The Torch is a weekly newsletter from the Committee to Protect Journalists that brings you the latest press freedom and journalist safety news from around the world. Subscribe here.
The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomed the release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) editor Alsu Kurmasheva as part of a prisoner exchange, and called on Russia to release other jailed journalists and stop harassing those in exile.
“Evan and Alsu were detained and sentenced on spurious charges intended to punish them for their journalism and stifle independent reporting,” said CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg. “Their release is welcome – but it does not change the fact that Russia continues to suppress a free press. Moscow needs to release all jailed journalists and end its harassment of exiled Russian journalists.”
Gershkovich and Kurmasheva were sentenced on July 19 to 16 years and 6½ years in prison respectively. Gershkovich, a U.S. citizen, spent 16 months in detention before being convicted on charges of espionage; Kurmasheva, a dual U.S.-Russian citizen, was held for more than nine months before she was convicted on charges of spreading “fake” news about the Russian army.
Separately, CPJ welcomed the release and pardon of journalists Taoufik Bouachrine, Soulimane Raissouni, and Omar Radi in Morocco.
- Two years behind bars: CPJ calls for José Rubén Zamora’s immediate release
- Taliban morality police detain Kandahar radio presenter Mohammad Ibrahim Mohtaj
- Iraqi Kurdistan court sentences Syrian journalist to 3 years
- Somali police arrest journalist AliNur Salaad on ‘false reporting’ allegations
- Cyberattackers use easily available tools to target media sites, threaten press freedom
- Chained and blindfolded: Nigerian journalist Segun Olatunji recounts his detention
The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Israel to explain the killing of Al Jazeera Gaza correspondent Ismail Al Ghoul and camera operator Rami Al Refee in an Israeli airstrike west of Gaza City on Wednesday.
“CPJ is dismayed by the news that Al Jazeera TV reporter Ismail Al Ghoul and cameraman Rami Al Refee were killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza,” said CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg, in New York. “Journalists are civilians and should never be targeted. Israel must explain why two more Al Jazeera journalists have been killed in what appears to be a direct strike.”
Al Ghoul and Al Refee were covering the aftermath of the assassination of the senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, reporting from in front of Haniyeh’s home in Gaza an hour before they were killed. Al Jazeera said in its live coverage that Al Ghoul and Al Refee were leaving the scene after an Israeli order to evacuate the area when they were hit, and that it believes the journalists were deliberately targeted.
Al Ghoul was previously arrested by the IDF at Al-Shifa hospital in northern Gaza. CPJ has documented the killing of at least seven journalists and media workers affiliated with Al Jazeera since the start of the Israel-Gaza war last October.
What we are reading (and watching)
- A journalist fights to protect her confidential sources — CNN
- Lawmakers signal crackdown on press freedom following Swazi Secrets — Micah Reddy, ICIJ
- This is what happens when a leader who hates the press is shot — Matúš Kostolny, Columbia Journalism Review
- Opinion | Will democracies fight for Venezuela? — The Washington Post Editorial Board
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