Burma takes another step toward repressing its media
New York, July 10, 2014–Donor countries should bring diplomatic pressure on Burma’s government and reconsider their economic support for the country following Thursday’s sentencing of four journalists of a magazine and the publication’s chief executive to 10 years of hard labor in prison, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Turkish cartoonist jailed for insulting religious leader
On June 12, 2014, Mehmet Düzenli, a cartoonist, was taken into custody to begin serving a three-month prison term he was given after being convicted of insulting controversial religious leader and TV figure Adnan Oktar (also known as Harun Yahya) in his drawings. The daily pro-opposition newspaper Cumhuriyet reported that Düzenli was convicted by the…
In China, journalist released after weeks in jail
Shi Ping, a Henan-born Time Weekly journalist who wrote under the penname Shi Yu, was arrested on May 26, 2014, in connection with his alleged attendance at small-scale Tiananmen memorial events, the journalist said on his Weibo microblog page. He was accused of “gathering a crowd to disturb social order.”
China releases journalists from prison
As in past years, China in 2014 arrested some journalists and activists in the run-up to the anniversary of the massacre of protesters in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989. This year, journalists were also arrested in possible connection to an ongoing police probe into prominent human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang and for reporting on…
China puts Tibetan writer and husband under house arrest amid Kerry visit
New York, July 9, 2014–Chinese authorities should immediately release two writers who have been placed under house arrest in Beijing, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The move comes as China hosts U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.
The 2009 Iran crackdown continues today
Five years ago on Monday, CPJ announced that Iran had officially become the world’s leading jailer of journalists in the world. The announcement came on the heels of an unprecedented crackdown on the press that began on June 12, 2009, the day of Iran’s tumultuous presidential election that sparked a mass protest movement.
In Iran, series of arrests and prosecutions target journalists
In the first few months of 2014, multiple journalists were arrested, interrogated, and prosecuted in Iran. Authorities pursued a revolving-door policy in imprisoning journalists, freeing some detainees on short-term furloughs even as they make new arrests.
Zone 9 blogger urges world to call for freedom in Ethiopia
In April, the Ethiopian government imprisoned nine journalists, including six bloggers from Zone 9, in one of the worst crackdowns against free expression in the country. Ethiopia is the second worst jailer of journalists in Africa, trailing only Eritrea, according to CPJ research.
Tibetan writers released from prison in China
Two Tibetan writers were released from prison in Sichuan province on June 20, 2014, after completing four-year jail terms given to them in June 2010, according to reports. Jangtse Donkho and Buddha were convicted in the Aba Intermediate Court on charges of “incitement to split the nation,” reports said.