Turkey indicts 2 Kurdish journalists on terrorism charges
Istanbul, October 5, 2023—The Committee to Protect Journalists urged Turkish authorities on Thursday to immediately release journalists Dicle Müftüoğlu and Sedat Yılmaz, who have been held in pretrial detention for more than five months, and to stop using terrorism legislation to criminalize journalists. Müftüoğlu and Yılmaz, both editors at the pro-Kurdish Mezopotamya News Agency, were…
Proposed amendment to Mozambique’s anti-terror law threatens press freedom
New York, June 7, 2022 — Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi should not sign amendments to the country’s anti-terror legislation into law and should instead ask parliament to change a sweeping clause that could criminalize reporting about the insurgency in northern Mozambique, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Tuesday. On June 3, the amendment bill…
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of April 17
Trial resumes for journalists facing multiple life sentences The trial of Can Dündar and Erdem Gül, editor and Ankara bureau chief, respectively, of Cumhuriyet newspaper resumed behind closed doors in Istanbul today. The court today denied prosecutors’ request to combine the case with another case targeting alleged supporters of exiled preacher Fethullah Gülen, whom the…
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of April 10
Merkel approves prosecution of German comic for insulting Erdoğan German Chancellor Angela Merkel today told reporters the German government would allow prosecutors to act on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s request that television satirist Jan Böhmermann be prosecuted for a profane poem about Erdoğan he read on the March 31 episode of his television program.
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of March 27
Erdoğan, in Washington, says not at war with press; bodyguards insult, harass journalists Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, visiting Washington, on Thursday told the American television station CNN that he and his government were “not at war with the press,” in remarks broadcast after his security detail harassed, insulted, and attempted to forcibly eject critical…
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of March 20
Istanbul court rules trial for journalists facing life sentences to be closed to public The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned an Istanbul court’s decision today to bar the public from the trial of Can Dündar and Erdem Gül, journalists for the daily newspaper Cumhuriyet. Representatives from CPJ and other free-speech groups attended the first…
Egypt interferes with printing of three newspapers
New York, August 25, 2015–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a recent wave of newspaper censorship in Egypt. Three privately owned newspapers were prevented from going to print or into circulation because of content critical of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, according to news reports.
CPJ urges Egypt to adopt more open press climate
Dear President el-Sisi: The Committee to Protect Journalists, an international press freedom organization, is writing to express its concern about the climate for press freedom in Egypt and to follow up on meetings we had last month with several high-level officials in your administration.
Ethiopian photojournalist Aziza Mohamed held without charge
Nairobi, July 31, 2014–CPJ is alarmed by the detention of Addis Guday (“Addis Affairs”) photojournalist Aziza Mohamed, who has been in custody for two weeks without charge. Police arrested Aziza on July 18 while she was covering Muslim protests near Anwar Mosque in the capital Addis Ababa, local journalists told CPJ. She is being held…
African media leaders must address Ethiopia’s repression
New York, November 5, 2013–As media leaders and officials of regional institutions gather in Addis Ababa this week for the African Media Leaders Forum (AMLF), the Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the participants to ensure that press freedom is squarely on the agenda.