2016

New York, May 23, 2016–A Kazakhstan court today convicted and sentenced Guzyal Baydalinova, the editor of the independent news website Nakanune, to a year and a half in prison for deliberately distributing false information, according to news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the verdict and calls for Baydalinova’s immediate release.

New York, May 23, 2016 – Chinese authorities should immediately release blogger and commentator Wei Manyi, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Police have detained the blogger for almost a week on suspicion of “provoking trouble.”

Bogotá, Colombia, May 23, 2016 – Salud Hernández-Mora, a Colombian-Spanish journalist who was reporting on human rights violations and the illegal drug trade in northern Colombia, has been missing since Saturday and may have been abducted, according to her employer and the Spanish and the Colombian governments.

Police and officials from the Benue State Water Board detained Pius Iroja Angbo, a correspondent with the independent Channels Television, and cameraman Mike Umele, for roughly four hours on May 18, 2016, Angbo told the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Bangkok, May 23, 2016 – Authorities in Vietnam ordered a British Broadcasting Corporation team to stop reporting on U.S. President Barack Obama’s three-day visit to the country, the BBC reported today. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the censorship and called on Vietnam to stop harassing journalists.

New York, May 20, 2016 – The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned about the disappearance of Chinese writer Huang Zerong, and today called on Chinese police to disclose whether they have him in custody, and why. The 82-year-old writer disappeared from his home last week, according to his wife and press reports.

Qatari security forces on May 5, 2016, detained three journalists for the state-run Danish Broadcasting Corporation, one of the detained journalists, Niels Borchert Holm, told the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Ahead of U.S. President Barack Obama’s May 23-25, 2016, visit to Vietnam, CPJ urges him to make respect for press freedom a condition for closer diplomatic and economic ties.

Israel Defense Forces arrested photojournalist Hazem Naser on April 11, 2016 at a checkpoint near Nablus, a city in the West Bank, according to news reports. The Palestinian journalist was arrested for alleged Hamas-related activity, an Israeli security official told CPJ. As of May 17, 2016 no charges had been brought against Naser and his…