CPJ calls on Egypt to free Al-Jazeera journalists
New York, February 11, 2015–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Egyptian authorities to drop the charges against imprisoned Al-Jazeera journalists Mohamed Fadel Fahmy and Baher Mohamed, whose retrial is scheduled to begin on Thursday. A court said it had ordered the retrial because of lack of evidence leading to their conviction of “conspiring with…
Cartoonist detained for critical tweets in Malaysia
Bangkok, February 11, 2015–Malaysian authorities arrested a political cartoonist on Tuesday on accusations of sedition, according to news reports. Zulkiflee Awar Ulhaque, also known as Zunar, was detained after posting critical tweets about a court decision to imprison the country’s main opposition leader.
Azerbaijan must immediately release Khadija Ismayilova
New York, February 6, 2015–The Baku Appeals Court today upheld a lower court’s decision to extend the pretrial detention of investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova to March 24, according to regional press reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists calls for Ismayilova’s immediate release.
CPJ welcomes release of Al-Jazeera journalist Peter Greste
February 1, 2015–Al-Jazeera journalist Peter Greste, who was serving a seven-year prison sentence in Egypt for “conspiring with the Muslim Brotherhood,” was deported today, according to Egypt’s state-run news agency. Greste, who is Australian, was arrested in December 2013 with his colleagues Mohamed Fadel Fahmy and Baher Mohamed.
Azerbaijan continues press crackdown with jail term and arrest extension
New York, January 29, 2015–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Azerbaijani authorities to end their crackdown on the press after a five-year sentence was handed to reporter Seymur Hazi, according to news reports. The pre-trial detention of investigative reporter Khadija Ismayilova was also extended this week, news reports said.
Press threatened and detained as Egypt marks uprising anniversary
New York, January 26, 2015–The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the harassment and detention of journalists in Egypt on Sunday during mass demonstrations to mark the fourth anniversary of the uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
CPJ welcomes release of six Eritrean journalists
Nairobi, January 23, 2015–Six Eritrean journalists who worked for the government-controlled station Radio Bana have been released from jail, according to Eritrean journalists in exile who spoke to the Committee to Protect Journalists. The journalists–Basilos Zemo, Bereket Misguina, Ghirmai Abraham, Meles Nguse, Petros Teferi, and Yirgalem Fesseha–were among the Radio Bana staff arrested in a…
Appeals court orders imprisonment of Macedonian reporter
The Skopje Court of Appeals in the capital, Skopje, on January 15, 2015, reduced Tomislav Kezarovski’s prison term from four and a half years to two years, but ordered the journalist to serve the remaining time–four and a half months–in jail, according to regional and international press. Kezarovski had been serving the term under house…
Burundian journalist arrested, charged after not revealing source
Nairobi, January 21, 2015–Burundian authorities imprisoned the director of the privately owned Radio Publique Africaine on Tuesday and charged him with complicity in murder, according to news reports. The arrest followed the station’s broadcast of an interview in which an unidentified guest said he was involved in the September murder of three Italian nuns, news…