World Refugee Day: Fear of arrest drives journalists into exile
In August 2014 two journalists living more than 4,000 miles apart slipped across a border to find safety: one with his wife and three children, the other alone. Idrak Abbasov, from Azerbaijan, and Sanna Camara, from Gambia, faced imprisonment because of their reporting. Neither has been able to return home.
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of June 5
Provincial officials ask journalists to submit to prior censorship: report Top officials in southeastern Turkey’s Gaziantep province, near the Syrian border, on June 1 convened local journalists to ask them not to report on “the bad things happening in the city,” and to submit their stories to a group on the messaging service WhatsApp which…
In China, more journalists–even former ones–vulnerable to government wrath
Most of the journalists imprisoned in China reported or commented on issues that the Chinese government finds threatening to its rule. They were likely aware that their work could invoke the wrath of the Chinese Communist Party at any time, but still choose to go ahead for the sake of truth and the public interest.…
Why Telegram’s security flaws may put Iran’s journalists at risk
The mobile messaging app Telegram is popular in Iran, where citizens who have limited access to uncensored news and mainstream social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, use it to share and access information. But the app’s estimated 20 million users in Iran, including those who use Telegram to report and communicate with sources,…
Journalist arrested in Nepal while covering protest
New York, May 25, 2016–Police in Nepal arrested the journalist Shesh Narayan Jha on Monday while he was photographing a protester splashing paint on the walls of a government complex in Kathmandu, according to the Federation of Nepali Journalists and press reports.
Azerbaijani reporter Khadija Ismayilova ordered released on suspended sentence
New York, May 25, 2016 — The Committee to Protect Journalists is relieved at the Azerbaijani Supreme Court’s decision today to free investigative reporter Khadija Ismayilova, who had been imprisoned on trumped-up charges since December 2014. The court converted Ismayilova’s jail term into a three-and-a half-year suspended term, Reuters reported.
Global Magnitsky Act could be powerful weapon against impunity in journalist murders
Last week, the proposed Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act emerged from the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee with approval. The bill was passed by the Senate last year. If passed by the full House of Representatives and signed into law by the president, it has the potential to offer partial redress to one of…
Kazakhstan court sentences journalist to jail over reports on bank
New York, May 23, 2016–A Kazakhstan court today convicted and sentenced Guzyal Baydalinova, the editor of the independent news website Nakanune, to a year and a half in prison for deliberately distributing false information, according to news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the verdict and calls for Baydalinova’s immediate release.