Journalist extradited from Turkey and sentenced to 10 years in Iran
Turkish intelligence agents arrested Arash Shoa-Shargh, an Iranian journalist living in exile in Turkey, on January 5, 2018, in Van, a city near Iran’s border, a friend of the journalist, who asked not to be named to protect their safety, told CPJ on December 16, 2019.
Brazilian electoral court sentences 2 journalists to suspended jail time for defamation
On November 21, 2019, Brazilian regional news website Planeta Folha published a report uncovering a previously unreported criminal defamation lawsuit against journalists Donizete Bernardo dos Santos and Josias Brito da Silva.
Assyrian journalist detained in Iraq for 13 days after reporting trip to Syria
Kurdish Asayish security forces detained William Bnyameen Adam, an Assyrian journalist, for 13 days after the contributor to the California-based broadcaster Assyrian National Broadcasting (ANB) returned from a two-week assignment in northern Syria, the journalist told CPJ. The journalist said that security forces confiscated his equipment, beat him, and questioned him about his reporting.
Iranian court sentences 2 journalists to jail on propaganda charges
In October 2019, the Tehran Appeals Court sentenced Pouria Alami, a political columnist and satirist with the reformist Shargh Daily, to one year in prison and Tahereh Riahi, the former social affairs editor of the government-funded Borna News Agency, to two and a half years in prison, according to news reports and a person close…
Congolese journalist detained for five days over defamation complaint
On October 21, 2019, police arrested Achiko Ngaya, editor of the privately owned newspaper Les Nouvelles du Soir, in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ngaya told CPJ. The journalist said he was detained for five days and charged with criminal defamation.
Three journalists beaten by Sierra Leone presidential bodyguards in September
On September 8, 2019, bodyguards of Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio attacked three journalists who were covering a football match in Freetown, the capital, according to the journalists, who spoke to CPJ, and news reports.
Pakistan media regulator walks back ban on news anchors expressing personal opinions
On October 27, 2019, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority, the country’s nominally independent media regulator, issued an order posted on its official Twitter account prohibiting news anchors from expressing opinions, stating that anchors hosting news programs “should not appear in talk shows,” and saying that news organizations would be held responsible for “any biased,…
Sierra Leone journalist Mahmud Tim Kargbo charged with criminal defamation
Mahmud Tim Kargbo, a freelance reporter in Sierra Leone, was arrested and detained twice in September 2019 after Miatta Samba, an appeals court judge, lodged a complaint with the police against him for a report published September 9, 2019, on his Facebook page and in a WhatsApp group that criticized Samba’s decision to grant bail…
Congolese radio journalist attacked by ruling party supporters at Kinshasa rally
On October 5, 2019, Dominique Dinanga, a reporter for the privately owned Top Congo FM radio station, was attacked by supporters of the ruling Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) party at a rally in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where former Prime Minister Bruno Tshibala was to receive…