August 2017 - Committee to Protect Journalists

Cameroon arrests journalists on terror charges

August 31, 2017 7:01 PM EDT

Police arrested Atia Tilarious Azohnwi, the political editor of The Sun, and Amos Fofung, a bureau chief at The Guardian Post, on February 9, 2017, in Buea, the capital of Cameroon’s English-speaking Southwest region, according to media reports. Their arrest came a few hours after police detained a third Cameroonian, Mofor Ndong, for allegedly planning…

NRT office in Iraqi Kurdistan attacked

August 31, 2017 6:48 PM EDT

New York, August 31, 2017–The Kurdistan Regional Government should immediately investigate today’s attack on independent broadcaster NRT in Dohuk, northern Iraq, and swiftly bring those responsible to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said.

Commuters in Mumbai use their mobile phones as they wait at a bus stop with a telecom advertisement on July 10. The majority of India's internet users connect via their mobile devices. India recently adopted a rule that allows the government to temporarily shut down internet and telecommunications services in the event of an emergency. (Reuters/Shailesh Andrade)

India issues sweeping rule on internet shut-offs

August 31, 2017 3:22 PM EDT

New Delhi, August 31, 2017–Indian authorities should stop arbitrarily blocking the internet, and refrain from issuing regulations that give legal backing to frequent internet shutdowns in the country, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, pictured in Phnom Penh, in June 2017. In the country's latest crackdown on foreign media, authorities have started an investigation into an American freelancer. (AP/Heng Sinith)

Cambodia accuses American journalist of espionage

August 31, 2017 2:40 PM EDT

Cambodia’s Ministry of Interior said on August 28, 2017 that it has opened an investigation into accusations spread in local pro-government media that American freelance journalist Geoffrey Cain is involved in a conspiracy to overthrow Prime Minister Hun Sen’s elected administration, according to local language news reports.

Members of the Journalists Union of Turkey shout slogans during a demonstration to mark World Press Freedom Day in Istanbul, Turkey on May 3. The placard reads: "Enough!" (Reuters/Murad Sezer)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of August 27, 2017

August 31, 2017 12:14 PM EDT

Turkish authorities confiscate columnist’s passport Turkish police confiscated Aslı Erdoğan’s passport as the former advisory board member of the shuttered pro-Kurdish daily Özgür Gündem and frequent columnist was on her way to Germany to accept an award for her work, according to a report yesterday on the online news site sendka.org.

Ukraine's state security service (SBU) chief Vasily Gritsak speaks during a news conference in Kiev, Ukraine. The SBU said authorities have deported Russian journalist Anna Kurbatova and banned her from entering the country for three years.(Reuters/Valentyn Ogirenko)

Ukraine’s security service deports Russian journalist

August 30, 2017 6:01 PM EDT

New York, August 30, 2017– Russian journalist Anna Kurbatova was today grabbed on the street in the center of Kiev by unknown people and later deported, according to her employer Russian state television’s Channel One. Ukraine’s security service (SBU) said authorities have banned the journalist from entering Ukraine for three years.

Iranians walk past street art in the southwestern district of Tehran in January 2016. Security agents arrested two journalists in the city in August (AFP/Atta Kenare)

CPJ calls on Iran to release two detained journalists

August 30, 2017 5:30 PM EDT

New York, August 30, 2017–Iranian authorities should immediately release Sasan Aghaei and Yaghma Fashkhami, two journalists detained in Tehran, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

The Kurdistan flag at the castle of Erbil, Iraq on July 29, 2017. Kurdish authorities blocked the independent media outlet Nalia Radio and Television from broadcasting ahead of a regional referendum on Kurdish independence next month. (Reuters/Khalid Al-Mousily)

Kurdish authorities temporarily block regional broadcaster

August 30, 2017 4:06 PM EDT

Beirut, August 30, 2017–The Kurdistan Regional Government in northern Iraq should allow the independent media outlet Nalia Radio and Television (NRT) to resume broadcasting, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Journalists hold a late night vigil on August 1, 2015 to protest against the latest murder of a fellow journalist in Veracruz, Mexico. Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists, according to CPJ research.(AP Photo/Felix Marquez)

Mexican journalist severely injured in Puebla state

August 29, 2017 4:28 PM EDT

Unknown assailants on August 15, 2017, attacked reporter Fredy Morales Salas at his home in the Venustiano Carranza district in the Mexican state of Puebla, some 80 miles (130km) from the country’s capitol, according to local journalists, officials and news reports.

Congolese authorities question radio journalist over broadcast on new tax

August 29, 2017 4:17 PM EDT

National intelligence services and police issued summonses to Israel Ntumba, a reporter for the Congolese broadcaster, Kasai Horizontal Radio et Television (KHRT), over an August 5, 2017 broadcast on a new motorcycle tax in Kananga, a city in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the station’s program director, Honi Tshibola and Ntumba, told CPJ.