Europe & Central Asia

  

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.

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Independent Crimean broadcaster raided by Russian security agents

ATR Director Elzara Islyamova describes the raid on ATR before agents cut her short. (YouTube) New York, January 26, 2015–Authorities in Crimea should stop targeting the independent regional broadcaster ATR immediately, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today after the broadcaster was raided and its equipment seized.

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Imprisoned Russian journalist sentenced to new three-year jail term

New York, January 22, 2015–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the conviction and three-year sentence handed to critical reporter Sergei Reznik in Russia today and calls on authorities to overturn the verdict on appeal.

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Appeals court orders imprisonment of Macedonian reporter

The Skopje Court of Appeals in the capital, Skopje, on January 15, 2015, reduced Tomislav Kezarovski’s prison term from four and a half years to two years, but ordered the journalist to serve the remaining time–four and a half months–in jail, according to regional and international press. Kezarovski had been serving the term under house…

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Classifying media and encryption as a threat is danger to press freedom

The U.K. prides itself on its commitment to free expression, but the latest revelations of surveillance of journalists and calls by Britain’s Prime Minister, David Cameron, to ban secure messaging belie the country’s drift toward a more restrictive environment for the press. The revelations further underscore the threat surveillance by Western democracies poses to journalism,…

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Russian journalist beaten in Saratov, second from same site in five months

New York, January 14, 2015–An independent journalist was attacked on Tuesday in the Russian city of Saratov, according to news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the assault and calls on authorities to investigate and to consider journalism a motive in the crime.

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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…

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A vigil in France for victims of the Charlie Hebdo attack. In cities across the world, pens and signs reading I Am Charlie were held aloft in honor of those killed in the gun attack. (AFP/Thierry Zoccolan)

Charlie Hebdo attack unites France on free expression, but will solidarity hold?

The attack on the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo has sent shock waves through France and beyond. Not only because 12 people have been killed in cold blood and many were wounded in what was the deadliest terrorist attack in France since 1961, when right wingers bombed a train killing 28 people. Not only because,…

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Charb, the chief editor of the the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, is shown holding the front page of the newspaper in 2012. Charb was shot dead today in Paris. (AFP/Fred Dufour)

Gunmen attack Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo, kill at least 12

Brussels, January 7, 2015–Heavily armed and hooded gunmen attacked the Paris office of the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo today, killing at least 12 people and injuring at least 11, in the worst attack on the media since the 2009 Maguindanao massacre in the Philippines.

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CPJ condemns murderous attack on French magazine Charlie Hebdo

New York, January 7, 2015–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns today’s attack on French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris. French media reported that hooded gunmen stormed the magazine’s offices, killing at least 12 people and critically wounding at least five. Journalists and police officers were believed to be among the casualties. The gunmen fled.

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