Arbitrary Detention

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CPJ, partners call for journalist José Rubén Zamora’s release after 800 days of arbitrary detention

The Committee to Protect Journalists joined eight other press freedom organizations in calling for the release of Guatemalan journalist José Ruben Zamora, who has spent 800 days in detention since his July 29, 2002 arrest on charges of money laundering charges—which international organizations describe as arbitrary and politically motivated. The statement urged the Guatemalan government, especially President…

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CPJ, others request update on Egyptian journalist Alaa Abdelfattah from UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention

The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 26 press freedom and human rights organizations in an April 17 letter to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD) seeking updates regarding the urgent appeal filed on November 14, 2023, about the case of jailed Egyptian blogger Alaa Abdelfattah. The appeal was submitted by 34 organizations, including…

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CPJ joins UN complaint on behalf of jailed Eritrean journalists

On July 21, 2022, the Committee to Protect Journalists joined the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights in partnership with seven other rights organizations and lawyers in a complaint filed to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention calling for accountability in the cases of Dawit Isaak and fifteen other journalists held behind bars…

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Ethiopian journalist Gobeze Sisay held for more than a week, interrogated about reporting

Nairobi, May 12, 2022 — Ethiopian authorities must thoroughly investigate the detention of journalist Gobeze Sisay and ensure that members of the press are not held for their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. At about 10 a.m. on May 1, a group of eight armed men in plainclothes stormed Gobeze’s residence in…

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South Sudanese journalist Alfred Angasi detained without charge since July 5

Nairobi, July 23, 2021 — South Sudanese authorities should immediately release journalist Alfred Angasi and cease arbitrarily detaining members of the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On July 5, intelligence officials in Juba, the capital, arrested Angasi, a radio presenter at the state-owned South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation (SSBC), according to his sister…

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Libyan National Army ‘sentences’ freelance photojournalist Ismail Abuzreiba al-Zway to 15 years

Washington, D.C., August 4, 2020–The Libyan National Army should immediately release photojournalist Ismail Abuzreiba al-Zway, and stop prosecuting journalists in secret trials and in military courts, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. In a secret trial proceeding held in May 2020, a military court in Benghazi, a city in eastern Libya controlled by the…

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The Egyptian photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid, second right, known as Shawkan, poses for a selfie at his home in Cairo on March 4, 2019. As part of the restrictive terms of his release from prison, the journalist has to spend each night at a police station. (AFP/Khaled Desouki)

Restrictive terms of Shawkan’s release from Egyptian jail highlighted to UN

On October 10, Mahmoud Abu Zeid turned 33. It was the Egyptian photojournalist’s first birthday out of prison since his August 2013 arrest. But in spite of his celebrated freedom in March, the police monitoring conditions of his probation have, in effect, rendered his release obsolete.

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Tents are shown at a refugee camp for internally displaced Syrians in Idlib province on July 30, 2018. Syrian authorities arrested a news anchor for Iraqi Kurdish broadcaster Rudaw, who had recently discussed on air fears of a large-scale military offensive on the province. (Reuters/Khalil Ashawi)

Syrian military intelligence arrests Syrian Kurdish journalist at checkpoint

Beirut, September 5, 2018 — The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on the Syrian authorities to immediately release Omar Kalo, a news anchor for the Iraqi Kurdish satellite news broadcaster Rudaw.

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