Kyrgyz journalist charged, put under travel ban following investigative report
New York, February 13, 2018–Kyrgyz authorities should immediately drop all charges against freelance journalist Elnura Alkanova, lift her travel ban, and allow her to report without fear of reprisal, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Bangladesh’s press say they are losing the courage to report amid threats from all sides
Nazmul Huda pointed his TV camera at garment workers demonstrating for higher wages in Savar, on the outskirts of Dhaka, and at the police firing tear gas and rubber bullets at them. It took a while for police to notice the ETV reporter, and they were furious. After all, they had ordered him to leave…
Threats, arrests, and access denied as Myanmar backtracks on press freedom
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Esther Htusan is no longer safe to report from her home country, Myanmar. The Associated Press reporter fled the country late last year after being threatened for her critical reporting on various topics that authorities deem sensitive, from the ethnic Rohingya refugee exodus, the military’s controversial counterinsurgency operations in Rakhine State, to…
One Dangerous Year: Threats to journalism, from lawsuits to burnout
The Columbia Journalism Review and the Committee to Protect Journalists invite you to a special event marking the publication of CJR’s winter issue, which is devoted entirely to threats against journalists around the world. These are challenging, even dangerous times, to be a reporter. The president of the United States has targeted us, autocrats around…
Airstrike injures Syrian media activist in northwestern Syria
Walid al-Rashed, a media activist for the Syrian pro-opposition Ma’arra Media Center, was seriously injured during an airstrike on February 7, 2018, in the northwestern Syrian city of Ma’arra al-Numan, 21 miles south of Idlib, according to news reports, the Syrian Journalists Association, and his employer.
Somali journalist arrested, held without charge
Nairobi, February 09, 2018–Somali authorities should immediately release Sabir Abdulkadir Warsame, a broadcast journalist with the privately owned Somali Cable TV, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Sabir was arrested by regional security forces in the semi-autonomous state of Jubbaland on February 8 and has been held without charge in the state capital of…
Ukrainian law enforcement raid Vesti offices in Kiev
Kiev, February 9, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a Ukrainian law enforcement raid at the Kiev offices of Media Holding Vesti, which includes Radio Vesti, the daily newspaper Vesti, and the news website Vesti-ukr. More than a dozen masked officers ripped open doors with crowbars, seized property, and fired tear gas in the offices…
Ethiopia’s Eskinder Nega refuses to sign false confession in exchange for prison release
New York, February 9, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the Ethiopian government’s attempts today to compel Ethiopian journalist and blogger Eskinder Nega to sign a false confession before releasing him under a presidential pardon. Eskinder, who has spent almost seven years in jail for his work, was one of 746 prisoners due to be…
Mexican blogger and satirist killed in Guerrero state
Mexico City, February 8, 2018–Authorities in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero must undertake an exhaustive investigation into the murder of Pamika Montenegro, a journalist, satirist and social media commentator, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Two unidentified assailants on February 5 shot Montenegro dead in the restaurant she owned in the beachside resort…
Saudi journalist jailed for five years for insulting royal court
New York, February 8, 2018–A specialized criminal court in Saudi Arabia sentenced al-Watan columnist Saleh al-Shehi to five years in prison for “insulting the royal court,” and imposed a five-year travel ban that will go into effect on his release, according to a report published today in the privately-owned Saudi newspaper Okaz. Saudi security forces…