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…
CPJ, 47 rights organizations call on Ethiopia to end internet shutdowns
The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 47 human rights organizations in an April 27 letter calling on Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to ensure unfettered internet and digital communications access. The letter expressed alarm at the weaponization of internet shutdowns in the country, highlighting several recent disruptions, including on April 3 when authorities blocked access…
Mahoney: UN can help journalists beyond World Press Freedom Day
New York, May 1, 2023–Evan Gershkovich and Jimmy Lai are about to spend World Press Freedom Day behind bars. Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal Moscow correspondent, and Lai, a pro-democracy Hong Kong media magnate, are among record numbers of journalists in prison as the United Nations marks the 30th anniversary of its special day for…
CPJ joins call for Turkey’s internet authority to protect end-to-end encrypted services
The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 26 human rights, press freedom, and internet freedom organizations in urging Turkey’s internet regulator Communication Technologies Authority (BTK), to protect end-to-end encrypted services in light of recent legislation. In October 2022, Turkey’s parliament passed a 40-article bill that included amendments providing more detail about the existing obligations of social…
‘I am dying every day:’ Wife of killed Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif calls for justice
Justice remains elusive six months after the killing of prominent Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif in Kenya on October 23, 2022. Kenyan authorities claimed Sharif was shot dead by Kenyan police in an incident that shocked Pakistan’s media community and raised questions about whether his death was connected to his work. “This was a targeted killing,”…
CPJ joins statement calling for Turkey’s media watchdog to stop punishing broadcasters over critical reporting
The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 20 other press freedom, freedom of expression, and human rights organizations as signatories of a joint statement urging the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK), Turkey’s media regulator, to end its punishments of broadcasters for critical reporting. The statement said RTÜK recently fined broadcasters FOX TV Turkey, Halk…
CPJ joins call for Armenia to amend draft law allowing comprehensive wartime censorship
On Tuesday, April 11, the Committee to Protect Journalists joined an open letter by the KeepItOn coalition of press freedom and human rights groups calling on the Armenian government to remove clauses in proposed legislation that would allow authorities to restrict access to websites and the internet during times of war. Provisions in the draft…
‘Living in fear’: Exiled Afghan journalists face arrest, hunger in Pakistan
Stuck with no income for more than a year after fleeing Afghanistan for Pakistan, Samiullah Jahesh was ready to sell his kidney to put food on the table for his family. “I had no other option, I had no money or food at home,” Jahesh, a former journalist with Afghanistan’s independent Ariana News TV channel,…
Covering the West Bank: Security insights and tips for journalists
As the Jerusalem correspondent for the Guardian newspaper, Bethan McKernan has spent much of the last year covering the escalating cycle of violence in in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. It feels, she says, like “a slow-motion opening salvo of a new war.” According to the U.S.-based non-profit Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project…
CPJ submits evidence on Hong Kong media freedom to UK parliamentary group
Hong Kong has seen a dramatic decline in media freedom since Beijing implemented a national security law on June 30, 2020, with a significant impact on the city’s freedom of expression and media pluralism, which saw journalists arrested, jailed, and threatened, according to evidence CPJ submitted earlier this month to the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG)…