Gunmen abduct at least seven from Yemen media foundation
New York, March 26, 2018 -Yemeni authorities should investigate an attack on a media foundation’s offices and the abduction of at least seven people from the building, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Armed attackers on March 23 broke into the media foundation’s Aden offices, where the daily Akhbar al-youm and the weekly al-Shomou…
Mexican reporter killed in Veracruz state
Chihuahua City, March 23, 2018–Authorities in Mexico’s Veracruz state must undertake a credible and exhaustive investigation into the murder of journalist Leobardo Vázquez Atzin, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Vázquez was shot to death the evening of March 21 by unknown assailants in the restaurant he owned in the town of Gutiérrez Zamora,…
Quebec court orders Radio-Canada reporter to reveal her sources
New York, March 23, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned a Quebec Superior Court ruling that ordered a journalist to reveal her sources. The court ruled yesterday that Marie-Maude Denis, an investigative journalist for the French-language public broadcaster Radio-Canada, must reveal her sources in an ongoing court case in which two politicians from the ruling…
In DRC at least six journalists detained during anti-government protests
Congolese security forces on November 30, 2017, detained at least six local journalists and confiscated their equipment as they tried to cover countrywide protests over President Joseph Kabila’s refusal to stand down when his second five-year term in office expired in 2016 and his refusal to hold elections, according to a local press freedom group…
CPJ calls on European Council and European Commission to raise press freedom with Turkey
CPJ calls on the presidents of the European Council and European Commission to request the release of Turkish journalists as a matter of priority during a scheduled meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in Varna, Bulgari.
DRC authorities cut access to internet and SMS ahead of protests
On December 30, 2017, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Telecommunications Minister, Emery Okundji, ordered the country’s telecommunications providers to shut internet and SMS services across the country, according to a media report and the local press freedom group L’Observatoire de la liberté de la Presse en Afrique, (the Observatory of Press Freedom in Africa or…
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.
Censorship, surveillance, and harassment: China cracks down on critics
Hours after the Chinese Communist Party proposed a constitutional change last month to lift presidential term limits, any words or phrases that remotely suggested President Xi Jingping was seeking a life term were blocked from social media. Censors targeted everything from “Emperor Xi,” “The Emperor’s Dream,” and “Dream of Returning to the Great Qing,” to…
CPJ expresses concerns with the U.S. CLOUD Act
New York, March 20, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today expressed its concerns with the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data (CLOUD) Act and its potential to expose journalists to targeting by foreign governments. The CLOUD Act would make it easier for some foreign governments to obtain data from U.S. technology companies and allow U.S.…
DRC security forces harass journalists covering Kabila protests
Security forces in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on December 31, 2017, harassed at least three journalists who were reporting on protests in the capital, Kinshasa, over President Joseph Kabila’s refusal to stand down when his second five-year term in office expired in 2016 and his refusal to hold elections, according to local journalists…