2020

The 10th time journalist Omar Radi was summoned by Moroccan police this summer, he was arrested on multiple charges including undermining state security and sexual assault, as CPJ documented in July. He was placed in solitary confinement in the Oukacha Prison in Casablanca to reduce the risk of exposure to COVID-19, and remained there as…

At the end of August, journalists with the U.S. Congress-funded Voice of America (VOA) took the extraordinary step of ringing a public alarm bell about moves by the new CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which oversees VOA and several other outlets. VOA broadcasts in 47 languages and employs both U.S. citizens…

On August 21, 2020, Canadian immigration authorities at the Vancouver International Airport denied entry to Kristian Lindhardt, a Danish national working on an independent documentary film and freelancing for the Danish Broadcasting Corporation and other outlets, according to news reports and the journalist, who spoke to CPJ in a phone interview. Lindhardt said that Canadian…

Berlin, September 21, 2020 — Montenegro authorities should drop all criminal charges against journalist Jovo Martinović, and ensure that the press can work freely without fear of retaliation, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On September 15, the High Court of Podgorica concluded the retrial of Martinović, an investigative freelance journalist who covers organized…

Bogotá, Colombia, September 18, 2020 – Colombian authorities should not pursue criminal defamation charges against journalists Catalina Ruiz-Navarro and Matilde de los Milagros Londoño, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. In early September, the Colombian attorney general’s office ordered freelance journalists Ruiz-Navarro and Londoño to appear for questioning on September 14 in response to…

Abuja, September 18, 2020 – Liberian authorities should credibly investigate the attack on journalist Amos Omaska Jallah and ensure those responsible are held to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On September 13, in Latia, a town in Liberia’s western Cape Mount county, a group of at least 30 men attacked Jallah, a…

Istanbul, September 17, 2020 – An Istanbul court today announced that Can Dündar, an exiled Turkish journalist living in Germany, would be declared a fugitive and his assets would be seized unless he returns to the country within 15 days, according to news reports. “Journalist Can Dündar has already paid a high price for his…

On August 16, Ramsha Jahangir should have been celebrating a journalistic triumph, the release of a long, deeply reported cover story for the weekend magazine of Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper on the government’s social media strategy and image-building. Instead, she spent the day watching in horror as a torrent of abuse filled her social media feeds. Eventually, she went offline. …

Washington D.C., September 16, 2020 — The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department should immediately drop all charges against journalist Josie Huang, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On the evening of September 12, sheriff’s deputies tackled and arrested Huang, a reporter for a National Public Radio member station KPCC and local news website LAist,…

Abuja, September 16, 2020 – Nigerian authorities should immediately release journalist Ime Sunday Silas, drop the charges against him, and reform the country’s cybercrime act to ensure it is not used against the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On August 17, police in Uyo city, the capital of Nigeria’s southern Akwa-Ibom state,…