Nigeria bans film on oil corruption, warns director
Lagos, Nigeria, April 17, 2013–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a recent decision by the Nigerian government to ban the exhibition and distribution of a documentary film on corruption in the state’s management of oil wealth, “Fuelling Poverty.”
European Parliament has chance to take on Vietnam
On Thursday, April 18, the European Parliament will discuss Vietnam’s human rights in a plenary session. At the top of the agenda will be freedom of expression. Over the weekend, CPJ’s Brussels-based Senior Adviser Jean-Paul Marthoz blogged about the issues the parliament must confront in Le Soir.
Azerbaijani court sentences editor to eight years in prison
New York, April 5, 2013–An Azerbaijani court has sentenced the editor of a religious news website to eight years in prison on charges related to his coverage of events involving the Muslim community. The Committee to Protect Journalists considers the charges to be fabricated and calls on the courts to overturn the conviction on appeal.
UN panel: Eskinder Nega jailing violates international law
Authorities in Ethiopia describe Eskinder Nega, a prominent columnist and government critic jailed since September 2011 on vague terrorism charges, as a dangerous individual bent on violent revolution. However, in an opinion handed down in 2012–publicized only this week by Washington, D.C.-based legal advocacy group Freedom Now–a United Nations panel of five independent experts ruled…
News from the Committee to Protect Journalists, March 2013
Remembering Tony Lewis CPJ mourns the death this month of Anthony Lewis, one of the organization’s founding board members and a recipient of its 2009 Burton Benjamin Award for lifetime achievement. Lewis passed away on March 25. “Back in 1981, when CPJ was being formed and its board of directors assembled, Tony Lewis … was…
In Egypt, crackdown against media reaches new lows
The government of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi continues to escalate its offensive against journalists. Details of the most recent case, in which an arrest warrant was issued for blogger Alaa Abdelfattah for inciting “aggression” against members of the Muslim Brotherhood, show how low the government is willing to go in order to silence its critics.
Russia steps up crackdown on rights groups, Internet
Recent statements by Vladimir Putin and Russian Member of Parliament (MP) Aleksey Mitrofanov, as well as raids on human rights organizations, signal that the threat hanging over civil society and freedom of expression in Russia has become reality. Since Putin returned to presidential office in May, the Kremlin has passed a series of restrictive laws…