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Hifazat-e-Islam protesters set fire to wood and tires during demonstrations earlier this week. (Reuters)

Journalists caught in political turmoil in Bangladesh

New York, May 8, 2013–The safety of journalists covering political turmoil in Bangladesh must be respected by all parties, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today after at least 11 journalists were reported injured while covering demonstrations by Islamists earlier this week in Dhaka.

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Zimbabwe journalists charged after military-MDC story

Cape Town, South Africa, May 8, 2013–Police in Harare have filed criminal charges against two Zimbabwean journalists on accusations they published “false statements prejudicial to the state” in a story about behind-the-scenes discussions between military leaders and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. 

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Slideshow: Iran’s journalists in chains

Editorial cartoons play a principal role in every newspaper and magazine in Iran, providing news, analysis, and satire in visual form. Since the presidential elections in 2009, when Iranian authorities launched an intense crackdown against journalists, civil society activists, and lawyers, many political cartoonists began to leave Iran. Those who stayed have adjusted their work…

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Pre-election crackdown on Iranian media intensifies

New York, May 8, 2013–At least 40 Iranian journalists were behind bars on April 15, 2013, as authorities intensified a crackdown on the independent media ahead of the June presidential elections, a new report by the Committee to Protect Journalists has found. According to the analysis, Iran is the second leading jailer of journalists in…

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More attacks, legal threats against Yemeni journalists

New York, May 7, 2013 – Yemeni journalists are facing continued physical and legal jeopardy, with one journalist receiving death threats and two others facing politicized defamation charges.

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CPJ, others urge John Kerry to raise rights in Russia

In advance of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit to Moscow this week, Freedom House, the National Endowment for Democracy, and the Committee to Protect Journalists sent him a letter to call attention to the ongoing crackdown in Russia on non-governmental organizations–including those that support press freedom and freedom of expression. 

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Nigeria’s impunity ranking: The facts don’t lie

Nigeria’s press freedom record is on the decline. For the first time since 2008, when CPJ began publishing its annual Impunity Index, Nigeria has made the list of the “worst nations in the world for deadly, unpunished violence against the press.”

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Patrick Paggio Niyonkuru is recovering from a bullet wound to the arm. (Courtesy Patrick Paggio Niyonkuru)

Burundi reporter shot by police for seeking information

Burundi’s government took unusually swift action last week in response to the police shooting of a radio reporter, after the journalist sought information at a roadblock in the capital Bujumbura where market vendors were allegedly being “taxed” for passage. Perhaps the shooting could have been averted if authorities had bothered to discipline officers involved in…

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Malaysian sites report disruption of access near elections

Bangkok, May 3, 2013–Malaysian online news sites say access to their websites is being disrupted in the run-up to the general elections scheduled for Sunday.

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Three journalists briefly abducted in Libya

Three television journalists were briefly abducted in Libya in April 2013, according to news reports.

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