Soldiers briefly hold 2 journalists reporting on run-up to Burkina Faso coup
New York, January 25, 2022 – Authorities in Burkina Faso should ensure that journalists can report freely, safely, and without fear of arrest, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. On Sunday, soldiers at the Sangoule Lamizana military camp in Ouagadougou, the capital, briefly held freelance reporter Henry Wilkins and Associated Press reporter Sam Mednick,…
Pu Tuidim
On January 6 or 7, 2022, members of the Myanmar military’s 140 Infantry Battalion abducted at least 10 people, including journalist Pu Tuidim, amid fighting between the military and anti-government forces in Chin State’s Matupi Township, and later executed them, according to news reports. Pu Tuidim founded and edited the Khonumthung Media Group and was also a founder of…
Dozens of El Salvador journalists targeted with Pegasus spyware
In one of the most widespread known uses of Pegasus spyware to surveil journalists in the world, a forensic analysis of dozens of phones in El Salvador found that devices belonging to 35 people, mostly members of the press, were infected with between July 2020 and November 2021. “Suspecting you’ve been targeted isn’t the same…
Myanmar journalist killed in military massacre, another killed in artillery strike
Bangkok, January 14, 2022 – Myanmar authorities must immediately stop all attacks on the press, ensure that members of the media are not killed for their work, and thoroughly prosecute all journalist killings, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On December 25, 2021, journalist Sai Win Aung, also known as A Sai K, was…
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,…
Number of journalists behind bars reaches global high
Editor’s note: Numbers for each prison census are adjusted yearly as CPJ learns of arrests, releases, or deaths in prison. The numbers for CPJ’s 2021 census have been revised from 293 to 302 in accordance with this policy. For the most recent data, see cpj.org/data/imprisoned/ The number of journalists jailed around the world set another record…
Ethiopia’s civil war dashes once-high hopes of press freedom
In a Facebook post at the end of October, Awlo Media Center, an Ethiopian online news outlet critical of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s administration, announced that the government’s “pressure and obstruction” had forced it to shut down and lay off all of its employees. The closure came after a number of Awlo Media Center journalists…
Avinash Jha
Avinash Jha, a reporter with the news website BNN News based in the village of Benipatti, in the Madhubani district of the eastern Indian state of Bihar, went missing on the night of November 9 and was found dead on November 12, according to news reports and BNN News chief editor Kanhaiya Kashyap, who spoke…
Indian journalist Avinash Jha’s body found in Bihar
New Delhi, November 16, 2021 – Indian authorities must conduct a swift and transparent investigation into the death of journalist Avinash Jha, determine whether he was killed for his journalism, and hold those responsible to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Jha, a reporter with the local news website BNN News based in…