Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of June 18, 2017
Prosecutor asks to reopen investigation into journalist for interview Public prosecutor Umut Tepe petitioned a Turkish court to allow him to reopen his investigation into jailed Cumhuriyet reporter Ahmet Şık on charges of producing propaganda for a terrorist organization, Cumhuriyet reported yesterday. Tepe had previously dropped charges against the journalist for publishing an interview with…
Azerbaijan sentences journalist to seven years in prison
New York, June 20, 2017–Azerbaijani authorities should immediately release Fikret Faramazoglu, chief editor of the news website Journalistic Research Center, from prison and investigate the journalist’s claims that he was severely beaten in custody, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Faramazoglu was sentenced on June 14 to seven years in prison for extortion and…
Moroccan website director held in solitary confinement pending trial
Moroccan security forces on June 6, 2017, arrested Mohamed al-Asrihi, a video journalist and the director of the opposition news website Rif24, from the home of activist Mohsen Athari in the northern town of Trogout, where he was hiding, according to news reports and a statement from Rif24.
Saudi journalist imprisoned for ‘slandering ruler,’ communicating with TV stations
The Specialized Court of Appeals in Riyadh in April 2017 upheld a Riyadh criminal court’s conviction of Saudi journalist Nadhir al-Majid on charges of “slandering the ruler” and sending electronic messages to TV channels and human rights organizations, according to Agence France-Presse and the Gulf Center for Human Rights. Al-Majid was initially convicted on January…
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of June 11, 2017
Twelve witnesses against journalist say testimony extracted under torture Twelve out of 13 witnesses prosecutors called yesterday to testify that Nedim Türfent, a former reporter for the shuttered, pro-Kurdish Dicle News Agency (DİHA), was a member of a terrorist organization recanted their written testimony, saying police extracted it under torture, the daily Evrensel reported. Police…
Turkey must release French photographer Mathias Depardon
Istanbul, May 25, 2017–The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Turkish authorities to immediately free Istanbul-based French photographer Mathias Depardon, who has been held in isolation and without charge in southeast Turkey since May 8, according to media reports.
Azerbaijani journalist sentenced to 30 days in prison
New York, May 24, 2017–Azerbaijani authorities should immediately release freelance journalist Nijat Amiraslanov, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. A district court in the northwestern Azerbaijani city of Gazakh yesterday sentenced the journalist to 30 days in prison on charges of resisting police.
How US Espionage Act can be used against journalists covering leaks
Earlier this week, Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly joked about Trump using a saber on the press and U.S. Senator Jim Risch told CNN the press should be questioning the Washington Post about its sources. Then, on May 16, The New York Times reported that President Donald Trump allegedly asked former FBI director…
In Egypt retrial, 2 journalists acquitted, 3 others’ sentences reduced
New York, May 8, 2017–The Committee to Protect Journalists today welcomed the verdict by the Giza Criminal Court acquitting Egyptian journalists Hany Salah-el-Deen and Mosad Al-Barbary, and called on authorities to immediately free Abdullah al-Fakharany, Samhi Mustafa, and Mohamed al-Adly, whose sentences were reduced to five years from 25 years. The rulings came in a…