2016
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of August 21
Kurdish wire reporter, newspaper employee arraigned on terrorism charges A court in Turkey’s eastern Van Province today arraigned Erdem Mühirci, a reporter for the pro-Kurdish Dicle News Agency (DİHA), and ordered him jailed, pending trial, on charges of “being a member of a [terrorist] organization” and “recruiting members for a [terrorist] organization,” DİHA reported. Mühirci…
Nigerian military threatens journalist for not revealing sources
Abuja, Nigeria, August 18, 2016 — The Nigerian military should cease threatening freelance journalist Ahmad Salkida with prosecution for not acting as an informer, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The military has said the journalist could face terrorism charges if he does not provide it with information he gained in the course of…
Thailand pressures two broadcast journalists off the air
Bangkok, August 18, 2016–Two television reporters in Thailand have been suspended for a 10-day period under pressure from military authorities and state media regulators over their critical news coverage, according to news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Thailand’s ruling military regime to cease its systematic harassment of the broadcast media and…
Ethiopian police detain journalists reporting on drought, escort them back to capital
Ethiopian police on August 8, 2016, detained three journalists reporting on the effects of a severe drought in the country before escorting them back to Addis Ababa with a warning not to work outside the capital, the Foreign Correspondents’ Association of Ethiopia said in a statement.
Turkish newspaper closed, journalists detained in police raid
New York, August 16, 2016–Turkish authorities should immediately drop all charges against the country’s oldest pro-Kurdish daily newspaper, Özgür Gündem, and its staff, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Following a court order shuttering the newspaper, police in Istanbul today raided Özgür Gündem’s office and detained at least 21 journalists, according to news reports.
Threats push Sierra Leonean community radio journalist into hiding
Sahr Amadu Komba, manager of the local radio station Eastern Radio 96.5 FM in the diamond mining town of Koidu, in Sierra Leone’s eastern Kono District, went into hiding from July 27-31, 2016, out of fear of arrest on allegations of inciting the public to protest the government’s response to floods that destroyed homes and…
As Beijing tightens grip on Hong Kong media, mainland journalists suffer
On August 1, prominent Chinese human rights lawyer Wang Yu, who had been detained incommunicado for over a year, reemerged–with an unusual twist on an old script. Wang gave a TV interview in which she renounced her legal work and accused foreign forces of using her to “attack” and “smear” the Chinese government; the report…
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of August 14
Released journalists describe beatings in custody, headline ‘Resistance continues’ Journalists from the pro-Kurdish daily newspaper Özgür Gündem, the pro-Kurdish DİHA news agency and broadcaster IMC TV released yesterday alleged that police beat and mistreated them in custody, Özgür Gündem reported on its website, which continues to publish despite a court order temporarily closing the newspaper.…