Access to VOA and RFE/RL websites restricted in Afghanistan
New York, February 13, 2023 – Taliban officials must cease censoring news outlets in Afghanistan and restore unfettered access to the websites of the U.S.-Congress funded broadcasters Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. The websites of both outlets are inaccessible on three of Afghanistan’s privately owned…
Burkina Faso journalists Lamine Traoré and Ahmed Newton Barry threatened via WhatsApp
Lamine Traoré, a reporter with the privately owned Radio Oméga, and Ahmed Newton Barry, former editor-in-chief of the privately owned newspaper L’Evènement, received separate, anonymous threats via WhatsApp groups in early December 2022, according to press reports and both journalists, who are based in Burkina Faso and spoke to CPJ by phone. Traoré, who also…
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…
Myanmar journalist Sithu Aung Myint sentenced to additional 7 years in prison
Bangkok, December 13, 2022 – In response to news reports that a Myanmar court on December 9 sentenced journalist Sithu Aung Myint to seven years in prison for sedition, adding to his existing five-year sentence, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement calling for his immediate release: “Sithu Aung Myint’s harsh sentencing is the latest disgraceful…
Taliban bans radio broadcasts of VOA and RFE/RL in Afghanistan
New York, December 1, 2022 – Taliban authorities must cease their intensifying crackdown on the media in Afghanistan and reinstate the radio transmissions of the U.S. Congress-funded broadcasters Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. The Taliban’s Ministry of Information and Culture issued the ban, which went…
Somali journalist Mohamed Isse Hassan killed in Mogadishu bomb blast
Nairobi, November 2, 2022—The Committee to Protect Journalists on Wednesday called for accountability for the killing of broadcast journalist Mohamed Isse Hassan and the injuries suffered by two other journalists and one media worker in October 29 twin bomb blasts in the Somali capital, Mogadishu. At least 120 people were killed in two car bomb…
CPJ: Kyrgyzstan’s block of RFE/RL website ‘a flagrant act of censorship’
Stockholm, October 27, 2022 – Kyrgyzstan’s Ministry of Culture, Information, Sports, and Youth Policy on Wednesday announced a two-month block of the website of Radio Azattyk, the local service of U.S. Congress-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, under the country’s false information law after the outlet refused to remove a video report on recent border…
Zimbabwean journalists assaulted, harassed, and blocked from covering events
Lusaka, October 13, 2022—Zimbabwean authorities and ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) should investigate the assaults and harassment of journalists covering events of public interest in the past week, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. “The increasing cases of violence against journalists in Zimbabwe is becoming a serious source of concern and must…
Voice of America reporter Sithu Aung Myint sentenced to three years in prison in Myanmar
Bangkok, October 11, 2022 – Myanmar’s military regime must immediately and unconditionally release journalist Sithu Aung Myint and stop using vague laws to harass and persecute members of the press for merely reporting the news, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. On October 7, an Insein Prison court in Yangon convicted and sentenced Sithu…
Two Zimbabwean journalists denied entry to political rally, one attacked by security agent
Lusaka, September 21, 2022—Zimbabwean authorities should hold accountable the security agent who attacked journalist Ruvimbo Muchenje at a rally for opposition political party Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), and the CCC should ensure journalists are not unduly denied access to its public events or harassed for doing their job, the Committee to Protect Journalists said…