New York, June 21, 2015–An Al-Jazeera journalist was detained on Saturday in Berlin while headed to Qatar, according to news reports. Ahmad Mansour, a British-Egyptian TV host for the Qatar-based broadcaster, was detained in connection with an Egyptian arrest warrant dating back to a 2014 conviction in Egypt on politically motivated charges, news reports said.…
New York, June 13, 2015-Azerbaijani journalist Emin Huseynov was flown into exile in Switzerland on June 12, a few hours after the opening ceremony of the European Games in Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, according to reports. Fearing imminent arrest during the country’s crackdown on rights groups and the press, Huseynov, the director of media freedom group…
New York, June 12, 2015–The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the arrest in Canada on Thursday of Ali Omar Ader, a Somali allegedly involved in the 2008 kidnapping of journalists Amanda Lindhout, Nigel Brennan, and Abdifatah Mohamed Elmi, a Somali fixer and photojournalist. Ali, who appeared briefly in court in Ottawa today, is alleged to…
New York, June 1, 2015–The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release today of American freelance journalist Casey Coombs, who had been held by Houthi rebels for two weeks. Coombs, who has written for publications including Time and The Intercept, has arrived safely in Oman, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters. Details of…
San Francisco, June 1, 2015–Facebook today announced that it would offer users a field to post PGP encryption keys on their profiles, and that it will use the encryption standard to protect the contents of notification emails. The improvements were announced on the social network’s security blog and will gradually be rolled out to all…
New York, May 29, 2015–The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release today of Mexican journalist Pedro Celestino Canché Herrera, who had been imprisoned on charges of sabotage in the state of Quintana Roo since August. A local court on Thursday declared Canché innocent of the charges and ordered him to be released, Canché’s lawyer,…
New York, May 28, 2015–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns today’s presidential decree that extends a ban on coverage of military casualty figures to “peacetime, during special operations,” as well as in wartime. Such coverage, deemed to be disclosure of state secrets, is punishable by prison terms up to 20 years, according to local press…
New York, May 22, 2015–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Iran to ensure a fair and transparent trial for Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian, and to allow the reporter’s defense team and employer access to court proceedings. Rezaian, who has been held in jail since July 2014, is due to appear in court in…
New York, May 8, 2015–The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply troubled by a report that the U.S. National Security Agency carried out intensive surveillance of Al Jazeera’s Islamabad bureau chief, Ahmad Muaffaq Zaidan, based on suspicion that he was a member of Al-Qaeda. The Intercept reported today that the NSA’s information supporting its claim…
New York, April 20, 2015–CPJ is alarmed by reports of official charges levied against Washington Post Tehran bureau chief Jason Rezaian. The charges included espionage, “collaborating with hostile governments,” “propaganda against the establishment,” and allegations that he gathered information “about internal and foreign policy,” the Post reported today. His case file presents no evidence to…