Tamil journalist will not be forced back to Sri Lanka
A short note to follow up on an alert we posted Wednesday on the threatened deportation of Lohini Rathimohan (also spelled Lokini), a former television journalist and one of 19 Tamil refugees facing deportation from the United Arab Emirates. Earlier reports said the refugees, who reached Dubai illegally, could be deported this week.
Tax story shows investigative reporting alive in Pakistan
Umar Cheema, a CPJ International Press Freedom Award winner in 2011, was a strong runner-up for this year’s Osborn Elliott Prize for Excellence in Journalism on Asia, awarded for the last 10 years by the Asia Society in New York. Umar’s report, Representation Without Taxation, analyzed the tax returns of Pakistani members of parliament for…
Access restored, but ban on Fergahana News remains
On Wednesday, more than a year after being blocked in Kyrgyzstan by government order, Ferghana News was again accessible to the public without the aid of proxy servers. Most local Internet providers, including the state-owned Kyrgyz Telecom, restored access to the website, Daniil Kislov, Ferghana’s editor, told CPJ.
In Bangladesh, climate worsens for journalists
This past weekend, hundreds of thousands of Islamists took to the streets in Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka, demanding death for bloggers whose work they see as blasphemous. The demonstrations highlight the deteriorating climate for journalists, both those whose work is the target of the protests and those who have tried to cover the events. Several journalists…
Beketov’s untimely death, and Putin’s unfulfilled promise
Mikhail Beketov’s recovery, in photos by CPJ and news agencies. Mikhail Beketov, the former crusading editor of the independent newspaper Khimkinskaya Pravda in the Moscow suburb, Khimki, died this afternoon at a Moscow hospital. A choking episode during lunch led to heart failure, Elena Kostyuchenko, Beketov’s friend and a reporter for the newspaper Novaya Gazeta,…
Turkey peace talks positive; press freedom still in peril
Today, hope for peace between the government of Turkey and Kurdish rebels is closer than ever to becoming reality. A resolution to the conflict, after more than 30 years, could have ramifications for Turkey’s standing as the world’s worst jailer of journalists. According to CPJ research, three-quarters of the journalists imprisoned in Turkey are from…
UN panel: Eskinder Nega jailing violates international law
Authorities in Ethiopia describe Eskinder Nega, a prominent columnist and government critic jailed since September 2011 on vague terrorism charges, as a dangerous individual bent on violent revolution. However, in an opinion handed down in 2012–publicized only this week by Washington, D.C.-based legal advocacy group Freedom Now–a United Nations panel of five independent experts ruled…
Attacks on Knight Center sites reflect digital dangers
The two websites at the University of Texas at Austin, at first blush, seemed to have been unlikely targets for attack. The Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas and its blog cover news about journalism, press freedom and journalist safety throughout the Western hemisphere, with an emphasis on trends in Latin America. The website…
Zeng Li: A rueful look at how censorship works in China
Three days into his retirement, Zeng Li (曾礼) died yesterday at age 61, apparently of intestinal bleeding. Surprisingly, his March 28 farewell letter has spread across China’s social media sites and blogs. The letter is an apology, an explanation of sorts, and an admission of regret regarding the latter part of his career. Zeng served…