CPJ calls for accountability for attacks on media during US Capitol assault
New York, January 8, 2020—U.S. authorities must thoroughly investigate the many attacks on journalists during the violent takeover of the U.S. Capitol this week, and hold the perpetrators to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On January 6, supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. as both houses…
Photojournalist Rahmatullah Nikzad shot and killed in Afghanistan
New York, December 21, 2020 – Afghan authorities must thoroughly investigate the killing of journalist Rahmatullah Nikzad and do everything in their power to ensure that members of the press can work safely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. This evening, in the central Afghan city of Ghazni, unidentified gunmen shot Nikzad, a freelance…
Belarus police attack and detain journalists amid election protests
Vilnius, Lithuania, August 10, 2020 — Belarusian authorities should refrain from assaulting and detaining journalists covering protests, and should hold police officers accountable for attacks on the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Yesterday, riot police in Minsk, the capital, assaulted at least four journalists and detained at least five, according to news…
White House setting wrong example at Trump-Kim summit in Hanoi
Washington, D.C., February 27, 2019–The White House today barred four journalists from covering a dinner in Hanoi between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, citing “sensitivities over shouted questions,” according to news reports. The unusual move came a day after Vietnamese officials relocated the White House press corps filing center from…
Bangladesh orders Shahidul Alam held 7 days; more than a dozen journalists attacked
New York, August 6, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Bangladeshi authorities to immediately halt widespread attacks on journalists covering ongoing student protests in Dhaka and to release photographer Shahidul Alam from jail.
Bangladeshi photographer Shahidul Alam detained after post about Dhaka protests
New York, August 5, 2018–A group of men who said they were from the detective branch of Dhaka police today took Shahidul Alam, a photographer, commentator, and the founder of the Bangladeshi multimedia organization Drik and Pathshala Media Institute, from his home, hours after he posted a video to Facebook about protests in the city,…
Bahrain denies accreditation to journalists
Bahrain has over the past year refused to grant accreditation to several of its own citizens who report for foreign and independent media, including those working for The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, France 24, and Monte Carlo Doualiya. It has on multiple occasions not granted media visas to foreign journalists seeking entry. One of the…
CPJ urges Uzbek president to lift media restrictions
January 23, 2017 Shavkat Mirziyoyev President of Uzbekistan Via email: Presidents_office@press-service.uz Dear President Mirziyoyev, A month after your inauguration as Uzbekistan’s second president, we at the Committee to Protect Journalists are writing to urge you to reverse the repressive media policies of your predecessor, the late President Islam Karimov, and to dismantle damaging restrictions on…
Mexican police attack journalists covering protests
Mexico City, January 12, 2017–Mexican police should quickly and credibly investigate reports that police threatened and attacked journalists covering protests last week and should swiftly bring to justice officers found to have assaulted reporters, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Egyptian photojournalist sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison
A Cairo criminal court on July 18, 2016, sentenced Egyptian freelance photojournalist Belal Darder Mohamed to 15 years in prison in absentia on charges of participating in an unlicensed protest and membership in a terrorist organization, according to press reports. The charges were in connection with his work documenting a December 2014 protest by students…