Zambia blocks another website, re-arrests reporter
Cape Town, July 30, 2013–Zambian authorities should stop blocking access to critical news websites and halt their harassment of journalists accused of working with the websites, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today after reports emerged of widening government obstruction.
Obama must urge free press during meeting with Vietnam
Dear President Obama: We are writing to express our concern about the deteriorating press and Internet freedom situation in Vietnam ahead of your Thursday meeting with Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang. We ask that in your discussions you insist on the progress of freedom of expression-related issues as a precondition for broadening Vietnam’s diplomatic, economic, and strategic relations with the United States.
Mediapart complies with ruling, but vows to fight on
At midnight on Monday, the French news website Mediapart complied with the Versailles court of appeal which last week ordered the site to withdraw articles referring to the Bettencourt recordings–the secret tapings of Liliane Bettencourt, the richest woman in France, by her butler. Mediapart as well as the newsweekly Le Point had been sued for…
Protests in Catatumbo add to risk in Colombia
Reporting from Catatumbo, a region in northern Colombia dominated by guerrillas and drug traffickers, has always been challenging. But working conditions for journalists have seriously deteriorated amid nearly two months of anti-government protests pitting thousands of angry peasant farmers against soldiers and riot police.
Decree targets online freedoms in Vietnam
Bangkok, July 22, 2013–A new decree aimed at regulating Internet-related information and services in Vietnam represents a significant new danger to online journalists and bloggers, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The decree was signed into law on July 15 and will be implemented on September 1, according to news reports.
Journalist and her husband kidnapped in Yemen
New York, July 19, 2013–A Dutch journalist and her husband reported missing in Yemen in June have appeared in a video, pleading for their lives and asking for their captors’ demands to be met. Judith Spiegel, a Yemen correspondent for Radio Netherlands Worldwide, and her husband, Boudewijn Berendsen, were abducted by an unknown group in…
Two Somali journalists shot in Kismayo
Nairobi, July 18, 2013–Two Somali journalists were wounded, one critically, when they came under fire on Wednesday while covering the aftermath of a landmine explosion in the southern port city of Kismayo, according to news reports and local journalists. The Committee to Protect Journalists calls for an immediate and thorough investigation.
In Zambia, harassment of Watchdog site continues
Cape Town, South Africa, July 17, 2013–Zambian authorities should stop their ongoing harassment of the Zambian Watchdog, a site that reports on alleged government corruption, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Police arrested another journalist they accused of contributing to the site, and blocked domestic access to the site for the second time, according…
French website Mediapart faces crippling judgment
Three years ago, revelations by the independent news website Mediapart on the “Bettencourt affair”– allegations of illegal funding of former President Nicolas Sarkozy’s conservative UMP party by the heiress of the L’Oréal fortune, Liliane Bettencourt–put the fledgling site on the map, helped it build a reputation as a dogged and fearless muckraker, and boosted its…
For journalist in Chhattisgarh, justice delayed, denied
New York, July 12, 2013–Indian authorities’ failure to proceed expeditiously in the prosecution of a freelance journalist is a miscarriage of justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The journalist, who has been held for almost two years without bail on anti-state charges, had exposed police wrongdoing in central Chhattisgarh state.