Algeria sentences cartoonist Benabdelhamid Amine to 3 months in prison
Washington, D.C., December 19, 2019 — A court in Oran, in northwest Algeria, sentenced cartoonist Benabdelhamid Amine to one year in prison on December 11 after finding him guilty of insulting the president, “violating territorial integrity,” and “disseminating publications harmful to national security,” according to news reports. The Djamal City Criminal Court suspended nine months…
Journalist extradited from Turkey and sentenced to 10 years in Iran
Turkish intelligence agents arrested Arash Shoa-Shargh, an Iranian journalist living in exile in Turkey, on January 5, 2018, in Van, a city near Iran’s border, a friend of the journalist, who asked not to be named to protect their safety, told CPJ on December 16, 2019.
Iranian journalist imprisoned, fired, and forced into exile over a single word
In October 2018, authorities arrested Pouyan Khoshhal as he drove through the northern Iranian city of Rasht, by the Caspian Sea. The reason for the journalist’s arrest: his use of the word “death” instead of “martyrdom” to describe a Shiite saint in an article for the reformist newspaper Ebtekar.
For the sake of press freedom, Julian Assange must be defended
Nine years ago this month, the Committee to Protect Journalists took a stand on one of the most polarizing figures in journalism. We wrote President Barack Obama and his attorney general, Eric Holder, urging them not to prosecute Julian Assange.
CPJ launches 2019 #FreeThePress campaign
Instagram campaign to focus on jailed journalists in Kyrgyzstan, Egypt, Eritrea, Vietnam, and elsewhere New York, December 2, 2019–The Committee to Protect Journalists today launched its annual #FreeThePress campaign to raise awareness of jailed journalists globally. The campaign will highlight the plight of several journalists via CPJ’s Instagram account.
Iranian court sentences 2 journalists to jail on propaganda charges
In October 2019, the Tehran Appeals Court sentenced Pouria Alami, a political columnist and satirist with the reformist Shargh Daily, to one year in prison and Tahereh Riahi, the former social affairs editor of the government-funded Borna News Agency, to two and a half years in prison, according to news reports and a person close…
African Union must act on Cameroon’s human rights violations
The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 64 other civil society organizations in calling on the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) to address serious and systematic human rights violations in Cameroon, including the jailing of journalists.
Donetsk militants announce 15-year ‘sentence’ for Ukrainian journalist Stanyslav Aseyev
New York, October 22, 2019 — The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned the announcement by Russia-backed militants in eastern Ukraine that they intend to hold Stanyslav Aseyev, a reporter for the U.S.-backed broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, in a penal colony for 15 years, as reported by his employer.