CPJ Safety Advisory – FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup will take place June 14 to July 15 at 12 venues in 11 different cities across Russia. Under FIFA rules, it will be difficult for the Russian authorities to bar individual reporters or deny visas for specific media, but those who do cover the tournament may come under surveillance. Journalists are…
![The Republic monument in Antalya, Turkey in March 2018. Turkish authorities detained for several hours on May 28 journalist Ali Ergin Demirhan on suspicion that he made "propaganda for a [terrorist] organization," according to reports. (Reuters/Murad Sezer)](https://cpj-preprod.go-vip.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/6bb2d89d39b4d7888593db530c31f98d6a6bf6f5.jpg?w=750&h=480&crop=1)
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of May 28, 2018
Journalist detained Istanbul police on May 28 detained an editor for the leftist news website Sendika, Ali Ergin Demirhan, at the website’s office on suspicion of “making propaganda for a [terrorist] organization,” in relation to the journalist’s work, his employer reported.
The many questions about Arkady Babchenko’s staged murder in Ukraine
Minutes after news broke that prominent Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko had been murdered in Ukraine, social media exploded with messages mourning the loss of a bright, sometimes-too-outspoken journalist. Friends and colleagues wrote moving obituaries, and groups including CPJ condemned the killing. Impromptu memorials in both Kiev and Moscow sprouted, as they all too often do,…
UPDATE: Russian journalist Babchenko’s assassination was staged
New York, May 30, 2018– Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko, who had been reported shot and killed in the Ukrainian capital yesterday, has appeared alive at a televised news conference in Kiev. Vasily Gritsak, head of the Ukrainian Security Service, said the agency faked Babchenko’s death to catch those who were trying to kill him. “We…
Ukraine extends ban on Russian news agencies, journalists
New York, May 24, 2018–Ukrainian authorities today published a presidential decree that extends for three years sanctions imposed in 2017 against Russian state-funded news outlets and their journalists, as well as other foreign entities and individuals, and added the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti-Ukraine to the sanctions list, according to media reports.
CPJ welcomes introduction of UK Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Bill
May 24, 2018, London–The Committee to Protect Journalists today welcomed the U.K.’s decision to pass into law legislation that addresses human rights abuses. The Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Bill, which yesterday received Royal Assent to be passed into law, includes a “Magnitsky amendment” that empowers the U.K. to apply sanctions against individuals suspected of human…
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of May 21, 2018
Turkey will continue to block Wikipedia During a May 18 press conference, Turkish Transportation, Maritime Affairs, and Communication Minister Ahmet Arslan said that Wikipedia will remain blocked in the country because the website portrays Turkey as a supporter of the Islamic State militant group, the daily Cumhuriyet reported.
CPJ joins calls for Kazakhstan to revise false news law and drop charges against critical media
The Committee to Protect Journalists today joined a coalition of 25 other international press freedom organizations to call on Kazakh authorities to drop criminal defamation cases against media outlets Forbes Kazakhstan and Ratel and revise the law on dissemination of “false information” often used to silence critical media outlets and journalists.
CPJ welcomes positive development in Kyrgyzstan, calls for Askarov’s release
New York, May 18, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today welcomed former Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev’s decision to drop defamation charges he pressed last year against independent news website Zanoza and its journalists Naryn Idinov and Dina Maslova, and urged the country’s new administration to release Azimjon Askarov, a Kyrgyz journalist jailed since 2010.