Azerbaijani journalist Aziz Orujov detained for 3 months, office and home searched
Stockholm, November 29, 2023—Azerbaijani authorities should release Aziz Orujov, director of the popular television channel Kanal 13, from detention on charges of illegal construction, and cease their legal harassment of independent media, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. The Sabail District Court in Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, on Tuesday ordered that Orujov be held in…
Russia extends detention of US journalist Evan Gershkovich by 2 months
New York, November 28, 2023—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a Russian court’s decision on Tuesday to extend the pretrial detention of U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich until January 30, 2024. “While the latest extension of the detention of U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich—who has been wrongly detained in Russia for the past eight months—was expected, it…
Former state security agent convicted in torture of Colombian journalist Claudia Julieta Duque
New York, November 28, 2023—The Committee to Protect Journalists strongly supports a Bogotá superior district court’s November decision to convict a former Colombian state security agent of aggravated torture against journalist Claudia Julieta Duque. “We welcome this overdue conviction as a necessary victory against impunity in crimes against journalists in Colombia,” said Carlos Martínez de…
CPJ joins letter on Alaa Abdelfattah to UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention
The Committee to Protect Journalists, along with 33 other rights organizations, has signed on to the following letter in support of a submission to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD) about the case of jailed Egyptian blogger Alaa Abdelfattah. Read more about Abdelfattah and other journalists imprisoned in Egypt here. 23 November…
‘I’ll be killed if they find me’: Radio reporter Maxo Dorvil flees Haiti amid gang violence
Haitian radio journalist Maxo Dorvil fled the country on November 7, 2023, after reporting that he was shot at twice in less than two weeks near his home on the outskirts of the capital Port-au-Prince. The 44-year-old journalist with the independent broadcaster Radio Télé Zip said he was shot at by two armed men on…
Burkina Faso conscripts 2 journalists critical of junta, another fears kidnapping
Dakar, November 22, 2023—Burkinabe authorities must revoke the military conscription of journalists Issaka Lingani and Yacouba Ladji Bama and ensure the safety of journalist Boureima Ouedraogo in the face of kidnap threats, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Wednesday. In early November, the army ordered Lingani and Bama to report for military training and…
CPJ calls for Brazilian journalist Schirlei Alves to be spared jail over rape trial report
São Paulo, November 22, 2023—The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Brazil’s courts to overturn a one-year jail sentence given to journalist Schirlei Alves for her reporting on the mistreatment of a woman during a high-profile rape trial. On November 15, Alves, a freelance journalist, was sentenced to a year in prison and ordered to…
Bangladeshi journalist Md Nahid Hasan attacked while reporting on political clash
New York, November 22, 2023—Bangladesh authorities must immediately and impartially investigate the recent attack on journalist Md Nahid Hasan while reporting on a clash allegedly involving the student wing of the ruling Awami League and hold the perpetrators accountable, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. On Monday evening, about 20 to 25 men attacked…
Exiled Bangladeshi journalist Zulkarnain Saer Khan decries Weekly Blitz smear campaign
U.K.-based exiled Bangladeshi journalist Zulkarnain Saer Khan told the Committee to Protect Journalists that the Bangladeshi tabloid Weekly Blitz has since late September published a series of articles falsely accusing him of acting as an operative for the Palestinian militant group Hamas and engaging in criminal activities. The articles have been reviewed by CPJ. Several…
Azerbaijani anti-corruption journalists Ulvi Hasanli and Sevinj Vagifgizi detained for 4 months
Stockholm, November 21, 2023—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Azerbaijani authorities to release Abzas Media director Ulvi Hasanli and chief editor Sevinj Vagifgizi and to disclose the whereabouts of Hasanli’s assistant, Mahammad Kekalov, who has been missing since Monday. A district court in the capital of Baku on Tuesday ordered that Hasanli and Vagifgizi remain…