2016
CPJ urges Obama to prioritize press freedom at ASEAN summit
Dear President Obama: The Committee to Protect Journalists is writing to express our enduring concern about the press freedom situation in Southeast Asia ahead of the summit meeting you will host for regional leaders from February 15 to February 16.
Two newspaper offices firebombed in Istanbul
New York, February 11, 2016–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns today’s attacks on the Istanbul offices of the daily newspapers Yeni Akit and Yeni Şafak. The newspapers are generally supportive of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
Nigerian journalists barred from covering deputy governor’s inauguration
Armed security guards on Tuesday, February 9, 2016, prevented journalists from covering the inauguration of Simon Achuba to the post of deputy governor of Nigeria’s central Kogi State, according to news reports and local journalists.
Body of missing Veracruz crime reporter Anabel Flores Salazar found in neighboring state
New York, February 9, 2016–The body of Anabel Flores Salazar, a reporter for El Sol de Orizaba who was abducted from her home near the city of Orizaba in Veracruz on Monday, was found today in the neighboring state of Puebla, according to a Puebla state official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because…
Bahrain upholds prison sentence against photographer
Washington, February 9, 2016–The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned Bahrain’s imprisonment of photographer Ahmed al-Fardan. A Bahraini appeals court on February 3 upheld the photojournalist’s three-month prison sentence on charges of participating in an unlicensed protest, according to his lawyer and news reports.
‘I kept telling them I’m a journalist but they kept beating me’: Photographer beaten at Delhi protest
As police cracked down on protesters in Delhi during recent protests over the treatment of Dalits, who occupy the lowest rungs of India’s caste ladder, journalists were caught in the fray. The protests were sparked by the suicide of Rohith Vemula, a student who had been barred from halls of residence and parts of campus,…
Mexican crime reporter abducted in Veracruz
New York, February 8, 2016–The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned for the safety of Anabel Flores Salazar, a Mexican crime reporter who was abducted from her home in Orizaba, Veracruz state, at about 2 a.m. today by armed men who claimed to have an arrest warrant for her, according to reports. The general prosecutor…
Critics Are Not Criminals
CPJ to release comparative study of criminal defamation laws in the Americas New York, February 8, 2016–The Committee to Protect Journalists will release a special report on the status of criminal defamation laws in the Americas. This new report, prepared for CPJ by Debevoise & Plimpton LLP in collaboration with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, seeks…