Tipping the scales: Journalists’ lawyers face retaliation around the globe
The smears began the day Christian Ulate began representing jailed Guatemalan journalist José Rubén Zamora: tweets accusing the lawyer of being a leftist or questioning his legal credentials. He began to fear he was being surveilled. Ulate had taken over the case in August 2022 from two other lawyers, Romeo Montoya García and Mario Castañeda,…
Cyberattackers used US company RayoByte in efforts to crash media sites
The cyberattack against the Somali Journalists Syndicate could not have come at a worse time. A distributed denial-of-service attack, known by its acronym DDoS, flooded the local press freedom group’s website with traffic in early August and knocked it offline. Days later, authorities arrested SJS staff member and Kaab TV editor Mohamed Ibrahim Osman Bulbul…
CPJ calls for protection of journalists in Bangladesh ahead of UN human rights review
Bangladesh authorities are increasingly attempting to silence the media through arbitrary detention, legal harassment, and censorship, according to a joint submission to the United Nations by the Committee to Protect Journalists, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, and Asian Legal Resource Centre. The submission, sent for the 44th session of the Universal Periodic Review Working Group…
Two years into Taliban rule, media repression worsens in Afghanistan
When the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan in 2021, they promised to protect press freedom and women’s rights – a key facet of their efforts to paint a picture of moderation compared to their oppressive rule in the late 1990s. “We are committed to the media within our cultural frameworks. Private media can continue to…
CPJ’s support to exiled journalists jumped 227% in 3 years, reflecting global press freedom crisis
Keep closely connected to your homeland and don’t despair: that is advice Syrian journalist Okba Mohammad said he would offer to Afghan journalists who fled after the August 2021 Taliban takeover. Mohammad knows firsthand the challenges of exile. In 2019, he made a new life in Spain after fleeing the Syrian civil war with CPJ’s…
Mahoney: The lingering legacy of China’s COVID-19 censorship
One time she drew flowers on a letter to her ailing mother from her Chinese prison cell. Another time it was pictures of penguins. The drawings were a good sign. Zhang Zhan, the journalist jailed for her COVID-19 reporting from Wuhan, is maybe doing better. The 39-year-old Shanghai lawyer-turned social media reporter was one of…
In Marcos Jr.’s Philippines, milder tone belies harsh media reality
At a waterfront courthouse in Tacloban City, a long-time hotbed of communist insurgency in the Philippines’ Eastern Visayas island region, heavily armed guards were escorting jailed journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio to trial. The picturesque setting belied the harsh reality of the April 17 hearing. Cumpio could be put behind bars for life if found guilty…
CPJ joins call for Bangladesh authorities to end crackdown against journalists and online critics
On World Press Freedom Day, Wednesday, May 3, the Committee to Protect Journalists joined five civil society organizations in a statement calling on the Bangladesh government to end the harassment of journalists and protect media freedom ahead of the national elections scheduled for January 2024. The statement calls on the Bangladesh government to immediately suspend…
CPJ joins call for Indian government to withdraw latest amendment to Information Technology Rules
Ahead of World Press Freedom Day on Wednesday, May 3, the Committee to Protect Journalists joined 16 press freedom and human rights organizations in a Tuesday statement calling on the Indian government to review and withdraw the overbroad provisions of the Information Technology Rules, 2021, and to withdraw the latest amendment to the rules, announced…
CPJ, 14 organizations call on Kenyan authorities to expedite investigations into killing of journalist Arshad Sharif
CPJ and 14 human rights organizations and press associations issued a joint statement on Tuesday, May 2, calling on Kenyan authorities to expedite investigations into the killing of Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif and to ensure accountability in a transparent judicial process. In October 2022, Kenyan police said an officer fatally shot Sharif in Kajiado County…