Exiled Azerbaijani blogger Mahammad Mirzali stabbed at least 16 times in knife attack in France
New York, March 16, 2021 – French authorities should thoroughly investigate the brutal knife attack on exiled Azerbaijani video blogger Mahammad Mirzali, find the perpetrators, and ensure that they are held to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On March 14, Mirzali, who runs the Made in Azerbaijan YouTube video blog, was walking in downtown Nantes, the city in…
Guinea-Bissau editor António Aly Silva abducted and beaten
Lisbon, March 16, 2021 — Authorities in Guinea-Bissau should thoroughly investigate the attack on journalist António Aly Silva and ensure those responsible are held to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. At about 2 p.m. on March 9, in Bissau, the capital, four men in plain clothes abducted Silva at gunpoint, drove him…
CPJ condemns Colombian government’s move to leave Inter-American Court hearing on Jineth Bedoya case
New York, March 16, 2021 — The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on the Colombian government to return to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights hearing on the case of Colombian journalist Jineth Bedoya and to uphold its obligations to ensure justice in cases of violence to journalists. Colombian representatives withdrew in protest yesterday…
World leaders should regulate spyware, halt surveillance of journalists
CPJ campaign documents ties between spying and other press freedom violations New York, March 15, 2020 – In light of dozens of incidents in which journalists and those close to them have been targeted with spyware, the Committee to Protect Journalists today launched a campaign calling on governments to stop the use of spyware and…
Spyware and Press Freedom
Read CPJ’s 2022 special report: When spyware turns phones into weapons Research by CPJ and other organizations shows sophisticated spyware products marketed to governments to fight crime have been used to target the press. Secret surveillance of journalists and their sources poses a severe threat to press freedom globally. That’s why we are calling for…
‘Spaghetti against the wall’: how flimsy evidence sent 2 Iraqi Kurdish journalists to jail for 6 years
The case against Iraqi Kurdish journalists Sherwan Amin Sherwani and Guhdar Zebari was built on flimsy and circumstantial evidence, five observers of the journalists’ Erbil trial last month told CPJ. Their six-year prison sentences on anti-state charges represent a new low for press freedom in Iraqi Kurdistan. According to rights groups representatives, journalists, and an Iraqi Kurdish…
Election disinformation happens all over the world. These journalists are combating it.
With multiple federal investigations underway into the January 6 Capitol riot, concerns still abound about the spread of disinformation around the U.S. election. But the U.S. is not alone in confronting the phenomenon. Disinformation is happening all over the world – especially during high stakes events like national votes. “It’s language agnostic, it’s region agnostic,…
Iowa journalist Andrea Sahouri acquitted on misdemeanor charges from 2020 protest coverage
New York, March 10, 2021 — In response to today’s acquittal of Des Moines Register reporter Andrea Sahouri by a court in Polk County, Iowa, on two misdemeanor charges stemming from her coverage of protests last year, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement: “The acquittal of journalist Andrea Sahouri in Iowa today…
New York Times journalist Nicole Perlroth on the secret trade in tools used to hack the press
The last time New York Times cybersecurity journalist Nicole Perlroth spoke with Emirati activist Ahmed Mansoor in 2016, his passport had been taken and he had recently been beaten almost to the point of death. “We learned later on that our phone conversation had been tapped, that someone was in his baby monitor, that his…
Chinese police repeatedly harass journalist Lu Yuyu since his release from prison
Taipei, March 9, 2021—Chinese authorities must stop harassing formerly imprisoned journalist Lu Yuyu, founder of Not News, and allow him to live where he wishes and travel freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Chinese national security officers in Guangzhou city broke into Lu’s apartment today and forced him to leave the city, Lu…