Russian blogger Yegor Zhukov handed suspended sentence for 2017 protest coverage
Vilnius, Lithuania, December 12, 2019 — Russian authorities should not contest the appeal of journalist Yegor Zhukov and should allow him to work without fear of prosecution, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
At least 250 journalists jailed worldwide for fourth straight year
China and Turkey leading jailers of journalists, followed by Egypt, Saudi Arabia New York, December 11, 2019—The number of journalists imprisoned for their reporting globally reached at least 250 for the fourth consecutive year, with China and Turkey topping the list of the world’s leading jailers, the Committee to Protect Journalists found.
Iranian journalist imprisoned, fired, and forced into exile over a single word
In October 2018, authorities arrested Pouyan Khoshhal as he drove through the northern Iranian city of Rasht, by the Caspian Sea. The reason for the journalist’s arrest: his use of the word “death” instead of “martyrdom” to describe a Shiite saint in an article for the reformist newspaper Ebtekar.
‘I could be jailed at any moment’: Turkish editor in limbo over terms of prison release
If somebody is legally under house arrest but in practice not, are they free? Semiha Şahin, an editor at the socialist Etkin News Agency (ETHA), confronts this question—and the legal ambiguity that it poses—every day. A Turkish court released the journalist under house arrest in June, pending the outcome of her trial, but authorities have…
For the sake of press freedom, Julian Assange must be defended
Nine years ago this month, the Committee to Protect Journalists took a stand on one of the most polarizing figures in journalism. We wrote President Barack Obama and his attorney general, Eric Holder, urging them not to prosecute Julian Assange.
Nigeria and Ethiopia jail activist-journalists amid crackdown on free expression
The ongoing detentions of Nigerian publisher Agba Jalingo and Ethiopian editor Fekadu Mahtemework–the only journalists behind bars for their work in their countries, according to CPJ’s latest prison census–don’t tell the whole story of their governments’ crackdowns on freedom of expression.
US-Nigerian Sahara Reporters website reports assets frozen amid surveillance, censorship
New York, December 10, 2019—Nigerian authorities should halt all efforts to intimidate journalists working with the U.S.-headquartered, Nigeria-focused Sahara Reporters news website and ensure they are permitted to continue working to report the news, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.