Pakistani journalist Ajay Lalwani dies after suffering three gunshot wounds
Washington, D.C., March 19, 2021—Authorities in Sindh province, Pakistan, must immediately launch a credible investigation and apprehend those responsible for the killing of journalist Ajay Lalwani, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Lalwani, a local general news correspondent for the privately owned Urdu language Daily Puchano, died yesterday after suffering three gunshot wounds on Wednesday…
Lebanese news website The961 briefly blocked amid currency exchange crackdown
On March 10, 2021, the Lebanese state-run internet service provider Ogero blocked the entire English-language news website The961 for nine hours without warning during a government crackdown on black market money changers, according to the site’s director, who communicated with CPJ by email, and the regional press freedom organization SKeyes Center for Media and Cultural…
Myanmar military files criminal mutiny charges against The Irrawaddy, detains 2 journalists
Bangkok, March 19, 2021 – Myanmar’s military junta should drop all charges against The Irrawaddy news group, stop using legal threats to intimidate journalists covering ongoing anti-coup protests, and release all journalists in its custody, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On March 12, the military government charged The Irrawaddy, a privately owned newspaper, under Article…
Morocco’s new tactic to punish journalists: charge them with sex crimes
Moroccan journalists Taoufik Bouachrine, Soulaiman Raissouni, and Omar Radi have a lot in common. All three have a nose for corruption, penning op-eds or investigations alleging government abuse. And all three have been charged with or sentenced to prison for sex crimes. Press freedom advocates and the journalists’ family members told CPJ that Moroccan authorities are using trumped up…
Somali military court sentences journalist Kilwe Adan Farah to 3 years in prison
Nairobi, March 18, 2021 — In response to yesterday’s decision by a military court in the semi-autonomous Somali state of Puntland sentencing journalist Kilwe Adan Farah to three years in prison, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement: “Sentencing journalist Kilwe Adan Farah to three years in prison, with neither his lawyer nor…
Peruvian presidential candidate files trademark complaint against journalist and Penguin Random House
Bogotá, March 18, 2021 – Peruvian authorities should dismiss the trademark complaint filed by César Acuña Peralta against journalist Christopher Acosta and Penguin Random House, and should not interfere with the distribution of Acosta’s book, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On March 11, Acuña, a former mayor, governor, and congressman who is running…
Cuban police raid newspaper Páginas Villareñas, confiscate equipment and harass staff
Miami, March 18, 2020 — Cuban authorities should return all equipment confiscated from the Páginas Villareñas newspaper, allow it to publish freely, and cease harassing its staffers, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. In the evening of March 14, agents from the National Revolutionary Police and the Political Police detained reporters Yoandy Cuellar and…
RFE/RL contributor Vladyslav Yesypenko arrested, accused of espionage in Crimea
New York, March 18, 2021 – Russian authorities should immediately release journalist Vladyslav Yesypenko and drop all charges against him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On March 10, Federal Security Service officers in Russian-occupied Crimea detained Yesypenko, a freelance journalist, according to news reports and a lawyer hired by his family, Emil Kurbedinov,…
Turkish social media law consolidates news censorship under ‘right to be forgotten’
In late 2020, a Turkish court ruled that the leftist daily Evrensel should remove a news report alleging that a presidential advisor forged their high school diploma. Evrensel complied, Erdi Tütmez, news editor for the outlet told CPJ by email in January; the report was no longer available when CPJ reviewed the site, though it…