Mahoney: Biden’s Saudi policy stymies quest for Khashoggi justice
From pariah to potential partner. That’s how far Saudi Arabia has come for President Joe Biden in the five years since Riyadh sent a death squad to butcher journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The administration’s ongoing rehabilitation of the petrodollar kingdom and its de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, widely known as MBS, seems to…
Haitian rum manufacturer sues AyiboPost, editor-in-chief for criminal defamation
Miami, October 6, 2023—The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned about the criminal defamation suit filed by the owner of the rum company Rhum Barbancourt against the independent news website AyiboPost and its editor-in-chief, Widlore Mérancourt, and calls on Haitian authorities to repeal the country’s punitive criminal defamation laws, the organization said Friday. On September…
Exiled Cuban journalist Abraham Jiménez Enoa threatened in Spain
São Paulo, July 26, 2023—Spanish authorities must investigate threats made to exiled Cuban journalist Abraham Jiménez Enoa and ensure his and his family’s safety, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. On Tuesday, July 25, two unidentified men with Cuban accents threatened Jiménez as he was walking home with his two-year-old son in Barcelona, according…
Taliban bans Washington Post journalist Susannah George from returning to Afghanistan
New York, April 20, 2023—Taliban authorities must allow Washington Post journalist Susannah George to return to and work from Afghanistan and should stop all attempts to restrict the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. In a statement on Thursday, April 20, Washington Post Executive Editor Sally Buzbee said that George, the paper’s Islamabad-based…
Iran’s seizure of detained journalists’ devices raises fears of fresh arrests, convictions
Five months after the death of a young woman in morality police custody sparked widespread protests, Iranian authorities are charging journalists who covered the uprising with anti-state crimes. In many of these cases, authorities have powerful tools at their disposal to aid in convictions: journalists’ phones and laptops. CPJ counted at least 95 journalists arrested since the start of the protests….
At least 40 journalists targeted amid Brazil capital riot and aftermath
Rio de Janeiro, January 13, 2023 – Brazilian authorities must investigate all attacks on journalists covering the January 8 riots at the country’s capital and their aftermath, and adopt concrete measures to protect members of the press and reduce widespread hostility against the media, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. On January 8, thousands…
Bolsonaro supporters attack, harass journalists while storming Brazil government buildings
Rio de Janeiro, January 9, 2023 – In response to attacks on members of the press by supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro who stormed the country’s Congress, Federal Supreme Court, and presidential offices Sunday, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement of condemnation: “During this critical time for Brazilian democracy, journalists…
Forensic tools open new front for using phone data to prosecute journalists
On April 13, police in Russia’s Khakassiya republic arrested Mikhail Afanasyev and seized his digital devices. Afanasyev, chief editor of the online magazine Novy Fokus, was detained based on an article about riot police in southern Siberia refusing to serve in Ukraine. He faces a possible 10-year prison sentence for spreading “false” information. It’s not surprising for…
CPJ calls for Twitter to restore accounts of suspended journalists, commit to media freedom
New York, December 16, 2022—Twitter should immediately reinstate the journalists whose accounts it suspended without notice and explicitly commit to practices that defend a free and independent media, Jodie Ginsberg, president of the Committee to Protect Journalists, said in a statement Friday. Responding to news reports that Twitter had suspended the accounts of at least…
Iran detains female photojournalist, four female documentary filmmakers
Washington, D.C., May 16, 2022 — Iranian authorities must stop imprisoning and harassing female journalists and should allow all members of the press to cover the news freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. Since May, Iranian authorities have arrested at least one female photojournalist and four female documentary filmmakers, according to news reports and two…