Germany scores against the surveillance state
It all went very fast. On Tuesday morning August 4, Germany’s chief federal prosecutor, Harald Range, was ordered by Justice Minister Heiko Maas to withdraw an independent expert from the investigation of two journalists from Netzpolitik. The investigator had concluded that leaked documents quoted by the news website amounted to a disclosure of a state…
Germany investigating news website, journalists for treason
New York, July 31, 2015–The Committee to Protect Journalists is gravely concerned by the allegations of treason against two journalists affiliated with the critical German news website Netzpolitik. German authorities on Thursday opened an investigation into the website’s bloggers, Markus Beckedahl and Andre Meister, as well as an unidentified third party, accusing them of treason,…
Al-Jazeera journalist detained while headed to Qatar
New York, June 21, 2015–An Al-Jazeera journalist was detained on Saturday in Berlin while headed to Qatar, according to news reports. Ahmad Mansour, a British-Egyptian TV host for the Qatar-based broadcaster, was detained in connection with an Egyptian arrest warrant dating back to a 2014 conviction in Egypt on politically motivated charges, news reports said.…
After Charlie Hebdo attack, vigils, protests and publishing bans
Protests against the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo were held in Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Middle East and parts of Africa over the weekend, as crowds demonstrated against the magazine’s portrayal of the Prophet Muhammad, according to news reports.
German daily firebombed over Charlie Hebdo cartoons
On January 11, 2015, attackers firebombed the offices of the German daily Hamburger Morgenpost, in Hamburg, northern Germany, in apparent retaliation for the tabloid’s reprinting of several cartoons from the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo on its front page, according to news reports. The press reported that arsonists threw a firebomb and stones through a…
G-7 acknowledges post-2015 agenda should include governance, human rights
New York, June 5, 2014–The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the declaration today by leaders of the Group of Seven leading industrial nations that democratic governance and human rights should be integral to the post-2015 development agenda. The United Nations is seeking agreement on a broad set of sustainable development objectives to replace the Millennium…
EU underscores support of free expression, but slights access to information
A new document on freedom of expression and opinion, adopted May 12 by the 28 foreign ministers of the European Union, presses nearly all the right buttons. Drawing its inspiration from international human rights norms as well as from the EU’s treaties and its charter of fundamental rights, the document reaffirms the role of freedom…
German journalist shot in Syria, evacuated to Turkey
Jörg Armbruster, a correspondent for the German public broadcaster ARD, was seriously injured by gunfire during a military clash in Aleppo on March 29, 2013, according to news reports. After emergency surgery inside Syria on the same day, Armbruster was transferred by ambulance to Turkey, where he was treated by an emergency medical team. After…
Thorning’s chance to press China for media freedom
Denmark’s Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt is in China this week to meet with top leaders, according to international news reports. CPJ’s Advocacy and Communications Associate Magnus Ag and Senior Asia Program Researcher Madeline Earp co-wrote an op-ed calling on Thorning–as she is called in the Danish press–to raise the issue of press freedom. An edited…