Azerbaijan court sentences blogger to three years in jail
New York, July 20, 2017–A Baku court today convicted Russian-Israeli blogger Aleksandr Lapshin to three years in jail for illegally crossing the state border, international and Azerbaijani media reported. The charges are related to three trips that Lapshin made between April 2011 and June 2016 to the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which Azerbaijan and Armenia…
Nigerian court orders journalist facing false reporting charge to be detained
New York, July 17, 2017–Nigerian authorities should drop all charges against Luka Binniyat and release the journalist from jail immediately, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. A judge ordered the journalist to be detained on charges of “breach of public peace” and false reporting over an article he wrote for the daily, Vanguard, according…
Online defamation law amendments fall short in Myanmar
Bangkok, July 17, 2017–A ministerial proposal to amend Myanmar’s 2013 Telecommunications Law falls short of the changes needed to guarantee press freedom, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The statute has been repeatedly abused to stifle online speech and jail journalists, CPJ has found.
It’s too late for Liu Xiaobo but China could show a little kindness to other jailed journalists
I have no pity for Chinese President Xi Jinping, who dug himself into a deep public relations hole with the unnecessarily cruel treatment of China’s Nobel Laureate and political dissident, who died this week. Liu died of liver cancer in a Chinese hospital, after receiving medical parole in June from prison, where he was diagnosed…
Puntland journalist jailed after criticizing president
Nairobi, July 7, 2017–Authorities in Puntland should immediately release journalist Ahmed Ali Kilwe, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Security forces in Garowe, the administrative capital of the semi-autonomous region of Somalia, have detained Ahmed, the founder of the news website Puntlandone.com, since July 2, according to media reports.
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of July 2, 2017
Turkish president tells German newspaper jailed correspondent is a terrorist Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in an interview published yesterday, told the German newspaper Die Zeit that Die Welt Turkey correspondent, Turkish-German dual national Deniz Yücel, is a terrorist because he interviewed a leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Turkey considers a terrorist…
Myanmar detains three journalists who reported on outlawed group
Washington D.C., June 27, 2017–Myanmar authorities should immediately release three journalists arrested in northern Shan state yesterday on accusations of unlawful association after they covered an event organized by an armed ethnic group that is banned by authorities, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of June 25, 2017
BBC reporter refused entry Police at Istanbul’s Atatürk Airport yesterday detained BBC reporter Jiyar Gol for five hours before putting him on a plane out of the country, the journalist wrote on Twitter. The journalist tweeted that he believes he was not allowed in the country because of his reporting for the BBC. [June 30,…