Baku 2015: Press freedom, Azerbaijan, and the European Games
Tomorrow 50 countries are due to take part in the opening ceremony of the inaugural European Games in Baku, but Azerbaijan’s most prominent journalist, Khadija Ismayilova, will not be at the celebrations. The award-winning investigative reporter has been in jail since December on retaliatory charges over her writing on corruption.
Jailed Vietnamese blogger Ta Phong Tan on hunger strike over mistreatment
Incarcerated blogger Ta Phong Tan has been on hunger strike since May 13 to protest the mistreatment of political prisoners at the prison where she is being held in Vietnam’s central Thanh Hoa province, according to news reports. It is believed to be the third time Tan has fasted in protest at poor prison conditions…
In Indonesia, promising steps on Papua access but more work needed
Last month Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo, known as Jokowi, announced his intention to allow international journalists access to restive regions including Papua and West Papua–an issue the Committee to Protect Journalists has long advocated for.
In Venezuela, online news helps journalists get their voices back
When Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez was rumored to be gravely ill four years ago, his socialist government was tightlipped about the diagnosis. Then in June 2011 a source in Havana, Cuba, where Chávez was being treated, told Nelson Bocaranda, a veteran columnist for the Caracas daily El Universal, that the president had cancer.
Status update: Facebook users now have access to PGP encryption
Today Facebook announced on its blog a new set of features adding support for the PGP email encryption system. The changes allow users to post their public email encryption key to their Facebook profile, inviting others to encrypt future emails. In a move that significantly bolsters security, it is also now possible to request that…
Chinese cartoonist Rebel Pepper struggles to survive in self-imposed exile
When calls for Wang Liming to be arrested were made on a forum hosted by China’s state-controlled press last year, the satirical cartoonist who lampooned the Communist Party leadership decided it would be safer to stay in Japan, where he had been traveling. But while he may have avoided possible arrest, the cartoonist, known as…
Angola turns tables on Marques de Morais, reinstates criminal defamation charges
Angolan journalist Rafael Marques de Morais is once again facing the threat of prison after the public prosecutor reinstated charges of criminal defamation on Monday. Seven Angolan generals have been pursuing criminal defamation charges against the investigative journalist over the publication of his 2011 book Blood Diamonds: Torture and Corruption in Angola, in which he…
With limited independent press, Ethiopians left voting in the dark
On Sunday Ethiopians go to the polls in the country’s fifth general election since the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front came to power more than 20 years ago. Citizens are expected to choose the right party to lead them for the next five years. To do so, they need to have a clear understanding…