CPJ calls on Ukrainian lawmakers to drop media bill
Paris, September 13, 2022 – In response to media reports that Ukraine’s parliament passed in its first reading on August 30 a media bill that threatens to restrict press freedom, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement calling for the bill to be dropped: “Ukraine’s media bill seriously imperils press freedom in the country by tightening government…
Azerbaijani journalist Avaz Zeynalli, lawyer Elchin Sadygov remanded for 4 months on bribery charges
New York, September 12, 2022 – Azerbaijani authorities should release journalist Avaz Zeynalli and lawyer Elchin Sadygov and drop the charges against them, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. On Saturday, September 10, uniformed officers who identified themselves as part of the prosecutor general’s office arrested Zeynalli, owner and chief editor of the independent…
Spain is set to reform ‘gag law,’ but press freedom groups are skeptical
In May, Diego Díaz Alonso, editor of Spanish non-profit news outlet Nortes, was surprised to receive a 601 euro (US$611) fine in the mail. The letter claimed that Díaz Alonso had resisted police and obstructed emergency services as they were treating a homeless person lying unconscious in the street in Gijón, in northern Spain, the previous summer….
Rwandan prosecutors request 22-year prison sentences for 3 Iwacu TV journalists
Nairobi, September 6, 2022—Rwandan authorities should release three Iwacu TV journalists held in detention, ensure they face no further legal harassment, and guarantee that members of the press are not imprisoned for their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. Authorities arrested Damascene Mutuyimana, Shadrack Niyonsenga, and Jean Baptiste Nshimiyimana, reporters for the YouTube-based…
Russian prosecutor requests 24 years in prison for journalist Ivan Safronov
Paris, August 30, 2022–In response to media reports that a Russian prosecutor on Tuesday asked that journalist Ivan Safronov be sentenced to 24 years in prison, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement of condemnation: “The Russian prosecutor’s request that journalist Ivan Safronov be jailed for 24 years is shocking even by the…
Mozambican journalist Gil Namelo assaulted, forced to delete photographs by port official
Around noon on August 13, 2022, Agostinho Conde da Silva, an official with Mozambique’s state-owned port and railway authority, assaulted journalist Gil Namelo in the port city of Quelimane, according to news reports, a statement by the Mozambique chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), and Namelo, who spoke to CPJ via messaging…
Bangladeshi journalist Imran Hossain Titu investigated under Digital Security Act
On April 5, 2022, the Barisal Cyber Tribunal, which adjudicates alleged cybercrime offenses in Bangladesh’s southern Barisal division, accepted a complaint against Imran Hossain Titu, the Barguna district correspondent for privately owned broadcaster Ekattor TV, for allegedly violating the Digital Security Act, according to a statement by the Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists, a local…
Turkish court rejects request to release 15 journalists from pretrial detention
Istanbul, August 22, 2022 – In response to news reports that a Turkish court in the southeastern city of Diyarbakır rejected appeals to release 15 journalists and one media worker from pretrial detention, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement of condemnation: “We are deeply disappointed by the court’s decision to reject a…
Tunisian journalist Salah Attia sentenced to 3 months in prison
New York, August 17, 2022 – A Tunisian military court in the capital Tunis on Tuesday, August 16, sentenced journalist Salah Attia, founder and editor-in-chief of local independent news website Al-Ray al-Jadid, to three months in prison, according to news reports and Sondes Attia, the journalist’s daughter, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app. The…
CPJ calls on Vietnam authorities to release IPFA winner Pham Doan Trang
Bangkok, August 16, 2022 – In response to news reports that the Hanoi People’s High Court in Vietnam will hold an appeals trial on August 25 for imprisoned journalist Pham Doan Trang, who was sentenced on propaganda charges to nine years imprisonment in December 2021, the Committee to Protect Journalists on Tuesday issued the following statement calling for…