New accreditation requirements restrict press access to Nigeria’s National Assembly
Berlin, May 21, 2019 — Authorities in Nigeria should withdraw new media accreditation requirements for accessing the National Assembly, the country’s legislature, and ensure that future regulations do not unduly limit freedom of the press and access to information, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Uribe lawsuit part of ‘systematic campaign to silence me,’ Colombian reporter Coronell says
A civil defamation lawsuit filed in a U.S. court by former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe Vélez against journalist Daniel Coronell is the latest broadside in a long and bitter dispute pitting one of Colombia’s most powerful politicians against an investigative reporter.
French reporters questioned by intelligence service in leak investigation
Berlin, May 14, 2019 — The General Directorate for Internal Security, France’s domestic intelligence agency, should stop pursuing investigative journalists Geoffrey Livolsi, Mathias Destal, and Benoît Collombat in a leak investigation, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Tunisian media regulator shuts down Nessma TV, citing regulatory violation
On April 25, 2019, Tunisian police raided the studios of privately owned television broadcaster Nessma TV and confiscated its broadcasting equipment following a ruling by the High Independent Authority of Audiovisual Communication, the country’s media regulator, stating that the broadcaster did not have proper legal status, according to Reuters and local news reports.
Peruvian judge orders assets freeze for Ojo Público, 2 journalists in defamation case
Bogotá, Colombia, April 29, 2019– A Peruvian court has ordered assets belonging to the independent news website Ojo Público, its executive director Óscar Castilla, and La República investigative reporter Edmundo Cruz, to be frozen while a criminal defamation complaint against them is heard, according to news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on…
Turkey can jail Cumhuriyet staff ‘at any minute,’ lawyers say
Istanbul, April 22, 2019–The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Turkish authorities to not take eight former employees from the daily Cumhuriyet into custody until the Supreme Court has heard their colleagues’ appeal. At a press conference in Istanbul today, lawyers representing the employees said they would ask authorities to delay acting on a local…
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of April 14, 2019
Sözcü journalists on trial At a hearing for journalists from the opposition daily Sözcü, in Istanbul, on April 18, the prosecutor asked that seven staff members be found guilty for “willingly and knowingly helping a [terrorist] organization without being in its hierarchical structure,” the news website Diken reported. The prosecutors argued that Sözcü was aiding…
CPJ troubled by prosecution of Julian Assange
New York, April 11, 2019–The Committee to Protect Journalists today said it was deeply concerned by the U.S. prosecution of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Authorities in the United Kingdom arrested Assange this morning at the Ecuadoran Embassy as part of an extradition agreement with the U.S., according to a statement by the U.S. Department of…
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of April 7, 2019
14 trials in one week for Özgür Gündem publisher Over the course of one week, Turkish courts agreed to proceed with 14 cases involving Ziya Çiçekçi, a former publisher of the shuttered pro-Kurdish daily Özgür Gündem, the Mezopotamya News Agency (MA) reported. All but one of the cases involve accusations of “making propaganda for a…