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Mae Sot, Thailand, August 28, 2024 – Myanmar authorities should immediately release journalists Aung San Oo and Myo Myint Oo, who were sentenced to 20 years and life in prison respectively, and stop using terrorism charges to harass the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. A military court inside Myeik Prison sentenced the…

Istanbul, August 27, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists urges X, formerly Twitter, site administrators not to comply with a Turkish court’s order to block accounts belonging to several journalists and media outlets. “Turkish authorities continue to practice the ‘virtual patrolling’ and censorship of social media users under the false guise of national security,” said Gulnoza…

Editor’s note: Bakr al-Kassem was released without charge on September 2, according to media reports. Beirut, August 27, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by Monday’s detention of freelance journalist Bakr al-Kassem in northern Syria and his transfer to Turkish intelligence custody, and calls for his immediate release. “We are deeply concerned that Syrian opposition…

Mexico City, August 27, 2024—Nicaragua has escalated its persecution of critical voices since 2018, pushing freedom of expression to a nearly nonexistent state, according to a joint submission to the United Nations by the Committee to Protect Journalists and eight other journalism and human rights groups. The submission, prepared for Nicaragua’s Universal Periodic Review in…

New York, August 26, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release of Belarusian journalist Dzmitry Luksha, who received a presidential pardon after serving 30 months of a four-year prison sentence. “Belarusian journalist Dzmitry Luksha unjustly served 2 ½ years behind bars when he shouldn’t have spent a day in jail,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program…

New York, August 26, 2024 – The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the killing of Reuters safety adviser Ryan Evans in an attack that also injured three journalists in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk. “The missile strike that killed Reuters safety adviser Ryan Evans and injured three other journalists is a sad and sobering…

The Committee to Protect Journalists and 59 partners on Monday, August 26, wrote to EU High Representative Josep Borrell, European Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis, and EU member state foreign ministries asking that the EU “take action against the Israeli authorities’ unprecedented killing of journalists and other violations of media freedom.” The letter condemns widespread and…

Sulaymaniyah, August 23, 2024—A suspected Turkish drone strike killed two journalists and injured another in the Said Sadiq district of Sulaymaniyah province on Friday.  “We are deeply saddened by the tragic August 23 drone strike that killed two journalists and injured a third in Iraqi Kurdistan,” said Yeganeh Rezaian, CPJ’s interim MENA program coordinator, in Washington, D.C. “Turkish authorities should swiftly…

Taipei, August 23, 2024 – The Hong Kong Immigration Department has denied a work visa to Bloomberg News reporter Haze Fan, a Chinese national who was previously detained for at least 13 months by national security officials in Beijing. “Hong Kong authorities should not normalize the practice of refusing foreign or mainland Chinese journalists visa…

New York, August 23, 2024— The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned about a new law, to be enforced by the Taliban’s morality police, which bans journalists from publishing or broadcasting content that they believe violates Sharia law or insults Muslims. “The Law for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice grants…