MEXICO: 1
José Luis Ortega Mata, 37-year-old editor of the weekly Semanario de Ojinaga, was shot twice in the head. Local sources linked the murder to Semanario de Ojinaga's reports on drug trafficking. The paper had also been critical of local politicians and police.
PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES: 1
Muhammad al-Bishawi, a reporter for the Nablus-based Palestinian news service Najah Press Office and for IslamOnline, an Internet news service based in Qatar, was killed in an Israeli missile attack aimed at Hamas official Jamal Mansour, whom Israel had accused of masterminding several suicide bombings. At the time of the attack, several sources said, al-Bishawi was interviewing Mansour at the Palestinian Center for Studies and Media, a Hamas information office.
PARAGUAY: 1
Salvador Medina Vel·zquez, 27-year-old president of the board of the community radio station FM Ñemity, was shot dead in an ambush. The attack apparently resulted from his reports on timber smuggling in state-owned forest reservations in Capiibary, local sources told CPJ. In particular, Medina had singled out a band of alleged smugglers with ties to the National Republican Association (ARN), also known as the Colorado Party. Although a suspect was tried and convicted, Medina's relatives believe that the people who ordered the murder are still at large.
PHILIPPINES: 2
Roland Ureta, program director of the radio station DYKR, was gunned down by two motorcycle-riding men. Ureta was apparently murdered as a result of his radio commentaries, which included pieces about local government corruption and police involvement in the drug trade.
Candelario Cayona, a radio commentator for the local station DXLL, as he left home on his motorcycle to host a morning broadcast. Cayona was an outspoken commentator who often criticized local politicians, the military and Muslim separatist guerrillas. The journalist had recently received several death threats, including an on-air threat that was phoned in by Abu Sabaya, spokesman for the Islamic guerrilla group Abu Sayyaf.
RUSSIA: 1
Eduard Markevich, editor and publisher of Novy Reft, a paper that was often critical of local officials, was found dead with a bullet wound in his back. The journalist's colleagues told the Itar-Tass news service that he had received threatening telephone calls prior to the attack. He was also attacked in 1998.
THAILAND: 2
Withayut Sangsopit, a free-lance radio journalist and commentator, was shot five times by gunmen as he was about to enter his radio studio to begin his popular morning program, "Catch Up With the World." Surat Thani police believe Withayut, 56, was killed as a result of his reporting on irregularities involving a 50 million baht (US$1.1 million) real estate deal for a municipal garbage dump. Police arrested two men in connection with the shooting, one of who was a municipal official implicated in the garbage dump scandal.
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