Ethics and Freedom

Tunisian authorities banned journalists from attending two press conferences for the launch of local and international human rights reports this week, and is stepping up harassment of journalists overall, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has said. On Wednesday, police ordered journalists not to attend a press conference at a law office in Tunis where Human Rights Watch was planning to...

The Belarusian Supreme Court has upheld a government order that will obstruct the work of the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ), the country’s most prominent press freedom and media support organisation, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The court backed a directive issued in January by the Ministry of Justice that orders the association, known as BAJ, to halt...

A Turkish appellate court should overturn the unjust convictions of publisher and editor Haci Bogatekin, who faces several years in prison on various “insult” charges, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has said. Bogatekin, owner of the biweekly Gerger Firat and editor of the news website Gergerfirat, was convicted March 2 on charges of “insulting” state prosecutors and “offending the...

Ethiopia is preparing to jam the Amharic-language broadcasts of the US government-funded Voice of America (VOA), Prime Minister Meles Zenawi declared Thursday in a press briefing with international media correspondents based in the capital, Addis Ababa. The prime minister accused VOA’s Amharic service of “engaging in destabilising propaganda,” comparing it to Radio Télévision Libre des Mille...

A Tashkent appeal court Wednesday upheld photographer and documentary filmmaker Umida Akhmedova’s conviction on charges of slandering and insulting the Uzbek people, according to Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). Her lawyer, Sergei Mayorov, tried without success for three hours to convince the court that her conviction by a lower court on February 10 was illegal. They said after the hearing that...

Sudan’s official press regulator, the National Press Council, is investigating two editors accused of insulting President Omar al-Bashir, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. Yass Omar al-Imam, editor-in-chief of the pro-opposition daily Rai al-Shaab, and Fayez al-Silaik, acting editor-in-chief of the independent daily Ajras al-Hurriya, were questioned Monday by officials with...

An Israeli journalist on assignment in Egypt has been arrested, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Yotam Feldman was arrested Sunday near the Egyptian-Israeli border while reporting on African immigrants illegally crossing into Israel, according to news accounts. Israeli TV Channel 10 said in a statement that Feldman was on assignment for the station and was working on a...

The Kyrgyz government has pressured several radio and television stations to stop carrying programming from the Kyrgyz service of the US government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has said. Four private radio stations and one television channel in northern Kyrgyzstan—including two outlets in the capital, Bishkek—halted RFE/RL programming...

The Minsk police on Tuesday raided the offices of the independent news website Charter 97, the independent newspaper Narodnaya Volya, and the home office of freelance reporter Irina Khalip, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has said. Masked officers with the Leninsky District Police Department in Minsk confiscated computers, equipment, and electronic documents at the three locations as...

The Jordanian State Security Court last week banned news media from covering corruption allegations involving the Jordan Petroleum Refinery Company and several leading national figures, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has said. Yousef Faouri, attorney-general at the State Security Court, issued an order on March 9 banning the press from reporting or commenting on the case without his...