Kurdish authorities detain journalist who reported on theft verdict
New York, May 24, 2017–Authorities in northern Iraq should immediately release Aram Bakhtiar, a journalist for the independent broadcaster NRT, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Kurdish security forces arrested Bakhtiar on May 22 on accusations of defaming a judge, NRT deputy newsroom manager Soran Rashid told CPJ. The channel’s director, Awat Ali, today…
Azerbaijani journalist sentenced to 30 days in prison
New York, May 24, 2017–Azerbaijani authorities should immediately release freelance journalist Nijat Amiraslanov, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. A district court in the northwestern Azerbaijani city of Gazakh yesterday sentenced the journalist to 30 days in prison on charges of resisting police.
Ethiopian high court convicts editor of inciting subversion
New York, May 24, 2017–The Ethiopian Federal High Court’s conviction of Getachew Shiferaw, editor of the news website Negere Ethiopia, on charges of inciting subversion is a further blow to press freedom in the country, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Nigerian authorities demolish radio station office
Uyo, Nigeria, May 23, 2017–Nigerian authorities’ demolition of the office of radio Breeze 99.9 FM is a shocking affront to press freedom, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. State authorities in Nassarawa, roughly 200 kilometers (124 miles) east of the capital Abuja, on May 20 demolished the radio station’s office and transmitter while police…
Mexican journalist abducted in Michoacán state
Mexico City, May 22, 2017–Mexican authorities must undertake every effort to secure the safe release of journalist Salvador Adame Pardo, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Gunmen abducted Adame, director of the television station 6TV, on May 18 from the central Mexican town of Nueva Italia.
Police beat Indian journalists protesting assault
New Delhi, May 22, 2017–Police officials should identify and discipline the officers who assaulted dozens of journalists in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata today, the Committee to Protect Journalists said. Journalists at the scene said police assaulted dozens of reporters covering a protest, then forcibly cleared a demonstration the journalists staged to protest their…
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of May 21, 2017
Two journalists arraigned, finance manager released A court in Istanbul arraigned Gökmen Ulu and Mediha Olgun, journalists for the secularist, nationalist daily Sözcü, one of the last remaining widely circulated newspapers to be consistently critical of the government, on charges of “committing a crime in the name of a [terrorist] organization without being a member,…
How US Espionage Act can be used against journalists covering leaks
Earlier this week, Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly joked about Trump using a saber on the press and U.S. Senator Jim Risch told CNN the press should be questioning the Washington Post about its sources. Then, on May 16, The New York Times reported that President Donald Trump allegedly asked former FBI director…
TV cameraman wounded in disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region
Davit Atoyan, a cameraman for the independent Armenian television station Shant, was wounded in both legs on May 10, 2017 in Nagorno-Karabakh, when the Azerbaijani military opened fire on a vehicle he was in, according to media reports and his employer.