Letters

CPJ writes to U.K. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt to express concern at his government’s decision to deny accreditation to Russian media outlets RT and Sputnik based on a determination that the outlets are a form of propaganda. The move empowers autocratic governments around the world who use a similar rationale to justify the repression of critical journalism.

CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon writes to Ukraine’s newly elected president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, urging him to prioritize and promote press freedom in the country.

CPJ thanks Yemeni Ambassador Ahmed Awad Bin Mubarak for his May 2019 letter expressing concern for the welfare of journalists in areas under Houthi control, and calls on the Yemeni government to ensure that the rights of all journalists in the country are respected.

CPJ writes to the speaker of the People’s Majlis, asking him to strengthen press freedom in the Maldives and commit to pursuing justice and ending impunity by calling for a vote on a bill to grant investigative powers to the presidential commission on enforced disappearances and murders.

In a letter to Sacramento police chief Daniel Hahn, CPJ and several other rights organizations express concern about police conduct toward journalists covering protests on March 4, and request a meeting.

CPJ calls on Andrew Meehan, Assistant Commissioner for Public Affairs, to reschedule the meeting as soon as possible on the treatment of journalists at U.S. borders

CPJ calls on Mohamedoun Daddah, Mauritania’s ambassador to the United States, to meet to discuss the wrongful imprisonment of blogger Mohamed Cheikh Ould Mohamed, who was scheduled to be released in late 2017.

CPJ calls on the governor of India’s Jammu and Kashmir state to release journalist Aasif Sultan, who has been held by state police since August 2018, and drop all legal proceedings against him.

CPJ and more than 200 international journalists write to Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega to express deep concern over the recent escalation of aggression against media outlets and journalists covering civil unrest and documenting human rights abuses by police and paramilitary groups.

CPJ calls on Cameroon’s president, Paul Biya, to release critically ill imprisoned journalist Thomas Awah Junior, the Northwest correspondent for privately owned Afrik 2 Radio in Yaoundé and publisher of the monthly Aghem Messenger magazine, on humanitarian grounds.