Azerbaijan extends criminal defamation to Internet speech
New York, May 14, 2013–Azerbaijani parliament’s approval to extend criminal defamation laws to include Internet speech is a serious setback for press freedom in a country that severely curtails free expression already, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. CPJ calls on President Ilham Aliyev to veto the bill.
Russia charges suspect in Igor Domnikov murder
New York, May 8, 2013–Today’s arrest in Moscow of a local businessman suspected of organizing a brutal attack that led to the death in 2000 of investigative reporter Igor Domnikov is a long-overdue step toward justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said. Russian authorities must now ensure that all of those involved in planning the…
CPJ, others urge John Kerry to raise rights in Russia
In advance of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit to Moscow this week, Freedom House, the National Endowment for Democracy, and the Committee to Protect Journalists sent him a letter to call attention to the ongoing crackdown in Russia on non-governmental organizations–including those that support press freedom and freedom of expression.
Responding to Hacked Off
Some years back during a visit to the Gambia–the West African nation ruled by a thin-skinned and mercurial president, Yahya Jammeh–I holed up in the sweltering Interior Ministry and pressed officials to release imprisoned journalists and ease up on the country’s brutal media crackdown. The officials resisted, arguing that the press in Gambia was “reckless…
European outlets report journalists missing in Syria
New York, April 30, 2013–The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned about the well-being of two European journalists who went missing in western Syria three weeks ago. News reports identified the journalists as Domenico Quirico, a veteran reporter for the Italian daily La Stampa, and Pierre Piccinin da Prata, a Belgian academic and freelance…
Belarus police briefly detain two reporters at a rally
Police in Minsk on April 26, 2013, detained for three days two reporters for the Poland-based Radio Racyja, according to the local press. The journalists, Gennady Barbarich and Aleksandr Yaroshevich, were taken into police custody on disobedience charges after reporting on a state-authorized rally, called Chernobylskiy Shlyakh, in commemoration of the April 1986 nuclear plant…
In 2 major efforts, journalist security tailored to fit
In the past, donors and groups providing security to journalists in less-developed nations tended to export a Western, military-style of training designed for a war-time environment. But the danger of covering combat is one thing. Being fired upon by a motorcycle-riding assassin is another–as is being sexually molested in a crowd, discovering a video camera…