2011

  
Charter 97 Editor-in-Chief Natalya Radina at CPJ's 2011 International Press Freedom Awards. (Muzaffar Suleymanov/CPJ)

Belarusian website Charter 97 attacked, shut down

It’s not unusual for Charter 97, a Belarusian pro-opposition news website, to be disrupted online. CPJ has documented intimidations, threats, and arrests against its staff members, the murder of its founder, and denial-of-service attacks against the website.

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Pakistani journalists and CPJ award winners Najam Sethi and Jugnu Mohsin in 1999. (Saeed Khan/AFP)

More revelations of threats to Pakistani journalists

We released a statement Thursday–CPJ supports Pakistani journalists facing threats–about the decision of two Pakistani journalists to publicly announce the threats they had been receiving. Najam Sethi, editor of The Friday Times and host of a popular Urdu-language political program on Geo TV, and Jugnu Mohsin, also a Friday Times editor, said they had lived…

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Sethi at CPJ offices earlier this year. (CPJ/Sheryl A. Mendez)

CPJ supports Pakistani journalists facing threats

New York, December 29, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists admires and supports the decision of Pakistani journalists Najam Sethi and Jugnu Mohsin to make public the threats that have driven them at times to live outside their country in recent months. Sethi and Mohsin are returning to their home in Lahore and are determined to…

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Tajik journalist Makhmadyusuf Ismoilov was convicted on insult charges in October, but was released from prison. He is banned from all journalistic work for three years. (RFE/RL Radio Ozodi)

CPJ Impact

News from the Committee to Protect Journalists, December 2011 The year in press freedom This year was marked by a wave of anti-press violence as social unrest stirred millions into action. Journalists from Belarus to Egypt and Mexico to Beijing continued exposing the truth despite being attacked for their reporting. The Committee to Protect Journalists’…

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At least eight journalists were attacked on Saturday and Sunday while covering protests in Yemen. (Khaled Abdullah Ali Al Mahdi/Reuters)

In Yemen, journalists attacked during protests

New York, December 28, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the attacks on at least eight journalists on Saturday and Sunday by armed forces loyal to outgoing President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The clashes between pro-Saleh forces and protesters left nine people dead on Saturday, The Associated Press reported. 

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Ecuadoran media executive sentenced to jail

New York, December 28, 2011–The director of the Quito-based daily Hoy has been convicted on charges of criminal libel for articles depicting the political influence of an Ecuadoran banking official who is a relative of President Rafael Correa, news reports said.

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Sites like this Facebook discussion group have been the subject of complaints to the Indian police by activists. (CPJ)

India struggles to cope with growing Internet penetration

As Internet penetration deepens, largely religiously and socially conservative India is struggling to cope with concerns about controversial web content and its easy accessibility to a vast population, all with little oversight. Local courts have become the launching point for some of the anti-Web offensives.

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An Ethiopian court has sentenced Swedish journalists Johan Persson (left) and Martin Schibbye to 11 years in prison. (AFP)

In Ethiopia, Swedish journalists handed prison terms

New York, December 27, 2011–In a highly politicized trial, two Swedish journalists have been sentenced in an Ethiopian court to 11-year jail terms after being convicted of supporting terrorism and entering the country illegally, according to news reports.

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Students are taken away from a Karachi seminary where they were found in chains. Producers from Samaa TV who broke the story have been threatened. (AFP/Asif Hassan)

‘Where is the state?’ asks Pakistani journalist under threat

Since making me aware of threats to Hamid Mir on December 20, Umar Cheema and I have been encouraging Pakistani journalists we know who are under threat to step forward with their own experiences. Ghulamaddin, producer for Samaa TV in Karachi who broke the story of students held in chains at a seminary, is coming…

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In Mauritania, Moroccan journalist expelled

New York, December 23, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Mauritanian authorities’ Wednesday decision to expel a Moroccan journalist from the country. The Mauritanian government gave no reason for their decision.

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