2018

  
Campaign posters for Turkey's elections are seen in Istanbul in June 2018. The press crackdown continues, with more journalists arrested or charged for reporting critically. (Reuters/Osman Orsal)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of June 10

Journalist arrested A court on June 11 ordered Berzan Güneş, a reporter for the pro-Kurdish Mezopotamya news agency, to be arrested pending trial, his employer reported. The indictment accused Güneş of “making propaganda for a [terrorist] organisation” and presented as evidence the journalist’s social media posts, going back to 2014, according to the report. The…

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Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic during an interview on May 14, 2018, in Belgrade. Stefan Cvetković, a prominent Serbian freelance journalist, went missing late June 13. (AFP/Andrej Isakovic)

Police search for missing journalist in Serbia

Berlin, June 14, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on authorities in Vojvodina, the northern province of Serbia, to take all necessary measures to locate Stefan Cvetković, a prominent freelance journalist who went missing last night, according to local news reports.

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The body of journalist Shujaat Bukhari lies inside a police control room in Srinagar on June 14, 2018. Bukhari, the editor of newspaper Rising Kashmir, was shot and killed leaving his office in the city's Press Colony. (AP/Mukhtar Khan)

Rising Kashmir editor Shujaat Bukhari killed in Srinagar

New York, June 14, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today strongly condemned the killing of the editor of the English-language daily newspaper Rising Kashmir, Shujaat Bukhari, in Srinagar, Kashmir. Unknown attackers shot Bukhari today at close range in the city’s Press Colony, according to news reports.

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CPJ announces 2018 International Press Freedom Award winners

New York, June 14, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists will honor journalists from Sudan, Ukraine, Venezuela, and Vietnam with its 2018 International Press Freedom Awards. The journalists have faced legal action, physical attacks, threats, and arrests in retaliation for their work. CPJ is also honoring Philippine journalist Maria Ressa, founder and chief executive officer of…

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Guards attend a flag-raising ceremony at Taipei's Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in March 2018. Taiwan's parliament is considering a draft bill to penalize 'fake news.' (Reuters/Tyrone Siu)

Taiwanese lawmakers propose criminalizing spread of fake news

Taipei, June 13, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Taiwan’s parliament, known as the Legislative Yuan, to reject a proposed amendment that would make spreading fake news punishable by imprisonment or a fine.

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A bus on a central street in the Tanzanian city Dar es Salaam in August 2016. Authorities in Tanzania issued a directive that went into effect yesterday ordering unregistered websites to comply with the country's Electronic and Postal Communications (Online Content) Regulations or cease publication, according to reports. (AFP/Said Khalfan)

Tanzania forces forums, blogs, and streaming websites to comply with draconian regulations

Nairobi, June 12, 2018– Authorities in Tanzania should immediately rescind regulations that force online forums, blogs, and streaming websites to register with the government–a process that requires them to pay large entry fees and comply with draconian regulations–and withdraw threats of legal action for noncompliance, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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Houthi supporters demonstrate in Sanaa, Yemen, on May 15, 2018. A Yemeni journalist died June 2, soon after being released from Houthi custody. (Reuters/Khaled Abdullah)

Journalist dies soon after release from Houthi detention

New York, June 12, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on the UN Security Council to investigate the case of a Yemeni journalist who died from torture while detained by Houthi rebels, according to Nabil Alosaidi, co-chair of the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate.

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Vietnam's parliament votes to approve a cyber security law on June 12, 2018. Vietnamese lawmakers on June 12 approved a sweeping cyber security law which could compel foreign websites to remove critical posts, according to reports. (AFP/Vietnam News Agency)

New cybersecurity law threatens press freedom in Vietnam

Bangkok, June 12, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned a new cybersecurity law that was passed today by Vietnam’s National Assembly as a clear threat to press freedom and called on the Vietnamese government immediately to repeal it.

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A woman uses her cell phone in New York in 2014. A HuffPost reporter and several of his colleagues are receiving threatening and harassing messages via phone and online. (AFP/Jewel Samad)

HuffPost journalist and colleagues receive online threats

At least 11 journalists at HuffPost, their families and others were harassed and threatened online in late May and early June 2018, Lydia Polgreen, editor in chief at HuffPost, told CPJ. The harassment came after the outlet published a piece written by reporter Luke O’Brien that identified the person behind a Twitter account that shares…

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Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko gives a speech in Minsk on May 24, 2018. CPJ called on the Belarusian parliament to reject proposed laws that could further censor the media in the country. (AFP/Sergei Gapon)

Belarus moves to prosecute ‘fake news,’ control the Internet

Kiev, June 8, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on the Belarusian parliament to reject proposed laws that could further censor the media in the country. The Prosecutor General’s Office is drafting a bill on “fake news,” and the lower house of parliament separately is considering amendments to the media law.

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2018