News

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has today warmly welcomed the release of Turkish journalists, Füsun Erdoğan, Bayram Namaz and Arif Çelebi, who had been behind bars for almost eight years since September 2006. ‘‘We welcome the fantastic news that Füsun Erdoğan, Bayram Namaz and Arif Çelebi, have finally been released and can now return to their families, loved ones and...

Tensions have been rising over the last few weeks in Peru with reports of threats, harassment claims and physical attacks against journalists, culminating in the recent bombing of the home of news site director Yofre López Sifuentes. In the first four months of 2014, the National Association of Journalists of Peru (ANP) registered 47 separate attacks – including, threats, judicial persecutions...

The International Press Institute (IPI) Monday expressed concern over pending criminal charges against two Danish journalists who say Denmark may be losing the fight against the spread of a strain of drug-resistant bacteria. Sweden’s Göteborgs-Posten reported, in an article posted in English by the Global Investigative Journalism Network, that Nils Mulvad and Kjeld Hansen of Investigative...

Ethiopian authorities have arrested nine journalists and bloggers on allegations that they worked for foreign human rights groups or used social media to incite violence, sources told the International Press Institute (IPI) Monday, saying they feared additional detentions. IPI condemned the arrests, which targeted some individuals who met with the organisation’s representatives during a press...

The Committee to Protect Journalists has condemned Tuesday's attack on the home of Peruvian journalist Yofré López Sifuentes and called on authorities to conduct a thorough investigation and hold the perpetrators to account. Lopez was unhurt after a bomb exploded, but his parents were injured, according to news reports. López is the founder and editor of the biweekly newspaper and website...

Azerbaijan’s jailing of a prominent independent journalist after his summary forcible return from Turkey bears the hallmarks of a coordinated operation that violates international law. Turkey forcibly returned Rauf Mirgadirov to Azerbaijan without allowing him access to a lawyer or basic due process protections, in violation of its international legal obligations. Azerbaijan detained Mirgadirov...

Security forces in South Sudan have harassed journalists and interfered with independent media in the four months since the outbreak of fighting between rival political forces, media officials have told the International Press Institute. Threats and harassment of the media come amid fresh reports of mass killings of civilians in a conflict that erupted in mid-December, derailing hopes for a...

A court on April 21, 2014, ordered the closure of one of Kazakhstan’s few remaining independent newspapers, Human Rights Watch said today. The order compounds other measures in recent weeks to tighten controls over freedom of expression and the media. Kazakh authorities should immediately seek to set aside the court order prohibiting the Assandi Times from publishing. The Almaty court ruled that...

The bill, that would subject popular bloggers to the same restrictions as traditional media in the country, was approved by Russia's parliament, the State Duma, in a final reading on Monday. The bill would apply to blogs with more than 3,000 daily visitors. As with other laws recently adopted in Russia, the language of the bill is broad and open to wide-ranging interpretation and selective...

A court in Baku has ordered journalist Rauf Mirkadyrov, Turkey correspondent for the independent Azerbaijani newspaper Zerkalo, to jail for three months pending trial on espionage charges after he was deported from Turkey, news reports said. News reports said the journalist and commentator Mirkadyrov had reported from Turkey for the past three years, and had often criticised both Turkish and Azeri...