CPJ welcomes U.S. government’s new hostage policy
New York, June 24, 2015–The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the new U.S. policy announced today which states that families of American hostages seeking to negotiate with or pay ransom to the abductors will not be threatened with criminal prosecution. The White House will also create an office to work with the families of the…
Blogger in Singapore faces financial ruin following defamation suit
“If we want our freedom, we have to fight for it,” wrote blogger Roy Ngerng last year after he was sued for defamation by Singapore’s prime minister. The case was sparked by a blog post in which Ngerng allegedly suggested Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had misappropriated funds in a state pension system. In November,…
In India, second journalist killed, burned in two weeks
New York, June 22, 2015–The burned body of a journalist was found in the Indian state of Maharashtra on Saturday, the day after he had been kidnapped, according to news reports. The murder of Sandeep Kothari is the second such one of a journalist in India in less than two weeks.
Al-Jazeera journalist detained while headed to Qatar
New York, June 21, 2015–An Al-Jazeera journalist was detained on Saturday in Berlin while headed to Qatar, according to news reports. Ahmad Mansour, a British-Egyptian TV host for the Qatar-based broadcaster, was detained in connection with an Egyptian arrest warrant dating back to a 2014 conviction in Egypt on politically motivated charges, news reports said.…
Turkish editor given suspended prison term for insulting Erdoğan on Twitter
New York, June 19, 2015–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a suspended prison term given to the editor of the English-language Turkish daily Today’s Zaman on Wednesday on charges of insulting then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in a July 2014 tweet.
Film Screening of “The Unravelling: Human rights reporting and digital storytelling”
The Committee to Protect Journalists is partnering with Human Rights Watch to present The Unravelling: Human rights reporting and digital storytelling. In November 2013, Human Rights Watch Emergencies director Peter Bouckaert and leading photojournalist Marcus Bleasdale began a journey to draw attention to a humanitarian crisis in a country that few people in the world…
In censored Saudi Arabia, Raif Badawi filled a journalistic void
On the third anniversary of the arrest of liberal activist and writer Raif Badawi in Saudi Arabia, his supporters all over the world are working hard to prevent what may lay ahead: the completion of a 10-year, thousand-lash sentence. To be effective in changing Badawi’s future, it is important to take inspiration from his past,…
Russian journalist detained, beaten in eastern Ukraine
New York, June 17, 2015–A correspondent for the independent Moscow-based Novaya Gazeta was obstructed and briefly detained by the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday, according to news reports. Pavel Kanygin, a special correspondent for the newspaper, said he was beaten and interrogated in custody and then forced to leave the…