Internet

Turkish president tells German newspaper jailed correspondent is a terrorist Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in an interview published yesterday, told the German newspaper Die Zeit that Die Welt Turkey correspondent, Turkish-German dual national Deniz Yücel, is a terrorist because he interviewed a leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Turkey considers a terrorist…

New York, June 21, 2017–The Palestinian Authority should cease blocking access to news websites in the West Bank, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The Palestinian Authority’s attorney general, Ahmad Barrak, on June 15 ordered internet service providers to block access to at least 11 news websites, according to news reports.

Mexico City, June 20, 2017–Attempts to spy on Mexican journalists and human rights activists by infiltrating their mobile devices with spyware threaten press freedom in the country, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. A report released in Mexico City yesterday by the press freedom group Article 19 and open internet researchers R3D and the…

Egyptian authorities blocked access to at least 64 websites, including dozens of news websites, between May 24 and June 12, 2017, according to Egyptian human rights group the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression and news reports. The number was substantially higher than the 21 websites security officials on May 24 told Egypt’s official…

As Egypt’s crackdown on the press extends to social media and other communication platforms, many journalists say phishing attempts, trolling, software to monitor social media posts, and a draft law that would require registration for social media users are making them think twice before covering sensitive issues.

Twelve witnesses against journalist say testimony extracted under torture Twelve out of 13 witnesses prosecutors called yesterday to testify that Nedim Türfent, a former reporter for the shuttered, pro-Kurdish Dicle News Agency (DİHA), was a member of a terrorist organization recanted their written testimony, saying police extracted it under torture, the daily Evrensel reported. Police…

New York, May 26, 2017–Egyptian authorities should immediately stop blocking access to news websites, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The Egyptian government on May 24 ordered internet service providers to block access to 21 news websites, alleging that they supported terrorism or reported “false news,” the government’s official Middle East News Agency reported.

New York, May 25, 2017– Authorities in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain should cease blocking access to news websites, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Authorities in the allied kingdoms yesterday blocked access to at least eight Qatari-funded news websites, including those of regional broadcaster Al-Jazeera, according to Al-Jazeera, government statements,…

Washington, D.C., May 3, 2017–The Committee to Protect Journalists strongly condemns China’s move on Tuesday to impose yet more stringent controls on the media and free expression by requiring strict licensing requirements for virtually all forms of news distribution.

Court overturns reporter’s terrorism conviction The Fourth Court of Appeals in the southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakır today overturned its previous conviction of Bertitan Canözer, a former reporter for the shuttered JİNHA news agency, on charges of “making propaganda for a terrorist organization,” the news website Gazete Sujin reported. Police detained Canözer in December 2015…