Chinese authorities should immediately release a Uighur blogger and academic who has been charged with separatism after being held incommunicado and without charge since January 15, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Ilham Tohti's wife, Guzaili Nu'er, said she was told of the arrest on Tuesday and that her husband was at a detention center in China's far-western Xinjiang Uighur...
There have been constant threats and violence against Libyan journalists, who are being targeted with increasing frequency by the various armed groups operating in Libya since the overthrow of the Gaddafi regime, according to Reporters Without Borders. More than 20 acts of intimidation and physical attacks against media personnel have been registered since the start of 2014. Reporters Without...
At least two journalists reported being attacked, threatened, and obstructed in January 2014 in Zimbabwe, while a third was summoned to court a year after being charged, according to news reports. Godfrey Mutimba, correspondent for the independent Daily News newspaper, said he was attacked on January 22, 2014, in Masvingo, the capital town of southeastern Masvingo province, while reporting on a...
The shutdown order issued by a district court in Almaty against the independent weekly newspaper Pravdivaya Gazeta is yet another example of Kazakhstan's determination to gag independent voices in the country, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today, adding that the verdict should be overturned on appeal. The Bostandyk District Court ordered the news outlet to shut down on Monday, local...
A bill to partially decriminalise defamation in Trinidad and Tobago received final parliamentary approval this week, the latest sign of growing momentum around the International Press Institute's (IPI) Campaign to Repeal Criminal Defamation in the Caribbean. The Trinidad and Tobago Senate approved the bill on Tuesday, less than a month after passage in the House of Representatives. President...
A Tehran media court decided on February 20 to close the reformist daily Aseman (Sky) after only six issues at the Tehran deputy prosecutor’s request. “This act of censorship is unacceptable,†Reporters Without Borders said. “It is indicative of the media war that is being waged by the Revolutionary Guards and orchestrated by courts, to the detriment of freedom of information. We demand...
Reporters Without Borders has reiterated its call for an end to government blocking of the Lakome news website, in effect since October 17, and the withdrawal of all charges against Ali Anouzla, the editor of the site’s Arabic-language version. “The authorities are clearly stalling, both by not responding to Anouzla’s request for the censorship to be lifted and by repeatedly postponing his...
The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the wave of violence against and harassment and detentions of journalists covering protests in Venezuela in recent days and calls on authorities to ensure the press can work safely. The violations come amid nationwide protests that have left at least six dead and hundreds injured. The demonstrations began on February 12 by university students...
The Committee to Protect Journalists is gravely concerned by the official harassment of investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova, who is being criminally investigated in Baku in apparent retaliation for her reporting on government corruption. Ismayilova works for the Azerbaijani service of the U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Since Tuesday, Ismayilova has been repeatedly questioned...
The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply troubled by the murder of a journalist and reports that pro-government groups are targeting journalists covering nationwide protests in Ukraine. The demonstrations have left at least 26 people dead and several hundred injured, including journalists, according to news reports. Unidentified masked men on Tuesday night brutally attacked Vyacheslav...
