Two Haitian journalists killed while reporting on gang violence in Port-au-Prince
Miami, January 7, 2022 – Haitian authorities must conduct a swift and thorough investigation into the brutal killings of journalists John Wesley Amady and Wilguens Louis-Saint, and bring those responsible to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Yesterday, suspected gang members shot Amady and Louis-Saint while they were reporting on the lack of…
Hong Kong police raid Stand News, arrest 6 for alleged sedition
New York, December 28, 2021 – In response to Hong Kong authorities’ raid on Stand News today and the arrests of six people affiliated with the outlet, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement of condemnation: “The arrests of six people associated with Stand News amounts to an open assault on Hong Kong’s…
The most-read press freedom stories of 2021
2021 began with protestors threatening journalists covering the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. The news at the end of the year isn’t much brighter, with Ethiopia using its emergency law to ramp up arrests of journalists and the first documented death of a journalist in custody in Myanmar since the country’s February coup….
Central African Republic authorities hold journalist Landry Ulrich Nguéma Ngokpélé for more than 2 months
New York, December 17, 2021 — Central African Republic authorities should release journalist Landry Ulrich Nguéma Ngokpélé and ensure he can work free of harassment and fear of arrest, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. At around noon on October 4, members of the Central African Republic police and military arrested Nguéma Ngokpélé, the…
Togo journalists Ferdinand Ayité and Joël Egah detained over online broadcast
New York, December 13, 2021 — Togolese authorities should immediately release journalists Ferdinand Ayité and Joël Egah and halt legal harassment of Isidore Kouwonou, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On December 9, national police officers arrested Ayité, the publication director of the privately owned L’Alternative newspaper, after he responded to a summons to…
Myanmar authorities sentence Kanbawza Tai News journalists to 3 years in prison
Bangkok, December 13, 2021 – Myanmar authorities should release three Kanbawza Tai News journalists recently sentenced to prison for their work and drop all charges against them, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On December 10, a court at the Nyaung Shwe Taung Lay Lone Prison, in Shan state, sentenced editor Nang Nang Tai,…
Bangladeshi journalist Golam Sarwar attacked, harassed following 2020 abduction
On October 29, 2020, Golam Sarwar, the then publisher and executive editor of the privately owned news website ctnewsbd.com, was abducted in Kazir Dewri, a neighborhood in the southeastern Bangladeshi city of Chittagong, according to multiple news reports and Sarwar, who spoke with CPJ via messaging app. An unidentified man approached the journalist from behind,…
‘A disturbing sign for press freedom’: A record 293 journalists imprisoned worldwide, the worst in 30 years
There are a record 293 journalists jailed worldwide for doing their job, according to CPJ’s 2021 prison census, the worst number CPJ has recorded since we began keeping track in 1992. Meanwhile, killings of journalists also continue to persist, with 24 documented by CPJ so far this year. The reasons for the relentless climb in…
In Benin, growing fears over law that can jail journalists for posting news online
Posting on Facebook from Benin’s Central Office for Repression of Cybercrime on November 18, journalist Patrice Gbaguidi wrote that authorities had summoned him for a second time in two weeks over a defamation complaint about one of his articles. That day, he and Hervé Alladé, the owner of Le Soleil Bénin Infos newspaper where Gbaguidi…