Venezuelan authorities question 2 El Nacional employees, summon 3 others
Bogotá, January 27, 2023 — Venezuelan authorities must drop their criminal investigation into two editors, three reporters, and an administrative employee of the El Nacional news website and allow them to continue their work free of intimidation, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. On Wednesday, January 25, officers of Venezuela’s investigative police unit detained…
Latin America was the deadliest region for journalists in 2022
Journalist killings in 2022 rose nearly 50% globally amid lawlessness and war New York, January 24, 2023—The number of journalists killed worldwide increased sharply in 2022, according to a report published Tuesday by the Committee to Protect Journalists. Latin America was the deadliest region for the press, with 30 journalists killed, accounting for nearly half…
Argentine intelligence agency sues journalists, newspapers over naming agents
Bogotá, January 23, 2023—Argentine authorities should drop the lawsuit filed against journalists Joaquín Morales Solá and Daniel Santoro and their newspapers, and refrain from prosecuting members of the press in retaliation for their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. On January 4, Argentina’s Federal Intelligence Agency, known as the AFI, filed a criminal…
Armenian draft legislation would give government sweeping wartime censorship powers
Stockholm, January 19, 2023 – Armenian authorities should not use military conflicts as an excuse to curtail press freedom and should rework clauses in a draft bill that would threaten press freedom, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. On January 6, the public comment period closed for a bill drafted by the Ministry of…
Hold The Line Coalition welcomes acquittal of Maria Ressa and Rappler, calls for all remaining cases to be closed
January 18, 2023 – The Hold the Line Coalition (HTL) welcomes Wednesday’s Philippine Court of Tax Appeals verdict, which has acquitted Nobel laureate Maria Ressa and Rappler, the news organization she founded, of tax evasion in four of seven cases brought by the government. If they had failed to defend the charges, Ressa could have…
Iranian journalists face long prison terms, lashes, and harsh restrictions over protest coverage
Washington, D.C., January 11, 2023 – Iranian authorities must drop all charges filed against journalists in retaliation for their coverage of protests in the country and stop handing down harsh prison sentences to members of the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. Iranian authorities have arrested at least 88 journalists since September 2022,…
Ugandan constitutional court strikes down criminalization of ‘offensive communication’
Nairobi, January 10, 2023 — In response to news reports that Uganda’s constitutional court on Tuesday, January 10, struck down Section 25 of the country’s Computer Misuse Act, which criminalized “offensive communication,” the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement welcoming the decision: “The Ugandan constitutional court’s decision to nullify provisions of a law…
CPJ calls for release of 2 journalists jailed for covering Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests
Taipei, January 5, 2023 – Hong Kong authorities must immediately release two journalists jailed in relation to their coverage of protests in 2019 and 2020, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. Freelancers Tang Cheuk-yu and Choy Kin-yue are among many facing criminal charges for documenting the city’s historic pro-democracy demonstrations during that period. A…
Tajik journalist Abdusattor Pirmuhammadzoda sentenced to 7 years in prison
Stockholm, December 28, 2022 – In response to news reports that Tajikistan authorities recently sentenced journalist Abdusattor Pirmuhammadzoda to seven years in prison, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued a statement on Wednesday condemning the ruling: “The trial of Abdusattor Pirmuhammadzoda, like the trials of five other journalists recently sentenced to lengthy prison terms on…
Ethiopia must release journalist Meskerem Abera after second detention this year
Nairobi, December 20, 2022 –Ethiopian police should unconditionally release online journalist Meskerem Abera and cease harassing members of the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. Federal police detained Meskerem, the founder and editor of private YouTube-based media outlet Ethio Nikat Media, in the capital Addis Ababa on December 13, her husband, Fitsum Gebremichael, told CPJ by phone….