Belarus authorities sue to shut down independent journalist organization
Stockholm, July 22, 2021 – Belarus authorities should immediately drop all proceedings against the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) and allow members of the press and their trade organizations to operate freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Yesterday, the Justice Ministry of Belarus applied to the country’s Supreme Court to dissolve BAJ, the…
Iraqi Kurdish security forces raid office of broadcaster iPLUS amid dispute in ruling party
New York, July 14, 2021 — The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned the raid by Iraqi Kurdish security forces of new local broadcaster iPLUS and called on Iraqi Kurdish authorities to allow iPLUS to resume its work immediately and ensure that members of the press are able to work freely and without fear of…
Myanmar military rearrests journalist Aung Mya Than
Bangkok, July 14, 2021 – Myanmar authorities should immediately release journalist Aung Mya Than and drop any pending charges against him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. At about 11 p.m. on July 10, military authorities arrested Aung Mya Than, a reporter with the local Ayeyarwady Times, at his home in the town of Maubin,…
Bangladesh authorities investigate 3 journalists under Digital Security Act
Washington, D.C., July 12, 2021 — Bangladesh authorities should immediately drop their investigations into journalists Tanvir Hasan Tanu, Rahim Shuvo, and Abdul Latif Litu, and scrap the country’s draconian Digital Security Act, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On July 10, police in the northeast district of Thakurgaon opened Digital Security Act investigations into…
Belarusian authorities raid news outlets, detain journalists amid nationwide crackdown
New York, July 8, 2021 – Belarusian authorities must release all journalists held in custody for their work and drop all investigations into independent news outlets, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Starting this morning, authorities raided at least three news outlets and arrested at least seven journalists nationwide amid a crackdown on the…
CPJ calls on Burundi government to let all news outlets operate without conditions
Nairobi July 8, 2021— In light of Burundi’s decision to lift bans on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and pro-government news site Ikiriho, the Committee to Protect Journalists called on the country to reinstate all banned media outlets. CPJ also expressed alarm at the conditions the U.S. Congress-funded Voice of America (VOA) said were placed…
Diego Charles
At about 11 p.m. on June 29, 2021, unidentified men riding a motorcycle shot and killed Haitian journalist Diego Charles at the entrance of his home in the Christ-Roi area in Port-au-Prince, the capital, and fled the scene, according to news reports and Jacques Desrosiers, secretary-general of the Association of Haitian Journalists, a local trade group, who spoke to…
CPJ joins letter to UN and AU rapporteurs expressing concern about free expression in Zimbabwe
The Committee to Protect Journalists yesterday joined the Southern African Human Rights Defenders Network, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights groups in an open letter to six special rapporteurs at the UN and African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, expressing concern about the targeting of journalists and human rights…
CPJ Insider: July 2021 edition
Jimmy Lai, of Hong Kong’s Apple Daily, to receive CPJ’s 2021 Gwen Ifill award Jimmy Lai, the imprisoned founder of Hong Kong’s Next Digital media company and Apple Daily newspaper, will be honored with CPJ’s 2021 Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award, CPJ’s board of directors announced in June. The award recognizes an individual’s extraordinary and…
Journalists attacked by anti-LGBT demonstrators in Tbilisi, Georgia
New York, July 6, 2021 – Georgian authorities should swiftly and thoroughly investigate anti-LGBT demonstrators’ recent attacks on dozens of journalists, and hold those responsible to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Yesterday, a group of more than 1,000 people demonstrating against a planned LGBT Pride rally in Tbilisi, the capital, attacked dozens…