2016
Authorities close Al-Baghdadia TV in Iraq, force staff out of channel’s offices
New York, March 18, 2016–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Iraqi authorities to restore the broadcasting license of the pro-Sunni satellite channel Al-Baghdadia TV, and to allow the channel to operate freely in Iraq.
Venezuelan government newsprint squeeze forces newspaper to stop printing
Bogotá, March 18, 2016 – Blaming the refusal of the government to sell it newsprint, the independent Venezuelan daily El Carabobeño printed its final edition on Thursday, according to news reports. The newspaper has published for 82 years and was one of the few independent media outlets in Valencia, the capital of Carabobo state.
A missed opportunity at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon
On March 8, the Appeals Panel of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon reversed the September 18 conviction of Karma Khayat, a journalist who had been ordered to pay a €10,000 (USD$11,064) fine because her channel broadcast interviews with confidential witnesses.
Honduran journalist sentenced to 10 years in prison for defamation
New York, March 17, 2016 — Honduran authorities should drop all criminal charges against journalist David Romero Ellner, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. A court in the Honduran capital Tegucigalpa on Monday sentenced Romero, who is free pending appeal, to 10 years in prison on charges he defamed a former prosecutor. CPJ called…
Gado blames government pressure as cartoonist’s contract at Kenya’s Nation ends
For 23 years Godfrey Mwampembwa has been a prominent and quick-witted observer of the political scene in East Africa. But all that changed last month when the cartoonist, known as Gado, was told his contract at Kenya’s biggest newspapers, the Nation, would not be renewed.
Hostage video shows Japanese journalist Jumpei Yasuda, who went missing in Syria
A freelance Japanese journalist who went missing in Syria in June 2015 appeared in a video on March 16, 2016, which was posted to the Facebook account of a Syrian named Tarik Abdul Hak. Jumpei Yasuda, who speaks in English in the video, says that no one in Japan cares about his captivity, and that…
Four journalists, human rights lawyer pardoned in Azerbaijan
New York, March 17, 2016 – The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes Azerbaijan’s decision to release four independent reporters and a human rights lawyer, urges authorities to ensure they will not have criminal records, and calls on authorities to free all journalists who remain behind bars.
As US-Cuba relations thaw, what’s next for the island’s independent press?
“Our hope is that President Obama will meet journalists working for the alternative media, not just to cover his visit, but to start a dialogue,” said Elaine Díaz Rodríguez, director of Periodismo de Barrio (Neighborhood Journalism) a website focusing on climate change and the impact of natural disasters on local communities. Díaz, who last year…
CPJ joins call to renew Iran special rapporteur mandate
The Committee to Protect Journalists has joined 34 other organizations in calling on the U.N. Human Rights Council to vote in favor of renewing the mandate of the special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The vote is scheduled to take place during the 31st session of the…