Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of January 15
Newspaper distributor says security officers abducted, beat him Barış Boyraz, a former distributor for the shuttered Kurdish-language daily Azadiya Welat, told the daily newspaper Evrensel that men he believes to be plainclothes police on December 17, 2016, abducted him from the streets of Ankara and beat him.
Blogger jailed in Belarus faces extradition to Azerbaijan
New York, January 13, 2017–Belarussian authorities should unconditionally release Aleksandr Lapshin, a Russian-Israeli blogger detained in the capital Minsk on an extradition request from Azerbaijan, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
UK’s Section 40 press law would curb independent, investigative journalism
British journalists say the future of independent and investigative journalism in the U.K. is at stake, as a deadline for public consultation on press regulation ends tomorrow. If it is implemented, Section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013 would leave news outlets not signed up to an official press regulator liable for the…
Speaker of Chechen parliament threatens journalist Grigory Shvedov
New York, January 9, 2017–Russian federal authorities should ensure the safety of Grigory Shvedov, the editor of the independent news website Kavkazsky Uzel (Caucasian Knot), and should hold accountable Magomed Daudov, the speaker of Chechnya’s parliament, for publicly threatening the journalist, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of January 8
Erdoğan praises Trump for ‘beating down’ CNN reporter Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan praised U.S. President-elect Donald Trump for “beating down” (“benzetmek”) CNN senior White House correspondent Jim Costa in a January 11 press conference, according to media reports and video widely distributed on the internet. Trump refused to take a question from CNN at…
Journalist Jovo Martinović released in Montenegro pending trial
New York, January 5, 2017–A Montenegro court last night released independent journalist Jovo Martinović, pending the outcome of his trial, the journalist told the Committee to Protect Journalists today. The court ordered Martinović, who spent more than 14 months in prison on charges of drug smuggling, to check in with police twice a month, and…
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of January 1
Jailed investigative journalist held in isolation Investigative journalist Ahmet Şık has been kept in isolation in prison and denied basic rights since his arrest last week, according to reports that cited his lawyer. Sık, who was detained December 29 on allegations of spreading terrorist propaganda, was kept at Metris Prison in Istanbul for three days…