Argos editor Hrant Dink, 53, who was killed on Jan. 19. Dink previously faced prosecution for challenging the official Turkish version of the Armenian genocide. Police detained five radical Turkish nationalists including suspected shooter, Ogun Samast, 17. All five detainees are from Trabzon, a fact that has convinced conspiracy theorists in the unofficial capital of Turkey’s eastern Black Sea coastal region that this is part of a threatening plan. Trabzon has become a hub of Turkish Nationalism and has many faced violence-related issues.
On the Web: http://www.mediachannel.org/wordpress/2007/01/29/five-suspects-arrested-in-hrant-dink-murder/
For more information on Turkish nationalists: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1581609,00.html
United States
Army drops subpoena charges against journalists
The Army dropped two subpoenas for two Hawaiian journalists covering First Lieutenant Ehren Watada, the first commissioned officer to refuse to serve in the Iraq war, according to Democracynow.org. The Army, in their effort to gain evidence for its trial against Watada, wanted information from interviews Watada gave independent journalist, Sarah Olson, and Honolulu Star-Bulletin reporter, Greg Kakesako. After a petition against the Army gained overwhelming support, and Watada admitted to making critical statements about the Iraq war in exchange for dropping the subpoenas, the Army withdrew their legal actions against the journalists on January 30. Watada, in an interview with Democracynow.org, said subpoenaing journalists would “stifle people having the courage to bring the truth out. And it’s going to stifle the freedom of the press.”
Reporter breaks record for longest time in jail
California reporter, Josh Wolf, 24, broke the record for the longest jail time a U.S. journalist has served for not handing over source material. Wolf has spent a total of 174 days in jail as of February 12 for refusing to give authorities his video footage of a violent San Francisco protest against the G-8 summit, which was taking place in Scotland at the time, that involved a police car that was burned and an officer who suffered a fractured skull, reports BBC News. Prosecutors successfully argued that federal money helped pay for the police car, which overturned the California laws that protected journalist from revealing sources by making it a federal case. Although Wolf did sell his footage to TV stations, he refused to obey the subpoena that would give the tape to the police. Houston freelance journalist Vanessa Leggett served 168 days in 2001 and 2002 for refusing to reveal information involving murder case.
On the Web: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6338043.stm
Uzbekistan
Journalist arrested and charged for smuggling ille
Umida Niyazova, an Uzbekistan journalist, was arrested on January 22, 2007 after meeting her lawyer in Tashkent for possessing illegal material and being involved in the religious extremist Akromiylar group. Niyazova covered politics and human rights for the Central Asia news Web site Oasis, a project of the Moscow-based media watchdog Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations. Human Rights Watch, Freedom House and Internews Network also contribute to the site. According to Uznews.net, an independent informational Web site in Uzbekistan, Niyazova was charged with illegally crossing the boarder, smuggling and “collecting and distributing material threatening the public security.” Each of the charges can carry sentences up to 10 years in jail. Niyazova was detained on Dec. 21, 2006, when crossing from Kyrgyzstan into Uzbekistan. She was kept in detention for nine hours then released. Her laptop, passport and flash card were confiscated. According to authorities, she had information concerning the Andijan massacre including interviews with witnesses and victims, which were prohibited by the government. The events of the Andijan massacre are disputed but it is widely believed that on May 13, 2005, government soldiers shot hundreds, maybe even thousands, of protestors in the Uzbekistan city. After her arrest, Niyazova was held incommunicado for four days and then sent to Tashkent on Jan. 26, 2007, where she waits in the prison's investigation ward No. 1.
Venezuela
Paper fined for humor piece about Chavez's da
Humor writer Laureano Marquez and publisher Mosca Analfabeta of the opposition daily Tal Cual newspaper in Caracas have been fined $18,600, according to the Associated Press on Feb. 14. They were fined for “violating the honor, reputation and private life” of President Hugo Chavez's 9-year-old daughter, Rosines. Reporters Without Borders has condemned the fine, which was imposed by a juvenile court west of Caracas, a “political punishment.” Marquez first published remarks regarding how the president's youngest daughter should get her father to be more tolerant of the opposition in a comic open letter on November 25, 2005. Chavez's response against the humor piece is questionable according to an editorial written by Analfabeta. The fine must be paid in eight business days. According to Reporters Without Borders, a Tal Cual editor said the newspaper could not pay the fine but had asked for contributions.
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=21026
http://www.cpj.org/news/2007/americas/ven15feb07na.html