Criminal Defamation Archives - Page 10 of 14 - Committee to Protect Journalists

Sunset at the seaside in Beirut, Lebanon in May 2018. Beirut's Publication Court on July 5, 2018, convicted and fined five Lebanese journalists for offenses including criminal defamation and spreading false news, according to reports. (Reuters/ Jamal Saidi)

Lebanon charges journalists with defamation, false news

July 12, 2018 4:13 PM EDT

Beirut’s Publication Court, headed by Judge Raffoul Bustani, on July 5, 2018, convicted and fined five Lebanese journalists for offenses including criminal defamation and spreading false news, according to news reports and the regional press freedom group Skeyes Center for Media and Cultural Freedom. The court, which deals with media regulation, issued the fines in…

A woman casts her ballot in general elections at a polling station in the village of Nyakosoba, Lesotho, on June 3, 2017. Lesotho's Constitutional Court declared criminal defamation unconstitutional on May 21, 2018. (Gianluigi Guercia/AFP)

Lesotho Constitutional Court declares criminal defamation unconstitutional

May 22, 2018 4:04 PM EDT

New York, May 22, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today welcomed yesterday’s ruling by Lesotho’s Constitutional Court that criminal defamation is unconstitutional, calling it a significant step toward safeguarding press freedom in the country.

Passengers wait at a bus stop in Almaty, Kazakhstan, in early 2018. Kazakh authorities raided two news outlets and confiscated equipment in April. (Retuers/Shamil Zhumatov)

Kazakhstan police raid newsrooms, detain journalists, seize equipment

April 13, 2018 6:00 PM EDT

New York, April 13, 2018–Kazakh authorities should stop harassing journalists with the independent news outlets Forbes Kazakhstan and Ratel and dismiss criminal defamation suits against the two outlets and their journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Copies of Indian newspapers are spread across a desk during a CPJ visit to the country in early 2018. (CPJ/Aliya Iftikhar)

Weight of legal cases and threats leave India’s journalists feeling exposed and alone

April 10, 2018 10:00 AM EDT

The media is in the worst state India has ever seen. That is how several journalists described the current climate in dozens of conversations with CPJ during a trip to Mumbai, Bangalore, and Delhi earlier this year. While the threats they outlined–political pressure, self-censorship, defamation suits, and attacks–are not a new phenomenon in India, many…

Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev arrives in Brussels in November 2017. Azerbaijan has continued to harass and censor its press ahead of snap elections scheduled for April 11. (AP/Olivier Matthys/File)

Azerbaijan goes to the polls amid muzzled media and blocked websites

April 6, 2018 12:02 PM EDT

When it comes to silencing critics, Azerbaijani authorities have been industrious and methodical. Ahead of snap presidential elections scheduled for April 11, potential opposition candidates have been either jailed or barred from running, and the political landscape has been cleansed of virtually all formal avenues of expressing dissent.

A man reads a newspaper outside a Dhaka flower stall in 2015. Bangladesh's press say a climate of fear amid legal action, attacks, and threats makes covering sensitive issues difficult. (AP)

Bangladesh’s press say they are losing the courage to report amid threats from all sides

February 13, 2018 11:35 AM EST

Nazmul Huda pointed his TV camera at garment workers demonstrating for higher wages in Savar, on the outskirts of Dhaka, and at the police firing tear gas and rubber bullets at them. It took a while for police to notice the ETV reporter, and they were furious. After all, they had ordered him to leave…

Bangladeshi journalists cover proceedings outside a Dhaka court in May 2016. The country's vaguely worded defamation law is creating a climate of self censorship, local reporters say. (AP/A.M. Ahad)

Bangladesh’s defamation law is ‘avenue to misuse power,’ local journalists say

December 8, 2017 1:07 PM EST

It started with a Facebook post about a goat and ended in a day in jail for Bangladeshi journalist Abdul Latif Morol, when a fellow journalist filed a defamation complaint against him.

An Indian flag is painted on a woman's face during rehearsals for India's Independence Day celebrations in Ahmedabad. A court in the city issued an injunction against the news website The Wire. (Reuters/Amit Dave)

Indian court bars The Wire from publishing stories on businessman Jay Shah

October 24, 2017 4:30 PM EDT

New Delhi, October 24, 2017– The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned a decision by India’s judiciary to proceed with a criminal defamation complaint against The Wire and issue an injunction preventing the news website from reporting about Jay Shah, the son of the ruling BJP party’s president Amit Shah, while the defamation case is…

Supporters donate money to Maldives broadcaster Raajje TV, which has been subject to large fines for alleged defamation in relation to its critical reporting. (Raajje TV/Mohamed Sharuhaan)

Maldives repeatedly slaps Raajje TV with huge fines under defamation law

October 24, 2017 4:00 PM EDT

One of the largest TV stations in the Maldives, Raajje TV, says authorities are using newly recriminalized defamation law to try to shut it down by levying exorbitant fines.

A general view of Hargeisa in May 2016. A court in the city sentenced a Somaliland journalist to 18 months in prison. (AFP/Mohamed Abdiwahab)

Somaliland court jails journalist for 18 months

October 10, 2017 4:20 PM EDT

Nairobi, October 10, 2017–The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned the conviction and sentencing of Somaliland journalist Mohamed Adan Dirir during a one-day trial held without the journalist’s lawyer.