Veracruz journalist under police protection shot dead
Mexico City, July 22, 2016–Mexican federal authorities must conduct a credible and thorough investigation into the July 20 killing of Pedro Tamayo Rosas, a Veracruz journalist who was shot while under the protection of state authorities, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Christiane Amanpour
Christiane Amanpour was honored with the Burton Benjamin Memorial Award for her extraordinary and sustained achievement in the cause of press freedom on November 22, 2016. The text of Amanpour’s acceptance speech, as prepared for delivery, is below. I never in a million years thought I would be up here on stage appealing for the…
CPJ calls on Merkel to use Kyrgyzstan visit to secure Askarov’s release
CPJ calls on German Chancellor Angela Merkel to use her upcoming visit to Kyrgyzstan to call on officials there to release the imprisoned journalist and human rights defender Azimjon Askarov. The U.N. Human Rights Committee found in April 2016 that Kyrgyzstan is obligated to free Askarov, quash his conviction, and pay him compensation for unjust imprisonment. Chancellor Merkel is scheduled to visit Kyrgyzstan on July 13 and 14.
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of July 4
Arrest warrant issued for TV journalist An arrest warrant was issued yesterday for the Turkish journalist Tarık Toros, according to reports. The pro-government daily, Sabah, reported that Toros was one of more than 30 people against whom arrest warrants were issued as part of a police operation against the alleged terrorist group controlled by Fethullah…
Zambian editors arrested trying to enter newspaper’s offices amid tax dispute
Nairobi, June 28, 2016–The editor-in-chief of independent Zambian newspaper The Post was arrested trying to enter his newspaper’s offices today, after authorities closed it in a dispute over allegedly unpaid taxes. Fred M’membe, his wife Mutinta, and his deputy managing editor Joseph Mwenda, were released on bail, but face charges of breaking into a building,…
Bangladesh arrests suspect in attack on publisher, jails second publisher
New York, June 16, 2016 — The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes reports of the arrest of a suspected member of a banned Islamist group accused of participating in an October 2015 attack on a publishing house. The arrest of Mohammed Sumon Hossain came amid a broader sweep of thousands of suspected criminals across Bangladesh,…
World Refugee Day: Fear of arrest drives journalists into exile
In August 2014 two journalists living more than 4,000 miles apart slipped across a border to find safety: one with his wife and three children, the other alone. Idrak Abbasov, from Azerbaijan, and Sanna Camara, from Gambia, faced imprisonment because of their reporting. Neither has been able to return home.