Malaysian Parliament to vote on ‘fake news’ bill
New York, March 26, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on the Malaysian Parliament to withdraw a draft bill on fake news. Under the proposed Anti-Fake News 2018 bill, anyone convicted of creating, circulating or publishing fake news online or on social media could face a 10-year jail term and fine of up to…
CPJ calls on European Council and European Commission to raise press freedom with Turkey
CPJ calls on the presidents of the European Council and European Commission to request the release of Turkish journalists as a matter of priority during a scheduled meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in Varna, Bulgari.
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of March 15, 2018
Supreme Court says Can Dündar should face retrial Turkey’s Supreme Court of Appeals on March 9 ruled that Can Dündar, former chief editor of the daily, Cumhuriyet, and Erdem Gül, the paper’s Ankara representative, should face a retrial on charges of “obtaining secret information with means of espionage,” Euronews reported.
Uzbekistan releases world’s longest-jailed journalist, but two more face trial
New York, March 2, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today confirmed that Yusuf Ruzimuradov, the longest-imprisoned journalist worldwide, was freed in Uzbekistan in late February. CPJ called on authorities to take further steps to improve the climate for the media by dropping charges against two independent journalists who are due in court in a separate…
Changes to Jordan’s hate speech law could further stifle press freedom
Recently proposed amendments to Jordan’s 2015 cybercrime law, including a vague and broad definition of hate speech, will further stifle press freedom on the pretext of protecting the country’s citizens, and could result in further self-censorship, several Jordanian journalists told CPJ.
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of January 29
Journalists arrested Police on the night of January 23 detained İshak Karakaş, chief editor and columnist for the online newspapers Halkın Nabzı and Artı Gerçek, at his Istanbul home as part of a sweeping crackdown on people who have criticized Turkey’s military intervention in Syria, the daily Evrensel reported.
Somaliland journalists sentenced to two years in prison on propaganda charges
Nairobi, January 08, 2017–A Somaliland regional court yesterday sentenced journalists Mohamed Abdilaahi Dabshid and Ahmed Dirie Liltire, to two years of prison on charges of conducting propaganda against the state, bringing Somaliland into contempt and “bringing the flag or national emblem of a foreign state” into contempt, according to a statement by the Human Rights…
Vietnam upholds blogger Mother Mushroom’s 10-year jail sentence
Bangkok, November 30, 2017–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned a Vietnamese appeals court’s decision today to uphold a 10-year prison sentence against blogger Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, widely known as “Me Nam” or “Mother Mushroom.”
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of August 13, 2017
Court jails journalist pending trial for social media activity A court in Turkey’s southeastern Mardin province ordered Mehmet Sıddık Damar, a former reporter for the shuttered, pro-Kurdish Dicle News Agency (DİHA), jailed pending trial on charges of “propagandizing for a [terrorist] organization” in his social media posts, the news website Dihaber reported today. Damar had…
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of August 6, 2017
Police detain journalist Police detained Berivan Altan, a reporter for the news website Dihaber, at checkpoint in the southeastern province of Mersin last night because there was a warrant for her arrest, the website reported today. At the time of publication, Altan was at Mersin Courthouse waiting for a prosecutor to question her.