Pakistan Supreme Court orders release, issues acquittals in Daniel Pearl murder case
Washington, D.C., January 28, 2021–The Supreme Court of Pakistan today ordered the release of Ahmad Omar Saeed Sheikh, who was previously convicted in the 2002 murder of Wall Street Journal correspondent Daniel Pearl, and acquitted him and three others of the murder charges, according to news reports. “We are deeply disappointed that Pakistan’s Supreme Court…
Prospects bleak for recovery of US media presence in China
The slugfest between China and the U.S. over the treatment of media workers in each country appears to have paused. Rather than expel each other’s journalists, as they did a few months ago, each side in early July imposed registration and reporting requirements on those remaining—still many more Chinese in the U.S. than Americans in…
Family of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl files to uphold convictions in 2002 murder
Washington, D.C., May 2, 2020 — The parents of murdered Wall Street Journal correspondent Daniel Pearl today filed an appeal to the Pakistani Supreme Court to reverse the April 2 decision of the Sindh High Court that overturned convictions of four men in Pearl’s 2002 kidnapping and murder case, according to copies of court documents…
Colombian military monitored local, international journalists, Semana reports
New York, May 1, 2020 — The Committee to Protect Journalists today expressed alarm at a new report alleging that Colombian military intelligence officials carried out an extensive monitoring operation targeting more than 130 individuals including more than 30 national and international journalists, and called on authorities to immediately undertake a transparent investigation into the…
Turkey convicts Wall Street Journal reporter of terrorism
New York, October 10, 2017–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the conviction today of Wall Street Journal reporter Ayla Albayrak, and called on Turkish authorities to stop their relentless crackdown on the press. As the Journal reported, a court in the southeastern city of Cizre convicted Albayrak in absentia of terrorism and sentenced her to…
Amid financial scandal, Malaysia increases pressure on media
A financial scandal involving a state investment fund created and overseen by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, exposed in turns by investigative journalists, has put a parallel spotlight on the country’s deteriorating press freedom situation. A suggestion by the government’s top lawyer to strengthen the 1972 Official Secrets Act to penalize journalists who decline to…
Dogged by fraud allegations, Malaysia targets media
Investigative reporting on alleged mismanagement of a Malaysian state investment fund has triggered a backlash against muckraking media. On Friday, the Home Ministry ordered the suspension of two local news publications, The Edge Weekly and The Edge Financial Daily, for three months on the grounds that their reporting on the fund, known as 1Malaysia Development…
Blogger in Singapore faces financial ruin following defamation suit
“If we want our freedom, we have to fight for it,” wrote blogger Roy Ngerng last year after he was sued for defamation by Singapore’s prime minister. The case was sparked by a blog post in which Ngerng allegedly suggested Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had misappropriated funds in a state pension system. In November,…
Lee Kuan Yew’s legacy
What to make of Singapore’s first and former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, who died Monday morning in the city-state? Under the banner of the People’s Action Party, Lee held government power for three decades. After stepping away from the prime minister’s office in 1990, he held positions of senior minister and later “minister mentor”…
CPJ calls for probe into French journalist’s death in CAR
New York, May 13, 2014–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls for an immediate investigation into the death of French freelance photojournalist Camille Lepage, 26, in the Central African Republic. In a statement issued today, the French government said that French troops had discovered Lepage’s body in a vehicle driven by fighters of the anti-Balaka Christian…