2021

New York, January 19, 2021 – Egyptian authorities should immediately release journalists Hamdi al-Zaeem and Ahmed Khalifa and drop all charges against them, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On January 4, authorities arrested al-Zaeem, a freelance photojournalist and documentary film producer, after raiding his home in Cairo, according to news reports and the…

New York, January 19, 2021– Russian authorities should immediately release journalist Dmitry Timoshenko, drop all charges against him, and stop using the country’s court system to harass members of the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Police in the eastern city of Khabarovsk have detained Timoshenko, a correspondent for the independent regional newspaper…

Washington, D.C., January 19, 2021 — Iranian journalist Mohamed Mosaed has requested asylum in Turkey, his lawyer Canan Pehlivan told the Committee Protect Journalist today. CPJ is calling on Turkish authorities to conduct an expedited review of his request, as Mosaed faces imprisonment in Iran in reprisal for his journalism. Pehlivan told CPJ that Mosaed…

Berlin, January 19, 2021 — Portuguese authorities must thoroughly investigate alleged police surveillance of journalists, and ensure that members of the press are not targeted in government leak investigations, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. From April to June 2018, as part of a bribery investigation into executives of a local soccer team, the…

Istanbul, January 15, 2021 – Turkish authorities should conduct a swift and thorough investigation into the assault of journalist Orhan Uğuroğlu and bring the perpetrators to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Earlier today, in Ankara, the capital, three unidentified men attacked Uğuroğlu, the Ankara correspondent for the nationalist daily Yeniçağ, while he…

Nairobi, January 14, 2021 – Ugandan authorities should immediately cease all efforts to disrupt internet access in the country and allow the press to cover the country’s elections freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Yesterday, the Uganda Communications Commission, the country’s broadcasting and telecommunication regulator, ordered telecommunications providers to suspend internet services in…

Istanbul, January 14, 2021 – Turkish authorities must release journalist Pınar Gayıp immediately and return all items confiscated in a recent raid on the Etkin News Agency, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Last night, police raided the Istanbul office of the Etkin News Agency, a news outlet supportive of the Socialist Party of…

New York, January 14, 2021 – Russian authorities should repeal the country’s foreign agents law to ensure that local and foreign news outlets can work freely, and in the meantime refrain from fining media organizations over alleged violations of the law, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On January 12, Roskomnadzor, the country’s media…

Rio de Janeiro, January 13, 2021 — Brazilian authorities must swiftly and thoroughly investigate threats to Repórter Brasil, and hold the perpetrators to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. From January 6 to 12, unidentified internet users orchestrated a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on the website of Repórter Brasil, an investigative reporting and…

Bogotá, January 11, 2021 – Venezuelan authorities should return all equipment confiscated from VPITV and allow it to work freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On January 8, authorities raided the Caracas offices of VPITV, an independent online broadcaster, where they confiscated cameras, computers, transmission equipment, and documents, and ordered the station to…