Azimjon Askarov
#FreeThePress Azimjon Askarov Tweet: In #Kyrgyzstan, journalist Azimjon Askarov was sentenced to life in prison simply for doing his job–he should be freed immediately #freethepress Seven years after sentencing Azimjon Askarov to life in prison, Kyrgyzstan continues to resist international calls for his immediate release. After the U.N. Human Rights Committee called on Kyrgyzstan to…
Alaa Abdelfattah
#FreeThePress Alaa Abdelfattah The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomed the news on March 29, 2019, that Alaa Abdelfattah was released after serving his full five-year sentence. Despite walking out of jail, he is not entirely free. For five more years, the blogger will have to report to a police station daily at 6 p.m. It…
Landmine kills Syrian photographer in northwestern Syria
Beirut, March 20, 2018–Kamel abu al-Walid, a photographer for the Turkish-backed pro-opposition Jarabulus Media Office, died from injuries sustained in a March 19 landmine explosion in the northern Syrian city of Afrin, according to his employer, the Syrian Journalist Association, and the Syrian Network for Human Rights.
South Sudan suspends broadcast of UN-backed radio station
New York, March 9, 2018–South Sudanese authorities should allow the UN-backed station Radio Miraya to continue broadcasting, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The South Sudanese Media Regulatory Authority ordered Radio Miraya to suspend operations because the station had not acquired a broadcasting license, according to a copy of the suspension notice seen by…
Dangers from inside the newsroom
By Christiane Amanpour/chief international correspondent for CNN and CPJ senior advisor In November, I stood before top news media executives in the United States and called on them to stamp out sexual harassment in their organizations. “The floodgates are open,” I told the audience at the annual International Press Freedom Awards gala of the Committee…
Why release of two journalists in Ethiopia does not signal end to press crackdown
On January 10, radio journalists Darsema Sori and Khalid Mohammed were released from prison after serving lengthy sentences related to their work at the Ethiopian faith-based station Radio Bilal. Despite their release and Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn’s promise earlier this month to free political prisoners, Ethiopia’s use of imprisonment, harassment, and surveillance means that the…
Two Nigerian journalists assaulted after denied access to Buhari appearance in Kaduna
Nigerian police on January 4, 2018, denied at least 10 journalists access to the public commissioning of a dry port in Nigeria’s northwestern Kaduna state, and then assaulted at least two of the reporters, according to accounts form the two reporters, Enemaku Ojochigbe and Taye Adeni, and the Daily Trust newspaper.
Wife of critical Chinese-American journalist disappears in China
Washington, D.C., January 18, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned about the disappearance of the wife of a critical American-Chinese journalist and today called on police in China to disclose whether they have her in custody. Chen Xiaoping told CPJ that his wife, Li Huaiping, disappeared on September 18 after he carried out a…
Tanzania slaps fines on 5 TV stations after they report on alleged human rights abuses
Nairobi, January 12, 2018–Tanzanian authorities should immediately annul fines levied against five television stations that the country’s regulatory commission accused of broadcasting seditious and unbalanced content, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.