Committee to Protect Journalists – Defending Journalists Worldwide.

CPJ presses for answers in Abu Akleh killing

A Palestinian walks in front of a mural depicting slain Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in the Israeli-occupied West Bank in 2022. (Photo: Reuters/Mussa Qawasma)

Two years after the May 11 Israeli military killing of Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, no one has been held accountable for her death.

CPJ is now calling on the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation to release a timeline for the conclusion of its now 18-month investigation into the killing, on the International Criminal Court to investigate the case — as the Abu Akleh family and her employer, Al Jazeera, have requested — and on Israel to cooperate.

Last November, the U.S. Department of Justice notified Israel of the FBI investigation, and Israel said it would not cooperate with the probe. The FBI has not publicly released any findings nor has the investigation led to any statements of responsibility or arrests.

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Read CPJ’s May 2023 report ‘Deadly Pattern’
More CPJ coverage of the Israel-Gaza war

Georgian parliament passes controversial foreign agent law

Demonstrators protest a bill on "foreign agents" near the Georgian Parliament building in Tbilisi, Georgia, on May 13, 2024. (Photo: Reuters/Irakli Gedenidze) — Demonstrators protest a bill on ‘foreign agents’ near the Georgian parliament building in Tbilisi on May 13, 2024. (Photo: Reuters/Irakli Gedenidze)

The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply troubled by the Georgian parliament’s May 14 vote to adopt the controversial Russian-style “foreign agents” law that would target foreign-funded media.

“The passage of ‘foreign agent’ legislation by the ruling Georgian Dream party, despite significant public opposition, is set to stifle media freedom in the lead-up to the parliamentary elections in October,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, in New York.

“Georgian authorities should not advance the Russia-style bill any further unless they want to throw the country off the path to the European Union and into the Kremlin’s embrace. European and international leaders must convey to the Georgian government that the country cannot move forward in its EU aspirations if the law goes into force.”

Journalists Attacked

Myat Thu Tan

MURDERED

Myat Thu Tan, a contributor to the local news website Western News and correspondent for several independent Myanmar news outlets, was shot and killed on January 31, 2024, while in military custody in Mrauk-U in Myanmar’s western Rakhine State.

He was arrested on September 22, 2022, and held in pre-trial detention under a broad provision of the penal code that criminalizes incitement and the dissemination of false news for critical posts he made on his Facebook page. Myat Thu Tan had not been tried or convicted at the time of his death.

The journalist’s body was found buried in a bomb shelter, with the bodies of six other political detainees, and showed signs of torture.

Myanmar’s military junta has cracked down on journalists and media outlets since seizing power in a February 2021 coup.

Learn more about Myat Thu Tan