2024

New York, October 18, 2024—More than 1,500 emails threatening a bomb attack were sent on October 14 to Ukrainian media outlets, government agencies, schools, business centers, and hotels, as well as dozens of Ukrainian embassies abroad. The sender blamed three journalists with U.S. Congress-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) — Iryna Sysak, Valeria Yehoshyna,…

The Committee to Protect Journalist and 18 other civil society organizations called on Guatemalan authorities to respect the independence of the judiciary at an October 18 hearing over the release of Guatemalan journalist José Rubén Zamora from pre-trial detention. The statement highlights a “deeply troubling trend” of criminalizing and intimidating human rights defenders, including Judge Rodolfo…

Washington D.C., October 17, 2024—CPJ is alarmed by reports that Iranian authorities arrested Iranian-American journalist Reza Valizadeh in September in the capital, Tehran, and have since detained him in Evin prison without access to a lawyer, according to a former colleague, who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity, citing fear of government reprisal….

São Paulo, October 17, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Paraguayan President Santiago Peña to reject a law that would impose burdensome restrictions on nonprofit news outlets and threaten their independence. On October 9, Paraguay’s Congress approved the Establishing Control, Transparency, and Accountability of Non-Profit Organizations Act and passed it to Peña, who has…

Istanbul, October 16, 2024—CPJ expressed deep concern after a recently released recording of an August 15 press conference included comments from Tatvan Mayor Mümin Erol, in which Erol told reporters that he would attack journalist Sinan Aygül if he could and congratulated the former mayor’s bodyguards, who attacked and hospitalized the journalist in June 2023. …

New York, October 16, 2024—German authorities must swiftly and transparently investigate security guards’ homophobic abuse and attack on a journalist with the public broadcaster DW’s Arabic service who was reporting at a concert in the western city of Düsseldorf, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. “German authorities must ensure the security guards working for…

Washington, D.C., October 16, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the 28-year sentence given to former politician Robert Telles on Wednesday for stabbing to death Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Jeff German. “The sentencing of Robert Telles marks a significant milestone in the quest for justice. Although the jailing of Telles cannot undo Jeff German’s murder,…

Dakar, October 16, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Chadian authorities to reverse a directive announcedon October 9 by Abderamane Barka, president of the High Authority for Media and Audiovisual (HAMA) regulator, to suspend or revoke the licenses of outlets that share online content outside of narrowly defined circumstances. “Chad’s media regulator should immediately…

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) joined eight human rights and digital rights organizations on October 15 to provide comments to the U.S. Commerce Department in response to its proposed rules to strengthen surveillance technology export regulations. The joint comments assess and offer recommendations for the Commerce Department to help curb the proliferation of such surveillance…

Three leading press freedom organizations, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Free Press Unlimited (FPU), and Reporters Without Borders (RSF), on Tuesday, October 15, urgently called on the Israeli military office responsible for humanitarian coordination, known as COGAT, to authorize the evacuation of two critically wounded journalists who require immediate, lifesaving medical treatment. The letter,…