Mission Journal: Crimea’s journalists in exile as Russia muzzles free press
“First they asked if my parents had any guns or drugs in the apartment, then they showed my picture to my mother and asked her to identify me,” Anna Andriyevskaya said. The Crimean journalist, who is living in exile in Kiev, was describing a raid on her parents’ home by Russian FSB agents. “Any other…
How patriotism with a Cold War tinge is damaging Crimea’s press
“You should move to Kiev,” I was trying to persuade a friend of mine to leave Crimea. I first met him at the time when cassettes were used in voice recorders, there were no e-mail addresses on business cards, and people preferred to make acquaintances in bars, not online. He asked me not to make…
Erdoğan vs the press: Insult law used to silence president’s critics
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is known for being intolerant of critics. During his third term as prime minister, Turkey was the leading jailer of journalists in the world with more than 60 behind bars at the height of the crackdown in 2012. Most of those have been released, but the press faces another threat–Article 299…
Baku 2015: Press freedom, Azerbaijan, and the European Games
Tomorrow 50 countries are due to take part in the opening ceremony of the inaugural European Games in Baku, but Azerbaijan’s most prominent journalist, Khadija Ismayilova, will not be at the celebrations. The award-winning investigative reporter has been in jail since December on retaliatory charges over her writing on corruption.
French surveillance law passes National Assembly, but it’s not the last word
Until the last moment the opponents of a very controversial French intelligence bill tried to be heard. On Monday May 4 on the eve of the vote, activists kept calling deputies to convince them to reject the bill. They had no chance however, since the Socialist government could count on a solid majority from both…
Why Spain’s new gag law is threat to free flow of information
On July 1 a public security law is due to come into force in Spain amid an increasingly vocal chorus of concern among the media and press freedom groups. The bill–dubbed the “ley mordaza,” or “gag law,” by opposition groups–would define protests in front of parliament and other government buildings as a “disturbance of public…
On World Press Freedom Day and journalists’ safety
Last week, I met a Cameroonian journalist who worked in the Congo until he fled following a series of threats and an attack on his home by armed men who assaulted his sister. Elie Smith, a TV host who documented alleged abuses by police and was outspoken in his criticism of the government, said he…
CPJ, HRW call on president of European Olympic Committees to engage with Azerbaijan on press freedom, human rights
A delegation of representatives from CPJ and Human Rights Watch met yesterday with Patrick Hickey, president of the European Olympic Committees, at the Dublin headquarters of the Olympic Council of Ireland. The delegation discussed the dismal state of press freedom and human rights in Azerbaijan, the host of the first-ever European Games in June and…
Reporter who broke LuxLeaks story faces charges in Luxembourg
The French journalist who helped break the LuxLeaks scandal, which exposed a large-scale, state-blessed system of tax avoidance in placid Luxembourg late last year, was indicted on April 23. A statement from the Luxembourg prosecutor’s office accused Edouard Perrin of “being the co-author, if not an accomplice, in the infractions committed by a former PricewaterhouseCoopers…
International coalition calls on European Court to prioritize Azerbaijani press cases
Azerbaijan, one of the 10 Most Censored Countries in the world, according to new research by the Committee to Protect Journalists, is to host the first-ever European Games this June. As Baku prepares to bask in the spotlight by hosting an international mega-event yet again, eight of the country’s independent journalists, including award-winning investigative reporter…