CPJ welcomes release of Al-Jazeera journalist Peter Greste
February 1, 2015–Al-Jazeera journalist Peter Greste, who was serving a seven-year prison sentence in Egypt for “conspiring with the Muslim Brotherhood,” was deported today, according to Egypt’s state-run news agency. Greste, who is Australian, was arrested in December 2013 with his colleagues Mohamed Fadel Fahmy and Baher Mohamed.
Azerbaijan continues press crackdown with jail term and arrest extension
New York, January 29, 2015–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Azerbaijani authorities to end their crackdown on the press after a five-year sentence was handed to reporter Seymur Hazi, according to news reports. The pre-trial detention of investigative reporter Khadija Ismayilova was also extended this week, news reports said.
Press threatened and detained as Egypt marks uprising anniversary
New York, January 26, 2015–The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the harassment and detention of journalists in Egypt on Sunday during mass demonstrations to mark the fourth anniversary of the uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
CPJ welcomes release of six Eritrean journalists
Nairobi, January 23, 2015–Six Eritrean journalists who worked for the government-controlled station Radio Bana have been released from jail, according to Eritrean journalists in exile who spoke to the Committee to Protect Journalists. The journalists–Basilos Zemo, Bereket Misguina, Ghirmai Abraham, Meles Nguse, Petros Teferi, and Yirgalem Fesseha–were among the Radio Bana staff arrested in a…
Appeals court orders imprisonment of Macedonian reporter
The Skopje Court of Appeals in the capital, Skopje, on January 15, 2015, reduced Tomislav Kezarovski’s prison term from four and a half years to two years, but ordered the journalist to serve the remaining time–four and a half months–in jail, according to regional and international press. Kezarovski had been serving the term under house…
Burundian journalist arrested, charged after not revealing source
Nairobi, January 21, 2015–Burundian authorities imprisoned the director of the privately owned Radio Publique Africaine on Tuesday and charged him with complicity in murder, according to news reports. The arrest followed the station’s broadcast of an interview in which an unidentified guest said he was involved in the September murder of three Italian nuns, news…
With new round of journalist detentions, prosecutions, Iran continues to silence press
New York, January 9, 2015–A new wave of arrests and prosecutions has been carried out by Iranian authorities in the past month, cementing the country’s status as one of the world’s leading jailers of journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
In Vietnam, arrests dash hopes that crackdown on bloggers will end
What one hand gives, the other takes in Vietnam. Last October’s early release of jailed blogger Nguyen Van Hai, more commonly known as Dieu Cay, has proven to be an anomaly as authorities have subsequently ramped up their repression of other independent bloggers.
China’s long-distance tactic to suppress Uighur coverage
When we conduct the research for our annual list of jailed journalists, we rely on a range of sources. And we come across a lot of information that doesn’t always make it on to our list. With China once again the largest jailer of journalists–44 this year–our research team spotted several stories that deserve notice,…