2016

  

CPJ Newsletter: January

Turkey releases jailed Iraqi journalist Following months of advocacy by VICE News, CPJ, and other groups, Iraqi journalist Mohammed Ismael Rasool was released from Turkish prison on January 5. Rasool was arrested in August along with his VICE News colleagues, Jake Hanrahan and Philip Pendlebury, while they were reporting from southeastern Diyarbakir province. The three…

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Jean-Philippe Remy and Philip Edward Moore are pictured soon after their release from police custody in Bujumbura, Burundi, January 29, 2016 (AFP)

Burundi arrests two foreign correspondents in wider crackdown

New York, January 29, 2016–The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on authorities in Burundi to stop harassing journalists and allow them to freely report on events in the country. At least three journalists have been briefly detained in the past two days.

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Jailed Chinese journalist Gao Yu released early on medical parole

Gao Yu, a veteran Chinese journalist and contributor to German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, was released on medical parole on November 26, 2015, after being imprisoned for more than 580 days, according to news reports.

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Chinese journalist held on extortion charges

New York, January 28, 2016–Chinese authorities should immediately release Zhang Yongsheng, a reporter for the state-owned Lanzhou Morning Herald, who has been imprisoned since January 7, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On Monday, authorities accused Zhang of extortion.

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A man listens to the news on the radio in Kampala, August 16, 2003 (Reuters).

Uganda forces radio station off the air ahead of elections

New York, January 28, 2016 — Ugandan regulators should immediately allow the privately owned radio station Endigyito FM to resume broadcasts, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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Turkish journalists protest the arrest of their colleagues Can Dündar and Erdem Gül, in Ankara, November 27, 2015 (AP/Burhan Ozbilici).

Jailed Turkish journalists face multiple life sentences

New York, January 27, 2016 — Turkish prosecutors should immediately drop all charges against Can Dündar and Erdem Gül, journalists at the daily newspaper Cumhuriyet, and release them without delay, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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Journalists gather in the press gallery of Venezuela's National Assembly, after a five-year ban was overturned. (AP/Fernando Llano)

Venezuela’s national assembly reopens to the press after five-year ban

When security guards opened the doors to Venezuela’s colonial-era National Assembly building last Wednesday, I was among the dozens of reporters who swarmed inside. Even though the day’s legislative session would not be called to order for another three hours, every seat in the press galley, located on the second-floor balcony overlooking the chamber, was…

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Critical reporter shot dead in Oaxaca, Mexico

Mexico City, January 26, 2016–The Committee to Protect Journalists urges Mexican authorities to investigate the murder of Marcos Hernández Bautista, including the possibility that he was killed for his work as a journalist, find all those responsible, and bring them to justice.

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Li Xin talks to the AP over Skype in November. The journalist, who says he worked as an informant for Chinese authorities, went missing on January 10. (AP/Saurabh Das)

As editor-informant Li Xin disappears, journalists share their experiences with China’s security services

The case of Li Xin, a journalist who disappeared in Thailand in January after telling the international press in November he had fled China after being forced to work for years as a government informant, has shed light on the pressures some journalists face to provide information to the authorities.

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Kenya detains blogger for two days

Kenyan police arrested freelance journalist and blogger Yassin Juma on January 23, after he used social media to post photos of the aftermath of a deadly, January 15, Al-Shabaab attack on an African Union military base in Somalia, according to press reports.

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