Bangladeshi authorities arrest journalist Rozina Islam under Official Secrets Act
New York, May 17, 2021—The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Bangladeshi authorities to immediately release journalist Rozina Islam, withdraw the investigation into her, and to stop arresting journalists under the Official Secrets Act. Islam, a senior correspondent for the daily newspaper Prothom Alo, was arrested today after the Health Ministry filed a complaint…
Turkish journalist Deniz Yücel charged with ‘degrading’ the country
Istanbul, May 13, 2021 – Turkish authorities must cease their legal harassment of journalist Deniz Yücel and drop all of the charges against him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Yesterday, Turkish prosecutors charged Yücel, the former Turkey correspondent for the German newspaper Die Welt, with “publicly degrading the Turkish nation and the State…
Algerian authorities briefly detain at least 6 journalists covering protests
On May 11, 2021, Algerian security forces briefly detained at least six journalists in downtown Algiers, the capital, while they were covering anti-government protests, according to news reports and Bouzid Ichalalene and Mustapha Bendjama, two local journalists and press freedom advocates, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app. According to those sources, police arrested: Khaled…
Zambian columnist Sishuwa Sishuwa could face sedition charge for opinion piece on election
Lusaka, Zambia, May 12, 2021 — Zambian authorities should drop an investigation into newspaper columnist and academic Sishuwa Sishuwa, who is accused of sedition, and should reaffirm the right to media freedom ahead of the August 12 general elections, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Sishuwa, a lecturer at the University of Zambia, wrote…
Dozens of journalists behind bars in Myanmar
Myanmar’s military junta is holding at least 40 journalists behind bars as of April 28, according to CPJ’s preliminary investigations. Many of the detained journalists have been denied access to lawyers or family since their arrests, and at least two are foreign journalists. “Myanmar’s military regime has almost overnight become one of the worst jailers…
News editor in Botswana faces jail time over Facebook posts, alleges suffocation by police
Police in Botswana detained Oratile Dikologang, co-founder and digital editor of the local, privately owned website Botswana People’s Daily News, on April 9, 2020, and charged him over Facebook posts about COVID-19 and local politics that he denies publishing, according to CPJ’s review of a copy of a charge sheet, Dikologang, and local media reports….
Two Spanish journalists killed in Burkina Faso while covering poaching
Burkina Faso was the site of tragedy this week as Spanish journalists David Beriain and Roberto Fraile were killed after being abducted Monday from a wildlife reserve. The pair were working on a documentary about poaching when unidentified gunmen ambushed the group they were traveling with. CPJ called on authorities to thoroughly investigate the killings…
Iraqi Kurdish security forces arrest reporter Rebaz Hassan
New York, April 26, 2021 — The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Kurdish authorities in the northeastern city of Sulaymaniyah in Iraqi Kurdistan, to immediately release Rebaz Hassan, a reporter for the pro-Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) Firat News Agency. Yesterday evening, Asayish security forces affiliated with the opposition Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) arrested…
April 2021: The ‘voice of the people’: Anastasia Mejía vows to keep reporting after Guatemala arrest
On August 24, 2020, Anastasia Mejía prepared herself for yet another day of reporting in Joyabaj in central Guatemala. At 49 years old, she had spent the previous 11 years covering the city’s Indigenous Maya K’iche’ community, to which she belongs. Her subject that day was a protest of mostly Maya K’iche’ merchants who wanted…