Defending the European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights is a victim of its success. In 2011, more than 60,000 people sought its help after exhausting all judicial remedies before national courts. But now, some member states of the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe are pushing for reforms of the prestigious institution and are pointing at the number of…
In Boston, journalist Moloney battles to protect sources
In December 2002, the U.N. Tribunal charged with prosecuting war crimes in the former Yugoslavia ruled that Washington Post reporter Jonathan Randal could not be compelled to provide testimony in the case of a Bosnian Serb official accused of carrying out a campaign of ethnic cleansing.”If war correspondents were to be perceived as potential witnesses…
CPJ urges Nepal to adopt free press recommendations
Dear Prime Minister: The International Fact Finding and Advocacy Media Mission to Nepal that met with you in February has finished its review of specific provisions from the country’s draft constitution that the Constituent Assembly will finalize by May 28. As one of the groups on the mission, the Committee to Protect Journalists urges you to encourage the assembly to incorporate the group’s recommended changes before the constitution is finalized. The review and recommendations pertain to freedom of expression, the right to information, and freedom of the press.
Palestinian Authority detains, questions two journalists
New York, April 4, 2012–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the Palestinian Authority’s recent anti-press actions in which one journalist was detained for a week for reporting on alleged corruption and spying and a second was questioned over a critical article and his posts on social media. These actions occurred despite the Authority’s recent announcement…
Blogger fights terror charges as Ethiopian leader praised
Last week in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, while Prime Minister Meles Zenawi was making a speech about Africa’s growth potential at an African Union forum, a journalist who his administration has locked away since September on bogus terrorism charges was presenting his defense before a judge. Eskinder Nega has been one of the most…
A Pakistani ‘sword of Damocles’ in the making?
Given that it is usually punishable by death, “treason” is a dangerous word to bandy about. When it is applied to journalists, it is even more worrisome. We’ve seen that in Sri Lanka, which is in the throes of a backlash against a U.N. resolution on past human rights abuses. (See “Amid Sri Lankan denial,…
Wary about Burma? So are others
Amid the rush to see changes in Burma as an inexorable move toward full democracy–Aung San Suu Kyi’s electoral victory over the weekend is certainly cause for hope–CPJ has maintained a healthy skepticism about media reform in Burma. Shawn Crispin’s “In Burma, press freedom remains an illusion,” posted on Friday, is the most recent example…
Chinese journalist, a Bo Xilai critic, reportedly jailed
New York, March 30, 2012–Authorities in Chongqing must clarify the status of a journalist who reports say was secretly sentenced to prison in 2010 for criticizing a government official in a personal blog, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. CPJ has not been able to independently confirm the journalist’s jail sentence or his whereabouts.
Iraqi cybercrime bill is the worst kind
After the rash of political revolutions and criminal attacks on governments and companies last year, it wasn’t hard to predict that 2012 would be the year of a cybercrime crackdown. The United States is considering its own cybercrime legislation, and the European Union is seeking to harmonize its member state’s computer crime laws. Governments understandably…
Mumbai police, media have failed Jyotirmoy Dey
New Delhi-based Tehelka weekly news magazine has published a scathing indictment of the police investigation into the 2011 killing of Mumbai crime reporter Jyotirmoy Dey–and of the Indian media’s coverage of it. Beneath the allegations and the rumors, we still don’t know exactly why he was killed, while the self-confessed mastermind is a fugitive from…