2016
CPJ Newsletter: March edition
Landmark conviction in 2000 attack on Colombian journalist A Colombian court on February 26 convicted a former paramilitary fighter in the kidnapping and torture of Colombian journalist Jineth Bedoya and sentenced him to 11 years in prison. The fighter, Alejandro Cárdenas Orozco, was also ordered to pay a fine of around US$17,500.
Ex-paramilitary fighter jailed for 11 years over Jineth Bedoya attack in Colombia
New York, February 26, 2016–The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the sentencing Thursday of former paramilitary fighter Alejandro Cárdenas Orozco to 11 years in prison for the kidnap and torture of Colombian journalist Jineth Bedoya Lima in 2000.
CPJ calls on Turkey to drop charges against Cumhuriyet journalists
Istanbul, February 26, 2016–The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the conditional release today of Turkish journalists Can Dündar and Erdem Gül, of the daily newspaper Cumhuriyet, and calls on authorities to drop all charges against them. The two, who spent 92 days in pre-trial detention, still face multiple life sentences if convicted of exposing state…
Slideshow: Remembering Avijit Roy, one year after blogger’s murder in Dhaka
On the day Avijit Roy was murdered in Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka, I had only just left the country. When I arrived in India later that day a Bangladeshi journalist broke the news to me that Roy had been hacked to death and his wife Rafida Ahmed Bonya, also a blogger, had been critically injured.
Dominican Republic court partially strikes down criminal libel laws
New York, February 25, 2016 — A recent decision by the Dominican Republic’s Constitutional Court to strike down laws providing for criminal penalties for defamation is a step forward in the fight to eliminate criminal defamation laws in the Americas, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. CPJ called on Dominican authorities to strike all…
Nigerian journalist says businessman threatened her over investigative report
Abuja, Nigeria, February 25, 2016–Nigerian authorities should investigate claims that a businessman threatened freelance journalist Augustina Armstrong-Ogbonna over her investigation into his company, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Journalist trapped and injured while reporting in besieged Turkish town dies
New York, February 24, 2016–A news editor for the Kurdish-language daily Azadiya Welat, who had been trapped with a gunshot wound in Cizre since January 22, has died. Authorities used DNA testing to identify the remains of Rohat Aktaş, local reports said today. The exact circumstances of his death are unclear. Pro-opposition and pro-Kurdish media…
79 cases and counting: Legal challenges pile up for Daily Star editor who admitted error in judgment
When Mahfuz Anam, editor of one of Bangladesh’s most respected newspapers, admitted recently to a lapse in editorial judgment several years ago, he could not have predicted the legal backlash that would ensue. Anam’s admission that he published unsubstantiated information accusing Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of corruption has led to a barrage of defamation and…
Court convicts suspect in murder of DRC journalist Soleil Balanga
New York, February 23, 2016–A court in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Monday convicted a suspect of murdering journalist Soleil Balanga in April 2015, in Équateur province, according to a press release issued today by Journaliste en Danger, a Congolese press freedom organization. The High Court of Boende found Moussa Tendenle guilty of having…