Kyrgyzstan journalist Bolot Temirov says police planted drugs on him during raid
Stockholm, January 24, 2022 – Kyrgyzstan authorities should immediately and credibly investigate claims that police planted drugs on journalist Bolot Temirov and ensure that employees at his news outlet can work freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. At about 7:30 p.m. on January 22, more than a dozen masked narcotics police officers raided…
Asal Abasian on the danger of being a queer journalist in Iran
After journalist Asal Abasian escaped Iran for Turkey in 2021, they posted a photo of their cropped hair, freshly dyed green, on Instagram for their 30th birthday. “New year, New decade, New life…” Abasian wrote as the caption. As a queer journalist, Abasian’s sexual and professional identity had long put them at risk in Iran,…
CPJ cautiously welcomes UK court decision on Assange, says US must now drop charges
New York, January 24, 2022 – The Committee to Protect Journalists cautiously welcomed a British court’s decision on Monday allowing WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to apply to appeal against a lower court’s ruling that he could be extradited to face criminal charges in the United States. “We are glad that Julian Assange will be allowed…
Mexican photojournalist Margarito Martínez shot and killed in Tijuana
Mexico City, January 22, 2022 – Mexican authorities must thoroughly investigate the killing of Mexican journalist Margarito Martínez and determine whether it was related to his job as a reporter, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Saturday. Martínez, a freelance photographer, was shot and killed at his residence in Tijuana, in the northern Mexican border…
CPJ monitoring Yemen ‘with concern’ after Saudi airstrikes kill dozens and shut down internet
New York, January 21, 2022 – The Committee to Protect Journalists is monitoring with concern the aftermath of a series of Saudi-led coalition airstrikes that killed at least 70 people and cut off nearly all of Yemen’s internet access after hitting a telecommunication facility in the Red Sea port city of Hodeida on Friday. “Journalists…
Cape Verde journalist Hermínio Silves summoned over reporting on alleged police abuses
New York, January 21, 2022 — Cape Verdean authorities must drop their investigation into journalist Hermínio Silves and should not compel journalists to disclose confidential information about their sources or criminalize the disclosure of information in the public interest, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Since early January, the attorney general’s office in Praia,…
Mexican journalist José Luis Gamboa stabbed to death in Veracruz
Mexico City, January 21, 2022 – Mexican authorities must conduct a swift, thorough, and transparent investigation into the killing of journalist José Luis Gamboa Arenas and determine whether he was targeted for his work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On January 10, Gamboa’s body was found in the Floresta neighborhood of the eastern…
Kazakhstan authorities jail, question journalists in protest aftermath
Stockholm, January 20, 2022 – Authorities in Kazakhstan must stop jailing and summoning for questioning journalists who covered the recent nationwide protests, and allow the press to work freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Since January 7, Kazakh authorities have sentenced at least three journalists to periods of detention ranging from 10 to…
‘Nothing like this ever happened here before’: Journalists describe covering mass protests in Kazakhstan
The nationwide antigovernment protests that erupted in early January 2022 in Kazakhstan – which left 225 dead, according to official figures – upended the country’s reputation as one of Eurasia’s most stable authoritarian regimes. They also posed an enormous challenge to Kazakh journalists. Journalists working to cover the unrest were detained by riot police and…
Myanmar junta arrests 3 employees of Dawei Watch news website
Bangkok, January 20, 2022 – Myanmar authorities must immediately release the three recently arrested employees of the Dawei Watch news website and cease detaining members of the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. During the night of January 18 to 19, authorities arrested Dawei Watch reporters Ko Zaw and Ma Moe Myint and web…