CPJ calls on Taliban to drop plans to restrict Facebook access in Afghanistan
New York, April 8, 2024 – The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by reports that the Taliban plans to restrict or block access to Facebook in Afghanistan and calls on authorities not to move ahead on a measure that would further impede the free flow of information in the country. On April 6, Najibullah Haqqani, the Taliban’s acting…
Exiled Afghan journalist Ahmad Hanayesh shot in Pakistan
New York, April 4, 2024—Pakistani authorities must promptly investigate Wednesday’s shooting of exiled Afghan journalist Ahmad Hanayesh by two gunmen on a motorcycle and bring the assailants to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. Hanayesh, also known by his birth name Abdul Aleem Saqib, was returning home on the evening of April 3…
Russia extends detention of journalist Alsu Kurmasheva by 2 months
New York, April 1, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned a Russian court’s decision on Monday to extend the pretrial detention of U.S.-Russian journalist Alsu Kurmasheva until June 5 and called for her immediate release. “Russian authorities have been holding journalist Alsu Kurmasheva for over five months on charges directly connected with her journalistic work. Today’s extension…
‘Our kids miss their mom’: Husband of journalist Alsu Kurmasheva speaks out about her detention in Russia
Alsu Kurmasheva, an editor with the Tatar-Bashkir service of U.S. Congress-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and a dual U.S.-Russian citizen, has been in Russian detention since October 18, when authorities in the western city of Kazan charged her with failure to register herself as a foreign agent. If found guilty, Kurmasheva faces up to…
CPJ condemns Russia’s extended detention of RFE/RL journalist Alsu Kurmasheva
New York, October 23, 2023—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a Russian court’s decision on Monday to detain U.S.-Russian journalist Alsu Kurmasheva until December 5 on charges of failing to register herself as a foreign agent. In a closed-door hearing on Monday, a court in the western Russian city of Kazan ordered Kurmasheva, an editor…
Russian authorities detain RFE/RL journalist Alsu Kurmasheva
New York, October 18, 2023—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by Wednesday’s detention of journalist Alsu Kurmasheva in the western Russian city of Kazan and calls on Russian authorities to release her immediately. “CPJ is deeply concerned by the detention of U.S-Russian journalist Alsu Kurmasheva on spurious criminal charges and calls on Russian…
Ukrainian photojournalist Ihor Hudenko missing in Kharkiv since February
New York, May 10, 2022 – Anyone with information concerning the whereabouts of Ukrainian photojournalist and blogger Ihor Hudenko should come forward immediately, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. Hudenko lost contact with his friends and family while in the northeastern city of Kharkiv on February 26, according to the National Union of Journalists…
Russia-Ukraine watch
How the war is affecting press freedom in the region Updated June 16, 2022 Russia’s February 24 full-scale invasion of Ukraine marked a sharp escalation in threats to press freedom in the region and beyond. Journalists in Ukraine have been killed covering the war, while many of their Russian counterparts have fled or faced persecution….
Russian court in Crimea sentences RFE/RL journalist Vladislav Yesypenko to 6 years in prison
New York, February 17, 2022 – Russian authorities in Crimea should not contest journalist Vladislav Yesypenko’s appeal and should release him immediately and cease prosecuting members of the press for their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. On Wednesday, February 16, a court in Simferopol, the capital of Russian-occupied Crimea, convicted Yesypenko, a…
Freelance journalist Andrey Kuznechyk detained in Belarus
Vilnius, Lithuania, November 29, 2021 — Belarusian authorities should immediately release journalist Andrey Kuznechyk and stop detaining independent journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On November 25, Kuznechyk, a freelance correspondent for Radio Svaboda, the Belarusian-language service of the U.S. Congress-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), returned to his home in Minsk, the…