Freedom of speech is guaranteed Aliyev says as Azerbaijan blocks news websites
President Ilham Aliyev claims that in Azerbaijan the internet is free and press freedom is guaranteed. But ahead of the April 11 snap elections, authorities have systematically silenced critical voices online through amending laws and blocking news websites, and hackers have attacked independent news outlets.
Azerbaijan goes to the polls amid muzzled media and blocked websites
When it comes to silencing critics, Azerbaijani authorities have been industrious and methodical. Ahead of snap presidential elections scheduled for April 11, potential opposition candidates have been either jailed or barred from running, and the political landscape has been cleansed of virtually all formal avenues of expressing dissent.
CPJ Safety Advisory: Security in Iraqi Kurdistan (KRG)
At least 15 journalists were assaulted and seven detained while covering widespread protests across Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq between March 25 and March 27, according to CPJ research and local press freedom and human rights groups. The wave of detentions and assaults has sparked fear among local journalists and press freedom groups that Kurdish authorities will…
Haitian photojournalist missing in Port-au-Prince
New York, March 28, 2018–Haitian authorities must do everything possible to locate freelance photojournalist Vladjimir Legagneur and conduct a full and transparent investigation into his disappearance, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Ghys Fortuné Dombé Bemba
#FreeThePress Ghys Fortuné Dombé Bemba The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomed the news July 3, 2018 that Ghys Fortuné Dombé Bemba was released after nearly 18 months in prison. Read CPJ’s full statement here. Your support makes world of difference to imprisoned journalists, join us as we continue to fight for journalists behind bars. The Republic of the…
Azimjon Askarov
#FreeThePress Azimjon Askarov Tweet: In #Kyrgyzstan, journalist Azimjon Askarov was sentenced to life in prison simply for doing his job–he should be freed immediately #freethepress Seven years after sentencing Azimjon Askarov to life in prison, Kyrgyzstan continues to resist international calls for his immediate release. After the U.N. Human Rights Committee called on Kyrgyzstan to…
Ecuador pledges to reform repressive media law
Country needs free press for Moreno’s fight against corruption Quito, Ecuador, March 16, 2018 –The government of Ecuador pledged in a meeting Wednesday with the Committee to Protect Journalists to reform an oppressive communications law this year and to invite international experts to visit the country and analyze Ecuador’s compliance with international legal standards.
Journalists covering protests in US risk getting caught up in police kettling tactic
On September 17 last year, St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Mike Faulk was covering protests over the acquittal of a former police officer in the killing in 2011 of man named Anthony Lamar Smith. At about 11 p.m., officers formed a line across Washington Avenue near Tucker Boulevard in downtown St. Louis, and officers in full…
Mission Journal: In Poland, some journalists fear worst is yet to come
Entering the historic site of the Gdansk shipyard, one cannot miss the wooden boards hanging over the famous gate No. 2. Handwritten in 1980, they display the list of demands of the strikers led by Lech Walesa, the founder of Solidarity, the independent trade union movement that pushed for social change in communist Poland. Number…
CPJ Highlights: March 2018 edition
CPJ’s global campaign to free the press CPJ believes all journalists should be able to report freely, without any fear of harassment or retaliation. But each day, all over the world, reporters, photographers, editors, and bloggers are imprisoned for their work. In December, CPJ published its annual prison census, which found that at least 262…