Six Kenyan journalists and press freedom advocates on their fears ahead of general elections
Kenyans are preparing to head to the polls August 9 for a national election that is predicted to be tightly contested. Deputy President William Ruto is vying for the presidency against main contender Raila Odinga, a veteran opposition figure who nonetheless has the backing of the current President Uhuru Kenyatta. In 2017, Kenyan journalists were harassed and detained while covering…
CPJ joins call for Maldives to repeal or amend provision of Evidence Act
On July 25, 2022, the Committee to Protect Journalists joined nine press freedom, freedom of expression, and human rights groups in a statement calling on the Maldives government to repeal or amend a provision of the recently ratified Evidence Act, which allows courts to compel journalists and media organizations to reveal their sources on the…
CPJ joins UN complaint on behalf of jailed Eritrean journalists
On July 21, 2022, the Committee to Protect Journalists joined the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights in partnership with seven other rights organizations and lawyers in a complaint filed to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention calling for accountability in the cases of Dawit Isaak and fifteen other journalists held behind bars…
‘Permanent fear’: Togolese journalists on their lives 1 year after Pegasus Project revelations
One year after news broke about a list of over 50,000 phone numbers allegedly selected for surveillance with Pegasus spyware, journalists around the world continue to live and work with the fear that their phones can be used to track their conversations and penetrate all the personal and professional data stored on their devices. The…
CPJ joins call urging Egyptian government to respect human rights ahead of COP27
In a joint open letter on July 14, 2022, the Committee to Protect Journalists joined 20 other civil society groups in urging German officials meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to press the Egyptian leader to reopen civic space in the country. The letter is addressed to German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and State Secretary…
CPJ joins statement welcoming Dutch government’s proposed policy changes on journalist safety
On July 1, 2022, the Committee to Protect Journalists joined seven other press freedom organizations in a joint statement welcoming a letter by the Dutch government to Parliament proposing a new policy approach on media freedom and journalist safety. That June 29 letter took into consideration reports and recommendations by domestic and international press and…
Frontline diary: A day in the life of a Ukraine war correspondent
Ruslan Smieshchuk, a reporter for privately owned Ukrainian TV channel Inter, had long dreamed of being a war correspondent when he covered his first conflict, the 2008 Russia-Georgia war, for local Odessa TV channel ATV. Now he hopes that the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war will be his last battlefield assignment. “War is a lot of pain and grief,” he told CPJ. The 38-year-old…
CPJ joins letter calling on Romanian authorities to hasten investigation into harassment of journalist Emilia Șercan
In a joint letter addressed to Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă and other government officials on Tuesday, June 28, the Committee to Protect Journalists and seven international press freedom organizations expressed their deep concerns over delays in the investigation into harassment of investigative journalist Emilia Șercan. Since January, Șercan has received threatening emails and social media messages, and…
New details raise questions about whether Sri Lankan president was complicit in the killing of journalist Lasantha Wickrematunge
Nishantha Silva is obsessed with details. The missing notebook. The unusual telephone number. The motorcycle tossed into a lake and the person who knew exactly where to find it. Those details and others are the pointillist dots of color that Silva, formerly a detective with Sri Lanka’s Criminal Investigation Department, has assembled into a vivid…
CPJ joins letter calling on Kenya to ensure internet access is maintained throughout election
In a joint letter addressed to Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Tuesday, June 21, the Committee to Protect Journalists joined 51 other organizations calling on authorities to ensure free and secure internet access during the country’s upcoming general elections, scheduled for August 9. The organizations, all members of the #KeepItOn Coalition against internet shutdowns, note…