Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of March 5
Erdoğan says jailed Die Welt correspondent ‘German agent,’ Kurdish separatist Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on March 3 said that Deniz Yücel, the Turkey correspondent for the German newspaper Die Welt and a dual citizen of Germany and Turkey jailed in Turkey since February 14, was a “German agent” and a member of the Kurdistan…
Mexican journalist shot dead in Guerrero state
New York, March 3, 2017–Mexican authorities must conduct a credible and rigorous investigation into the killing of Cecilio Pineda Brito, a journalist who contributed to several outlets and published crime stories on social media, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The 38-year-old reporter was shot dead yesterday in the municipality of Ciudad Altamirano, in…
Azerbaijani blogger sentenced to prison for alleging abuse
New York, March 3, 2017–Azerbaijani authorities should immediately release blogger and press freedom advocate Mehman Huseynov, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. A court in Baku today sentenced Huseynov to two years in prison on defamation charges for alleging that police beat him, according to his lawyer and media reports. CPJ called on prosecutors…
Brazilian photographers shot covering police action
Two Brazilian photographers were shot while covering a February 23, 2017, confrontation between police and civilians in a region of São Paulo notorious for its high concentration of drug sales and use, according to the photographers and the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism (ABRAJI).
Coalition calls for charges to be dropped against Standing Rock journalists
CPJ and a coalition of other organizations request that the Morton County State’s Attorney’s Office drop the charges against journalists arrested during protests over the Dakota Access Pipeline or justify the arrests of reporters in the course of their work.
Egyptian parliamentary leaders file criminal complaint against editor
New York, March 1, 2017–Egyptian lawmakers should immediately withdraw their criminal complaint against Ibrahim Eissa, editor of Al-Maqal newspaper, and should stop harassing and threatening journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Independent Cuban journalist detained, accused of fomenting enemy propaganda
Independent Cuban journalist Henry Constantín Ferreiro was arrested February 20, 2017 and detained for about 36 hours while traveling to cover a meeting between Cuban dissidents and the head of the Organization of American States (OAS), according to press reports. The editor of digital magazine La Hora de Cuba said police charged him with fomenting…
CPJ requests information on jailed Cameroonian journalists
March 1, 2017 Issa Tchiroma Bakary Minister of Communication Hotel de Ville Yaoundé Via fax: +237 222 23 30 22; Your Excellency, We at the Committee to Protect Journalists, an independent press freedom advocacy organization, are concerned about compounding reports of measures to restrict the media in Cameroon, and request clarification regarding the reported imprisonment…
Abdullah Kılıç
Police in Istanbul detained Abdullah Kılıç, a former columnist for the shuttered daily newspaper Meydan, on July 25, 2016, as part of a sweeping purge of suspected followers of exiled preacher Fethullah Gülen. The Turkish government accuses Gülen of maintaining a terrorist organization and “parallel state structure” (FETÖ/PDY, as the government calls it) within Turkey and alleges…
Russian security forces raid journalist Zoya Svetova’s home
New York, February 28, 2017–Russian authorities should cease harassing journalists and allow them to work unimpeded, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Security forces today searched the Moscow home of prominent journalist and human rights defender Zoya Svetova, according to press reports and Svetova’s lawyers.