Abe administration throttles media independence, journalists and UN say
Late in 2015, the Japanese government asked David Kaye, the U.N. special rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, to reschedule a visit planned for December. At the time, some news outlets speculated that the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, under criticism for rising threats to free expression, was trying to…
CPJ alarmed by WhatsApp block in Brazil
New York, May 2, 2016–The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by a judicial order to block WhatsApp in Brazil for 72 hours. A judge ordered telecommunications companies to block the messaging application as of 2 p.m. local time today for failing to turn over data in a criminal investigation, according to press reports.
Turkey responds to CPJ letter on Zaman takeover, denying move is politically motivated
When riot police stormed the Istanbul offices of Turkey’s largest newspaper, the daily Zaman, on March 4 following a court-ordered takeover, the Committee to Protect Journalists sent a public letter to Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, expressing dismay at the government’s actions and calling on him to uphold press freedom in Turkey.
CPJ joins call for World Bank to adopt human rights policy
The Committee to Protect Journalists has joined Social Justice Connection and other press freedom and human rights groups in calling on the World Bank to adopt a human rights policy at its annual spring meeting in Washington D.C. In a letter to the president of World Bank, Jim Yong Kim, the groups urged the bank…
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…
In Somaliland, authorities order newspaper to close down
Nairobi, March 31, 2016–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on authorities in the semi-autonomous republic of Somaliland to reopen the daily Codka Shacabka (The Voice of the People). The attorney general’s office issued an order March 24 for the privately owned paper to immediately cease publication, according to human rights campaigners.
