2017
Iran bars BBC staff and contributors from selling property
Washington, D.C., August 15, 2017–Iranian authorities should immediately reverse an order banning 152 journalists and media workers with the BBC’s Persian service from buying or selling assets, cease harassing BBC journalists, and lift their ban on the station, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Ukraine expels Russian journalist
New York, August 15, 2017–Ukrainian security and immigration authorities should remove all restrictions on Russian journalist Tamara Nersesyan’s ability to report from Ukraine, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The Ukrainian National Security Service (SBU) last night detained Nersesyan, a special correspondent for the Russian state broadcaster VGTRK, and deported her to Russia.
Ukrainian press union president threatened after criticizing raid on news website
New York, August 14, 2017–The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned the harassment of journalists in Ukraine and called on authorities to ensure the press can report freely, after the country’s National Security Service raided the offices of a news website and a member of parliament criticized Sergiy Tomilenko, head of the National Union of…
Iraqi regulator threatens TV satirist with legal action
New York, August 14, 2017–Iraqi authorities should stop threatening the pro-Kurdish broadcaster NRT and political satirist Ahmed al-Basheer, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. In a letter NRT received August 10, the Iraqi Communications and Media Commission inquired whether the broadcaster’s Arabic-language channel would continue airing al-Basheer’s program and threatened to pursue “legal action”…
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of August 13, 2017
Court jails journalist pending trial for social media activity A court in Turkey’s southeastern Mardin province ordered Mehmet Sıddık Damar, a former reporter for the shuttered, pro-Kurdish Dicle News Agency (DİHA), jailed pending trial on charges of “propagandizing for a [terrorist] organization” in his social media posts, the news website Dihaber reported today. Damar had…
CPJ calls for rigorous investigation into disappearance of journalist in Denmark
New York, August 12, 2017–The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Danish authorities to mount a rigorous, thorough investigation into the disappearance of Kim Wall, a Swedish freelance journalist who was reported missing yesterday while reporting on an amateur-built submarine that sank off the coast of Copenhagen, according to media reports.
Turkey arrests at least nine journalists
New York, August 11, 2017–Turkish authorities should immediately free nine journalists police arrested yesterday on terrorism charges, and should release the dozens of journalists it has for months jailed on bogus similar charges, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Police detained the nine after the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office issued warrants for the…