Belarusian journalist Yury Hantsarevich detained for 10 days, charged with extremism
Paris, May 9, 2022 – Belarus authorities should drop all charges against journalist Yury Hantsarevich and let the press report freely on the war in Ukraine, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. On May 5, the pro-government Telegram channel Obratnaya Storona published a video in which Hantsarevich, a correspondent for the independent news website…
Afghan journalist Khalid Qaderi sentenced to 1 year in prison
Washington, D.C., May 6, 2022 – Taliban authorities must immediately release Afghan journalist Khalid Qaderi, drop all charges against him, and stop detaining and imprisoning members of the press for their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. A Taliban military court in the western city of Herat sentenced Qaderi to one year in…
Sudanese military holding at least 3 journalists since early April
New York, May 4, 2022 – Sudanese military authorities must immediately and unconditionally release all journalists in custody and ensure that members of the press can work freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. On April 5, military intelligence officers arrested reporter Mohamed Sulaiman al-Obied and photographers Mutaz al-Naeem Adam and Mohamed al-Fatih at…
CPJ urges Cameroon authorities to allow arbitrarily detained journalist Kingsley Fomunyuy Njoka to bury his father
New York, May 3, 2022 – Cameroonian authorities should allow freelance journalist Kingsley Fomunyuy Njoka, who has been held in arbitrary detention without trial in Kondengui Central Prison in the capital Yaounde for almost two years, to leave prison on compassionate grounds to attend his father’s funeral on May 6, and should ensure that he…
Iryna Danylovych missing in Crimea, unidentified men search family’s home
Paris, May 3, 2022 – Russian authorities in Crimea must immediately disclose any information concerning the whereabouts of journalist Iryna Danylovych, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. On the morning of April 29, Danylovychfailed to return home from her work at a medical center in the village of Vladyslavivka, in Russian-occupied Crimea, according to…
CPJ joins call for Indian government to end attacks on the press
On World Press Freedom Day, Tuesday, May 3, the Committee to Protect Journalists joined nine other press freedom and human rights organizations in a statement calling on the government of India, led by the Hindu right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party, to address the rapidly deteriorating state of press freedom throughout the country and in Indian-administered Jammu…
World Press Freedom Day 2022
The Committee to Protect Journalists is marking World Press Freedom Day by highlighting calls for the protection of reporters covering Russia’s war in Ukraine, reminders that journalists are civilians under international law and demands to hold accountable those who target journalists around the world. (#NotATarget) Read, watch and listen to news about what the UN…
Russia charges journalists with disseminating ‘fakes’ about the military; reporter Maria Ponomarenko detained
Paris, April 27, 2022 — Russian authorities should immediately drop all charges against journalists Maria Ponomarenko and Ilya Krasilshchik, release Ponomarenko from custody, and stop persecuting members of the press for allegedly spreading so-called “fakes” about Russia’s war on Ukraine, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. On March 4, President Vladimir Putin enacted amendments…
Slovenian reporter Matej Kavčič arrested by Iraqi military
Beirut, April 27, 2022 – Iraqi authorities must immediately release journalist Matej Kavčič and ensure the foreign press can cover the country freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. On April 20, soldiers with the Iraqi 20th Infantry Division arrested Kavčič, a Slovenian freelance reporter, at an army checkpoint in the northern city of…
As World Cup nears, Qatar and FIFA face fresh scrutiny on press freedom commitments
Exactly one year before the scheduled start of the 2022 football World Cup in Qatar, plainclothes officers from the Gulf state’s Criminal Investigations Department arrested Halvor Ekeland and Lokman Ghorbani, a sports reporter and cameraman respectively for Norwegian state broadcaster NRK, as they were leaving their hotel in the capital of Doha. The NRK journalists…