Turkish journalist Sinan Aygül sentenced to jail over sexual assault reporting
Istanbul, June 14, 2021 – Turkish authorities should not imprison journalist Sinan Aygül, and the country’s Constitutional Court should accept his case, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On April 29, the First Penal Chamber of the Van Regional Court of Justice, an appeals court in eastern Turkey, upheld Aygül’s 2019 conviction on charges…
Aye Chan Naing, Myanmar
CPJ is honored to present its 2021 International Press Freedom Award to Myanmar journalist Aye Chan Naing. Aye Chan Naing is co-founder, chief editor, and executive director of the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), an independent broadcast media group in Myanmar. He was key to DVB’s establishment in Oslo, Norway, in 1992 on shortwave radio…
Matías Guente, Mozambique
CPJ presented its 2021 International Press Freedom Award to Mozambican journalist Matías Guente. Guente is the executive editor of Canal de Moçambique, an independent weekly investigative newspaper, and its daily digital publication CanalMoz. In August 2020, unidentified individuals broke into the newspaper’s office, poured gasoline on the furniture and equipment, and set it ablaze. The fire destroyed…
Anastasia Mejía, Guatemala
CPJ presented its 2021 International Press Freedom Award to Guatemalan journalist Anastasia Mejía. Mejía is a radio journalist based in Joyabaj, a town in the central Guatemalan department of Quiché. In 2013, she co-founded Xolabaj Radio, a community outlet that covers local issues in Quiché. After the other co-founders left the outlet, she became its sole…
Jimmy Lai
CPJ presented its 2021 Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award, for extraordinary and sustained achievement in the cause of press freedom, to Hong Kong media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai. Lai has become a powerful symbol of the struggle to maintain press freedom in Hong Kong as China’s Communist Party exerts ever greater control over the territory. In…
Katsiaryna Barysevich, Belarus
CPJ is honored to present its 2021 International Press Freedom Award to Belarusian journalist Katsiaryna Barysevich. As a staff correspondent for Tut.by, the largest independent news website in Belarus, Barysevich covered court and legal proceedings and social issues. When she began working at the outlet in early 2017, she had a column called “What if they…
CPJ welcomes 2nd conviction in case of slain Mexican journalist Javier Valdez Cárdenas
Mexico City, June 9, 2021 – In response to yesterday’s conviction of Juan Francisco Picos Barrueta, known as “El Quillo,” for his role in the murder of Mexican journalist Javier Valdez Cárdenas, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement: “The conviction of Juan Francisco Picos Barrueta is an important step toward ending impunity…
Southern Transitional Council forces raid Yemeni government-affiliated media outlets
New York, June 9, 2021 – Yemen’s breakaway Southern Transitional Council must end its raids of Yemeni government-aligned media outlets in the southern city of Aden and allow all journalists to operate freely in territories under its control, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On June 2, forces aligned with the Southern Transitional Council…