Belarusian journalist detained for 2 months, charged over reporting
Paris, May 19, 2022 — Belarus authorities should immediately release and drop all charges against journalist Dzmitry Luksha and let the press report freely on the war in Ukraine, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. On March 11, law enforcement searched the home of Luksha, a freelance journalist with the Kazakh state-funded television station…
Guatemalan official files criminal suit against 3 journalists under violence against women law
Guatemala City, May 18, 2022 — Guatemalan authorities should drop all charges against three journalists from the independent newspaper elPeriódico and stop using laws intended to protect women from violence to target and intimidate reporters, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. On May 13, Judge Anaelsee Ramírez formally notified elPeriódico publisher José Rubén Zamora,…
Proposed Russian legislation threatens to shut down all independent media
Paris, May 18, 2022 – The Russian State Duma should withdraw a draft law that would facilitate the arbitrary shutdown of media outlets and increase the number of journalists prosecuted for sharing information, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. The State Duma, the lower house of Russia’s legislature, is set to consider legislation that…
Mekong News Agency journalist Maung Maung Myo jailed on terrorism charges in Myanmar
Bangkok, May 18, 2022 – Myanmar authorities should immediately and unconditionally release journalist Maung Maung Myo and stop jailing members of the press for reporting the news, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. Around 6 p.m. on May 10, Maung Myo, a contributor to the local Mekong News Agency, was traveling by train to report…
Journalists stabbed, assaulted in Bangladesh
New York, May 18, 2022– Bangladesh authorities must conduct a swift and transparent investigation into two separate attacks on journalist Md Rashid Chowdhury and bystander Jashim Uddin, and on journalists Azim Nihad, Rahul Mahajan, and Lokman Halim, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. On the evening of Friday, May 13, a group of teenagers…
Two Congolese journalists detained for 5 months after covering a protest
Kinshasa, May 17, 2022 – Authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo must ensure the immediate release of journalists Patrick Lola and Christian Bofaya, who have been arbitrarily detained without charge for five months in the central prison of Mbandaka, the provincial capital of Equateur, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. On January…
Hezbollah supporters beat Lebanese video journalist covering elections
Beirut, May 17, 2022 – Lebanese authorities must conduct a transparent investigation into the assault of video journalist Hussein Bassal by Hezbollah supporters while he was covering Sunday’s elections and allow all journalists to work freely without any fear of reprisal, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. On Sunday, May 15, Bassal, who works…
Iran detains female photojournalist, four female documentary filmmakers
Washington, D.C., May 16, 2022 — Iranian authorities must stop imprisoning and harassing female journalists and should allow all members of the press to cover the news freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. Since May, Iranian authorities have arrested at least one female photojournalist and four female documentary filmmakers, according to news reports and two…
Journalist Iryna Danylovych charged, detained by Russian authorities in Crimea
Paris, May 16, 2022 — Russian authorities in Ukraine’s Crimea must drop all charges against journalist Iryna Danylovych, release her immediately, and cease prosecuting journalists for their reporting, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. On May 11, Danylovych, a Crimea-based journalist who went missing on April 29, was found by her lawyer in a…
Mexican journalists Yessenia Mollinedo and Johana García shot dead in Veracruz
Mexico City, May 13, 2022 – Mexican authorities should immediately, credibly, and transparently investigate the killings of journalists Yessenia Mollinedo Falconi and Sheila Johana García Olivera, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. The journalists were getting into their car in the parking lot of a convenience store in Cosoleacaque, a town in the eastern…