Offices of independent Belarusian TV station Belsat raided in slander case
New York, April 11, 2019 — Belarusian authorities should immediately drop their criminal slander investigation of independent online television station Belsat and allow the broadcaster’s reporters and staff to work freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Zimbabwe must release filmmaker Zenzele Ndebele
New York, March 21–State security today arrested documentary filmmaker Zenzele Ndebele and charged him with “possession of offensive weapons at public gatherings,” under Section 43 of Zimbabwe’s Criminal Law Code, according to his lawyers and news reports. Security officers found a used tear gas canister in the journalist’s car when he arrived for a meeting…
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of February 10
Police detain two journalists in separate raids Police on February 12 detained Salih Turan, a freelance journalist who formerly worked for the U.S. government-funded broadcaster Voice of America and the Kurdish service of the Russian-state-funded outlet Sputnik, on accusations of “making propaganda of a [terrorist] organization” on social media and “being a member of a…
Tut editor in Belarus court on charge of illegally accessing state media website
Kiev, February 12, 2019–The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Belarusian authorities to end their harassment of Maryna Zolatava, editor-in-chief of the country’s largest independent news website, Tut.by. Zolatava appeared in court in Minsk today on charges of illegally accessing part of a state-owned news outlet’s website and “official inaction,” a charge comparable to negligence,…
Raids, media shutdowns and internet disruptions amid Venezuela crisis
Miami, January 25, 2019–The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Venezuelan authorities to stop blocking news outlets and to ensure that access to the internet is available amid the country’s political crisis and widespread protests.
Gagging orders, legal action, and communist era laws used to try to ‘choke’ Polish press
Polish security agents enter the house of a prominent TV journalist over accusations that he propagated Nazi propaganda. Police summon a reporter over claims that he breached the privacy of the vice-head of the constitutional court. And Poland’s central bank files gagging orders against two papers, demanding they remove several articles about a corruption scandal…
Nigeria’s military raids Daily Trust offices, arrests editor
New York, January 7, 2019–Nigerian authorities should immediately release Uthman Abubakar, an editor of the privately owned Daily Trust, return equipment seized in raids on the paper’s offices, and cease the intimidation of news outlets covering the conflict in Nigeria’s northeast, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Unknown assailants ransack broadcaster’s office in Gaza
Beirut, January 7, 2019 — The Palestinian authorities in Gaza should immediately investigate the January 4 attack on the headquarters of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA)-affiliated Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) in Gaza and swiftly bring those responsible to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
CPJ, international journalists express deep concern over deteriorating press freedom climate in Nicaragua, call for release of detained reporters
CPJ and more than 200 international journalists write to Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega to express deep concern over the recent escalation of aggression against media outlets and journalists covering civil unrest and documenting human rights abuses by police and paramilitary groups.