French outlets Mediapart, Le Canard enchaîné receive threatening letters
New York, April 7, 2017–The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned threats made against the Paris-based investigative news website Mediapart and satirical weekly Le Canard enchaîné (The Chained Duck), and called on French authorities to promptly bring the perpetrators to justice.
In Brazil, attacker fires at political blogger’s car
Political blogger Márcio Prado was at his home in Rio Grande da Serra, one of the municipalities that ring Brazil’s biggest city São Paulo, in the early hours of April 1, 2017, when he heard gunshots, he told CPJ in a telephone interview. The blogger said he went downstairs to see what was going on…
Ethiopia Supreme Court says two Zone 9 bloggers should face incitement charges
New York, April 6, 2017–Ethiopia’s Supreme Court today ruled that two bloggers from the Zone 9 collective, previously acquitted of terrorism charges, should be tried instead on charges of inciting violence through their writing. If convicted of the charge, Atnaf Berhane and Natnail Feleke would face a maximum prison sentence of 10 years, according to…
In Brazil, outdated defamation laws and costly court cases used to pressure critics
Brazilian journalist Erik Silva never imagined that printing information from a municipal government website would see him accused of defamation and lead to a drawn-out court case. But almost a year after writing about the size of salary earned by a municipal accountant in Corumbá, a city of just under 100,000 people on Brazil’s western…
CPJ Highlights: March edition
Standing in solidarity with the U.S. press In recent months, CPJ has documented charges brought against at least 10 journalists who were covering protests over the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota and Lee County, Iowa. We have consistently called on authorities to drop the charges against the journalists, most recently in a letter sent…
AFP photographer repeatedly harassed by Libyan security forces
New York, April 4, 2017–Security forces in Benghazi should stop harassing AFP photojournalist Abdullah Doma and ensure that he can work safely and without fear of reprisal, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Security forces in the eastern Libyan city have twice detained Doma in the last week, according to AFP and other news…
Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh
Quynh, popularly known by her pen name Me Nam (Mother Mushroom), was arrested on October 10, 2016, while trying to visit an imprisoned political activist in the central coastal town of Nha Trang. After a one-day trial on June 29, 2017, Quynh was sentenced to 10 years in prison for distributing propaganda against the state….
Belarus police raid offices of TV station Belsat, detain cameraman
New York, March 31, 2017–Belarusian authorities should cease harassing Belsat TV and all news media in an effort to censor coverage of opposition protests and should immediately release all journalists detained for their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Police today raided two of the channel’s offices in the capital Minsk, confiscated the…
UPDATE: In Turkey, authorities rule to free journalists, then reverse decision
New York, March 31, 2017– Istanbul’s 25th Court for Serious Crimes ordered the release pending trial of at least 19 journalists jailed in the aftermath of the July 2016 failed coup attempt in Turkey, but the decision was reversed after an appeal by the chief prosecutor, and none of the journalists were freed, according to…