Election

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Riot police prepare ahead of civilian protests in Kinshasa. Journalists covering unrest in the DRC risk being detained, attacked, or harassed. (Reuters/Kenny Katombe)

Journalists covering unrest in the DRC face arrests, assault, and internet shutdowns

On New Year’s Eve, as the world prepared to ring in 2018, Congolese journalist Edmon Izula was being repeatedly hit with a rifle and threatened at gunpoint by a member of the state security forces. Iluza was one of at least three journalists harassed by authorities that day, in a scenario that has become common…

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A cell phone takes photos of an August 2016 meeting in Baku between the presidents of Russia, Iran, and Azerbaijan. President Ilham Aliyev claims internet is 'free of censorship' in Azerbaijan, but authorities have blocked access to critical news websites. (Alexander Nemenov/Pool/AP)

Freedom of speech is guaranteed Aliyev says as Azerbaijan blocks news websites

President Ilham Aliyev claims that in Azerbaijan the internet is free and press freedom is guaranteed. But ahead of the April 11 snap elections, authorities have systematically silenced critical voices online through amending laws and blocking news websites, and hackers have attacked independent news outlets.

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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

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.

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Demonstrators gather outside the Kurdistan Parliament building in Erbil, Iraq, on October 29, 2017. (Reuters/Azad Lashkari)

CPJ Safety Advisory: Security in Iraqi Kurdistan (KRG)

At least 15 journalists were assaulted and seven detained while covering widespread protests across Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq between March 25 and March 27, according to CPJ research and local press freedom and human rights groups. The wave of detentions and assaults has sparked fear among local journalists and press freedom groups that Kurdish authorities will…

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People walk near a billboard showing a picture of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi during the presidential election in Cairo, Egypt, March 28, 2018. During the election, Egyptian authorities blocked news sites and threatened journalists with retaliatory measures, according to reports. (Reuters/Amr Abdallah Dalsh)

Egyptian authorities lash out against media over election coverage

New York, March 30, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned the actions taken by Egyptian authorities against media outlets and journalists reporting on the country’s presidential election, which took place March 26-28.

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Opposition supporters hold placards reading 'Kabila - get lost' and 'Transition without Kabila' during a protest in Kinshasa on November 30, 2017. At least six local journalists were detained while trying to cover protests across the DRC. (AFP/Junior Kannah)

In DRC at least six journalists detained during anti-government protests

Congolese security forces on November 30, 2017, detained at least six local journalists and confiscated their equipment as they tried to cover countrywide protests over President Joseph Kabila’s refusal to stand down when his second five-year term in office expired in 2016 and his refusal to hold elections, according to a local press freedom group…

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Police sit in a vehicle in front of Notre Dame Cathedral in Kinshasa, on February 25, 2018. Amid protests called by the Catholic Church, the DRC Telecommunications Ministry repeatedly orders internet and SMS shutdowns. (Reuters/Goran Tomasevic)

DRC authorities cut access to internet and SMS ahead of protests

On December 30, 2017, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Telecommunications Minister, Emery Okundji, ordered the country’s telecommunications providers to shut internet and SMS services across the country, according to a media report and the local press freedom group L’Observatoire de la liberté de la Presse en Afrique, (the Observatory of Press Freedom in Africa or…

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Catholics sing and dance during a December 31, 2017 demonstration to call for the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to step down. At least three journalists covering the rallies in Kinshasa say police harassed them. (AFP/John Wessels)

DRC security forces harass journalists covering Kabila protests

Security forces in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on December 31, 2017, harassed at least three journalists who were reporting on protests in the capital, Kinshasa, over President Joseph Kabila’s refusal to stand down when his second five-year term in office expired in 2016 and his refusal to hold elections, according to local journalists…

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Presidential election campaign banners in downtown Cairo on March 7, 2018. At least four journalists have been detained since President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi declared his re-election bid. (AFP/Khaled Desouki)

Censorship tightens in Egypt as el-Sisi prepares for re-election bid

Ahead of elections in Egypt later this month, in which President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is seeking a second term, the authoritarian leader’s government has further clamped down on press freedom, issuing warnings to the media and arresting critical journalists on “false news” charges. Even satirical TV shows have not been spared, with AFP reporting how…

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NTV employees in the station's Nairobi studio on January 19. Kenya is ignoring a court order suspending a broadcasting ban on NTV and three other stations. (AFP/Simon Maina)

Kenyan government ignores court order over broadcasting ban

New York, February 2, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on the Kenyan government to obey a court order suspending a broadcasting ban on four privately owned television stations. A high court yesterday ordered the government to lift the ban on Citizen TV, Inooro TV, NTV, and KTN News, for 14 days while a…

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