UNHCHR grills Ethiopia on anti-terror law
This week, the Human Rights Committee of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights reviewed Ethiopia’s compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, including its press freedom record. Peppered with questions about an indefensible record of abuse–jailing the second largest number of journalists in Africa and leading the continent in Internet censorship–representatives…
Kenya’s quiet information revolution
An information revolution is quietly unfolding in Kenya, potentially allowing the public greater access to government data and independent local news. This month, the nation became a regional leader in open government with the launch of a website providing easy access to volumes of public information. Journalists can tap into public budget data with relative…
CPJ condemns criminal defamation conviction in Peru
New York, July 14, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the sentencing of Peruvian television journalist Hans Francisco Andrade Chávez to two years in prison on criminal defamation charges stemming from a March 2 report concerning a local government official.
Silencing global coverage, Syria detains, expels reporters
New York, July 14, 2011–The Syrian government has detained a local journalist who contributes to pan-Arab news outlets and expelled an international reporter, according to news reports, continuing a crackdown designed to silence global news coverage of the nation’s political crisis.
BBC reporter released in Tajikistan
New York, July 14, 2001–The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release today of Urinboy Usmonov, a BBC World Service correspondent, detained in June in Tajikistan and calls on authorities to fully exonerate him and remove restrictions on travel. Tajik authorities released Usmonov on bail but continue to charge him with extremism while imposing a…
Hong Kong’s accelerating media freedom decline
As a former resident of the Special Administrative Region, the classification given Hong Kong when it reverted to China’s control in 1997, I’ve always watched the media there with the appreciative eye of a news consumer. The concept of “One Country, Two Systems,” put forward to explain how the former British colony’s capitalist economy and…
Tajikistan continues to hold BBC journalist
New York, July 13, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists urges Tajik prosecutors in Khujand, northern Tajikistan, to drop politicized extremism charges against BBC reporter Urinboy Usmonov, and calls for his immediate release. The journalist is being charged with failing to report the activities of the Islamist group Hizb-ut-Tahrir to Tajik law enforcement agencies, Usmonov’s lawyer,…
DRC’s Kabila government bans broadcaster favorable to rival
New York, July 13, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the Democratic Republic of Congo’s ban of a private broadcaster favorable to opposition presidential candidate Etienne Tshisekedi. The blocking and ban of the broadcaster since Saturday is in violation of the country’s press laws.
Central African Republic journalists released, fined
New York, July 12, 2011– Two Central African Republic journalists were fined and released from custody Monday after being jailed for weeks in connection with their coverage of public protests by retired military officers who say the government failed to direct European Union funds to them as intended, according to news reports and local journalists.