Staff of Somaliland newspapers face charges
Nairobi, April 22, 2016 – Authorities in Somaliland should immediately drop all legal charges against journalists for their work and ensure that they can do their jobs without fear of reprisal, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. At least three journalists in the semi-autonomous region are expected to stand trial on Saturday, while a…
Russian security forces raid homes of Crimean journalists
New York, April 19, 2016 — Russian authorities should stop harassing journalists in Crimea and should allow them to do their work without fear of retribution, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Federal Security Service (FSB) officers raided the apartments of at least seven people, including at least three journalists, in Crimea today, according…
Kenyan journalist held overnight at police station
David Odongo, a journalist with the privately owned weekly Nairobian newspaper was summoned to Nairobi’s Embakasi police station for questioning the evening of April 15, 2016, according to the Kenya Union of Journalists and news reports. Not long after he arrived, the union and news reports said, police arrested him and held him overnight.
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…