One year after Charlie Hebdo, will press freedom become victim of war on terror?
Who would have thought that France would top the list of most deadly countries for the press in 2015, second only to Syria? The massacre of eight cartoonists and journalists by Islamic militants at the Paris office of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo last January was one of the deadliest attacks against the press since…
Fourth most deadly year on record for journalists
In 2015, 71 journalists killed in relation to their work; 199 imprisoned New York, January 6, 2015–In 2015, 71 journalists were killed in direct relation to their work, making it the fourth deadliest year since the Committee to Protect Journalists began keeping records in 1992, the organization said today. Thirty of the journalists killed, or…
Egypt detains two journalists, sentences another already detained
New York, January 5, 2016 – Egyptian authorities should immediately release journalist Mahmoud al-Sakka, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The arrest comes amid a series of repressive measures ahead of the anniversary of the January 25, 2011, uprising that forced former President Hosni Mubarak to resign.
Turkey releases VICE News journalist Mohammed Ismael Rasool on bail
New York, January 5, 2016–The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release on bail today of VICE News journalist Mohammed Ismael Rasool, and calls on authorities in Turkey to drop the terrorism charges he faces. Rasool, who was arrested in August, is banned from leaving Turkey and must report to a local police station twice…
From Charlie Hebdo in Paris to bloggers in Bangladesh, extremists target press
Thursday marks one year since two gunmen burst into the Paris offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and opened fire. Over the following year, CPJ documented the deaths of 28 journalists who were killed for their work by Islamic militant groups such as Islamic State and Al-Qaeda. This StoryMap charts the deadly attacks that took…
CPJ calls on Democratic Republic of Congo to not extradite Burundian journalist
New York, December 31, 2015–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo not to extradite Egide Mwemero, an exiled Burundian radio journalist who has been in custody since October 13, according to reports. Bob Rugurika, director of independent Burundian station Radio Publique Africaine where Mwemero also worked, told CPJ…
CPJ welcomes convictions in 2013 murder of Bangladeshi blogger
New York, December 31, 2015–The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes today’s convictions in the case of Ahmed Rajib Haider, a blogger hacked to death in Bangladesh in February 2013. A Dhaka court sentenced two students to death for murder, including Rezwanul Azad Rana, a fugitive who was charged in absentia and who was described by…
The militarization of the press in Syria
Ahmed Abu al-Hamza, “Software” as he was known by his friends, stood behind the camera on November 6 as a gunman explained how rebel forces took Tel Sukayk, a strategic hilltop north of Hama, from government forces. Suddenly the camera’s sound recorder picked up the faint thud of a mortar shell firing in the distance.…
Syrian journalist Naji Jerf shot dead in Gaziantep, Turkey
New York, December 27, 2015–Naji Jerf, editor-in-chief of the independent monthly Hentah and the maker of documentary films on the militant group Islamic State, was shot and killed in broad daylight today by unknown assailants with a silenced pistol in front of a building that houses Syrian opposition news outlets in downtown Gaziantep, Turkey, near…