Separatists in east Ukraine ‘sentence’ blogger to 14 years in captivity
Pro-Russia separatists in the rebel stronghold of Luhansk, east Ukraine, took Eduard Nedelyayev, a Ukrainian blogger, captive in November last year, according to local media reports. The group claims authority over a region it has named the Luhansk People’s Republic (LNR).
Bolivian radio journalist under house arrest, facing charges after covering protest
Bogotá, September 5, 2017–Bolivian authorities must drop charges against a radio journalist arrested while covering a violent demonstration last week in the capital city of La Paz, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Israel and the Palestinian Authority seek to silence the same media outlet
Beirut, September 5, 2017–Israel should allow the al-Hurriya media network and its affiliates to resume work without fear of harassment, and the Palestinian Authority should release Ayman al-Qawasme, the chairman of the same media network, from its custody, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Editor of Indian newspaper shot dead outside her home
New Delhi, September 5, 2017–Authorities in India’s Karnataka state must thoroughly investigate and bring to justice the killers of Gauri Lankesh, an independent journalist who was shot dead today outside her home in Bangalore, the Committee to Protect Journalists said.
Prominent newspaper folds under official pressure in Cambodia
Bangkok, September 5, 2017–The Cambodia Daily stopped publication yesterday under official threat of forced closure over allegations of tax evasion, according to a statement released by the paper. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the silencing of the newspaper and called for an end to Cambodia’s harassment of all independent media.
CPJ Highlights: September edition
Press Freedom Tracker continues to document press freedom incidents in the U.S. “I’m really doing this to show you how damned dishonest these people are,” President Trump said during his August rally in Phoenix. “Truly dishonest people in the media and the fake media, they make up stories. … They don’t report the facts.”
DRC journalist faces defamation charge over report on minister
New York City, September 1, 2017–Authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo should drop all charges against Jeef Mwingamb, editor-in-chief of the weekly Le Fédéral, and release him immediately, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
North Korea sentences two South Korean journalists to death in absentia
New York, September 1, 2017–A North Korean court has sentenced the South Korean journalists Son Hyo-rim, of Dong-A Ilbo, and Yang Ji-ho, of Chosun Ilbo, and the papers’ respective director generals, Kim Jae Ho and Pang Sang Hun to death, the country’s state media reported yesterday. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the sentences and…
Cameroon releases three journalists jailed under anti-terror law
New York, September 1, 2017–The office of President Paul Biya announced August 30 that Cameroon is ending criminal proceedings against those detained during unrest in the country’s two English-speaking regions. Atia Tilarious Azohnwi, political editor of The Sun, Tim Finnian, editor of Life Time magazine, and Hans Achomba, a freelance documentary filmmaker, are among those…
Huang Qi
Police arrested Huang Qi, founder and manager of the human rights news website 64 Tianwang, outside of his apartment complex in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, on November 28, 2016. More than 10 police officers searched his home and also detained his mother, Pu Wenqing, a retired doctor, who was in the apartment. When police took Pu…