2017
Court upholds life sentence for Kyrgyz journalist and activist Azimjon Askarov
New York, January 24, 2017–Kyrgyz authorities should immediately release journalist and human rights activist Azimjon Askarov and drop all charges against him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Kyrgyzstan’s Chui Regional Court today upheld a September 2010 life sentence against Askarov on charges of complicity in murder and inciting hatred for reporting on fatal…
CPJ urges Uzbek president to lift media restrictions
January 23, 2017 Shavkat Mirziyoyev President of Uzbekistan Via email: [email protected] Dear President Mirziyoyev, A month after your inauguration as Uzbekistan’s second president, we at the Committee to Protect Journalists are writing to urge you to reverse the repressive media policies of your predecessor, the late President Islam Karimov, and to dismantle damaging restrictions on…
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of January 22
Diaspora news website censored before publishing The bilingual German-Turkish news website Özgürüz (“We Are Free”), which is edited by exiled Cumhuriyet editor Can Dündar, reported that Turkish authorities had blocked access to the website 12 hours before it published its first story today. The website said it believed ozguruz.org made censorship history as the first…
CPJ Safety Advisory: Trolls and online abuse
Today the Committee to Protect published a blog post detailing increased online harassment to journalists in the United States. Trolling and online abuse of journalists and bloggers, however, is a global threat. At a time when use of Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms are a job requirement for media workers, trolls have become…
Maldives journalists face prison
New York, January 20, 2017–Authorities in the Maldives should cease pursuing all criminal charges against journalists from Raajje TV, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. A court is expected to sentence Raajje TV journalists Mohamed Wisam and Leevaan Ali Nasir on January 24, according to press reports. Both intend to appeal “the baseless charges,”…
Transition to Trump: When a president-elect tweets, the trolls take aim
As a new presidential administration prepares to take over the U.S., CPJ examines the status of press freedom, including the challenges journalists face from surveillance, harassment, limited transparency, the questioning of libel laws, and other factors.
Somaliland attorney general pursues journalists acquitted of publishing false news
New York, January 20, 2017–Somaliland Attorney General Hasan Ahmed Hasan should immediately drop his appeal of a court’s acquittal of two journalists charged with publishing false news and operating an unlicensed newspaper, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Azerbaijani authorities tighten screws on independent media
When officials in Baku released several high-profile journalists, including investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova, from prison in May last year, the international media rights community breathed a sigh of relief. But any optimism was short-lived, with authorities in recent months prosecuting journalists and bloggers, and passing restrictive online media laws.
Greek police raid newspaper office
Roughly 10 police officers on January 10, 2017, raided the Athens headquarters of the Greek daily newspaper Parapolitika and arrested the newspaper’s director, Panagiotis Tzenos, Greek and regional media reported. The newspaper’s publisher, Yiannis Kourtakis, was taken into custody later that day, according to Greek media reports.
Nigerian police raid investigative news website’s office
Lagos, Nigeria, January 19, 2017–Nigerian authorities should drop all charges against Dapo Olorunyomi, publisher of the news website Premium Times, and Evelyn Okakwu, who covers the judiciary for the website, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Plainclothes police officers raided the website’s office in the capital Abuja and arrested the two today, holding them…