Radio journalist Renante ‘Rey’ Cortes shot and killed in the Philippines
Bangkok, July 23, 2021 – Philippine authorities should conduct a swift and thorough investigation into the killing of radio journalist Renante “Rey” Cortes and bring those responsible to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. At about 9 a.m. yesterday, unidentified assailants riding a motorcycle shot and killed Cortes while he was standing outside…
CPJ joins statement calling on Kyrgyz authorities to investigate death of journalist Azimjon Askarov
The Committee to Protect Journalists today joined four other human rights and free expression organizations in a joint statement calling on Kyrgyzstan authorities to conduct an independent investigation into the death in prison of journalist Azimjon Askarov. The statement notes that authorities have failed to thoroughly and credibly investigate the circumstances of Askarov’s July 25,…
Belarus authorities sue to shut down independent journalist organization
Stockholm, July 22, 2021 – Belarus authorities should immediately drop all proceedings against the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) and allow members of the press and their trade organizations to operate freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Yesterday, the Justice Ministry of Belarus applied to the country’s Supreme Court to dissolve BAJ, the…
Azerbaijani journalist Sevinj Vagifgizi was ‘astonished’ to learn of Pegasus spyware on phone
Azerbaijani authorities have long had a firm grip on the media by imprisoning, harassing, and persecuting journalists both at home and abroad as well as blocking their websites. Now authorities are alleged to have used a new tool in their quest to muzzle independent reporting: spyware. Several Azerbaijani journalists have been named in the collaborative…
Investigative reporter Bradley Hope: Pegasus spyware revelations a ‘wake-up call for journalists’
Bradley Hope was in Abu Dhabi in 2009, the year the BlackBerry devices overheated. “If you put it next to your face it would almost burn,” he told CPJ in a phone interview. The BBC that year reported that a UAE telecom company had prompted local BlackBerry owners to install a rogue surveillance update disguised…
Hong Kong police arrest former Apple Daily executive editor Lam Man-chung
Taipei, July 21, 2021 – Hong Kong authorities should immediately release Lam Man-chung and all other former employees of the shuttered pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. At about 6 a.m. today, police arrested Lam, the newspaper’s former executive editor-in-chief, at his home in Sai Kung Town on suspicion of…
Police fire tear gas, rubber bullets into crowd of journalists in Istanbul
Istanbul, July 21, 2021 – Turkish authorities must ensure that journalists can cover political events without being harassed or attacked by police, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Yesterday, police in Istanbul’s Kadıköy district disrupted a political march commemorating the victims of the 2015 Suruç bombing and shoved, hit, and fired tear gas and…
‘Fear and anxiety’ rules among local journalists, Hong Kong Journalists Association finds
The Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) found that authorities use the national security law to silence journalists, systematically limit the media’s ability to access to public databases, and force public and private broadcasters to minimize their political content and, in the case of at least one public broadcaster, spread government propaganda in its annual report,…
‘Obviously very chilling’: Peter R. de Vries killing shows the danger of Dutch crime reporting
The brutal slaying of crime reporter Peter R. de Vries has shocked the Netherlands. Although still one of the least violent countries for journalists in the world, reporters, parliament, and local press freedom groups warn that threats, intimidation, and violence against outlets and individual journalists reporting on organized crime are on the rise. More than 80 percent of Dutch journalists experienced…
Russian authorities ban investigative outlet Proekt as ‘undesirable,’ classify staff as foreign agents
Stockholm, July 20, 2021 – Russian authorities should allow the independent investigative news outlet Proekt and its staff to operate freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On July 15, the Office of the Prosecutor-General of Russia classified the outlet’s parent company as “undesirable,” thereby banning its operations in the country, and the Justice…