CPJ welcomes UK High Court decision to hear Julian Assange appeal
Washington, D.C., May 20, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the U.K. High Court’s Monday decision to allow WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to appeal his extradition case. “We are heartened that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will be allowed to appeal his extradition to the United States,” said CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg, in New York. “Assange’s…
CPJ, partners urge the US DOJ to drop charges against Assange
The Committee to Protect Journalists led a coalition of civil society organizations urging the United States Department of Justice to drop charges against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, who is currently being held in the U.K. pending a hearing on May 20 that could determine whether Assange is extradited to the U.S. In 2019, U.S. prosecutors…
Exiled Iranian journalist Pouria Zeraati stabbed in London
Washington, D.C., April 2, 2024— The Committee to Protect Journalists on Tuesday called for UK authorities to investigate the stabbing of an exiled Iranian television journalist in London and whether it could signal a new wave of cross-border repression by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Pouria Zeraati, 36, a presenter for Iran International, was outside…
CPJ welcomes UK High Court’s delay on Assange extradition, calls on US to drop charges
Washington, D.C., March 26, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the British High Court’s Tuesday ruling, which could allow Wikileaks founder Julian Assange to contest his extradition to the United States. According to the court’s decision, the U.S. government has three weeks to give assurances that Assange will be able to rely on First Amendment…
CPJ, media leaders demand UK police act on online abuse of women journalists
The Committee to Protect Journalists and more than 100 journalists and media leaders sent an open letter to senior British police officers and lawmakers on Friday, International Women’s Day, calling on them to break the cycle of online violence and abuse against women working in journalism, which risks sidelining them from the profession, and to…
Why extradition of WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange to US would be cataclysmic for press freedom
The Australian founder of the website WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, has been fighting extradition to the U.S. from the U.K. since 2019 on charges that could strike a blow to press freedom globally. Here is CPJ’s briefing on the legal battle to extradite Assange, the charges he would face in the U.S., and why his prosecution…
CPJ, others renew support for journalists in UK surveillance investigation
Berlin, February 28, 2024—As a court hearing opened on Wednesday into complaints that two British journalists were targeted by UK authorities with covert surveillance, the Committee to Protect Journalists, together with four other press freedom groups, renewed their support for the investigation. The investigation stems from complaints filed by investigative journalists Trevor Birney and Barry…
CPJ warns Assange extradition would be blow to press freedom
Washington, D.C., February 20, 2024—As the two-day hearing of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange’s appeal against extradition from Britain to the United States opened in London on Tuesday, the Committee to Protect Journalists warned that extraditing Assange would set a dangerous precedent for media freedom. “Assange’s lengthy legal battle could come to an end if the…
CPJ joins letter calling on British PM to protect journalists in the Israel-Gaza war
The Committee to Protect Journalists on Thursday joined eight other prominent press freedom organizations in sending a letter to British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak urging him to call for press freedom and journalists’ rights to be respected during the Israel-Gaza war. According to CPJ data, more journalists were killed in the first 10 weeks of…
‘Network abuse’: Attacks on 3 media sites involved services of US, UK firms
Cyberattackers used services of technology companies based in the U.S. and U.K. to target media sites from Somalia, Kosovo, and Turkmenistan, Qurium, a nonprofit hosting the sites, said Tuesday. Earlier this month, CPJ reported on how cyberattackers used a Nebraska company, RayoByte, in attempts to knock those same media sites offline, as well as at…