Statements

  
Freelance journalist Erick Kabendera, who is detained in Tanzania. (Jamii Forums)

Tanzania switches track, charges Kabendera with economic crimes

Nairobi, August 05, 2019—Prosecutors in Tanzania today charged freelance journalist Erick Kabendera with money laundering, tax evasion, and assisting an organized crime racket, according to a copy of the charge sheet. When he was detained on July 29, the Dar es Salaam police chief said at a press conference that police were investigating Kabendera’s citizenship…

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Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz (right) casts his ballot on June 22, 2019, at a polling station in Nouakchott during the presidential election. Mauritania freed blogger Mohamed Cheikh Ould Mohamed, who had been imprisoned since 2014, on July 29, 2019. (AFP/Sia Kambou)

Mauritania finally frees blogger Mohamed Cheikh Ould Mohamed

Washington D.C., July 30, 2019–The Committee to Protect Journalists today expressed relief that Mauritanian blogger Mohamed Cheikh Ould Mohamed is free and safely out of the country. Mohamed was released yesterday and left Mauritania, according to news reports, citing his lawyer and official government news sources.

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Journalist Azimjon Askarov is seen in a courtroom in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on October 11, 2016. A court today upheld his life sentence in prison. (AP/Vladimir Voronin, file)

Kyrgyz court upholds life sentence for Azimjon Askarov

Washington, D.C., July 30, 2019 — The Committee to Protect Journalists expressed deep disappointment and concern over today’s court decision in Kyrgyzstan to uphold the life sentence of journalist and human rights defender Azimjon Askarov.

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A local market in Dar es Salaam, pictured in May 31. A group of armed men forcefully took an investigative journalist from his home outside the city on July 29. (AFP/Said Khalfan)

Unidentified men take Erick Kabendera from Tanzanian home

Nairobi, July 29, 2019– The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned for the safety of investigative reporter Erick Kabendera who was forcefully removed from his home today, and called on Tanzanian police to disclose whether they have him in custody.

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Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is seen in Brasilia on July 24, 2019. He recently threatened that journalist Glenn Greenwald may face jail time in Brazil. (Reuters/Adriano Machado)

Brazilian President Bolsonaro says Glenn Greenwald may ‘do jail time’

Miami, July 29, 2019 — The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s remarks that Glenn Greenwald, the co-founder and editor of The Intercept Brasil, could “do jail time” and suggesting that he had married a Brazilian citizen to avoid deportation, as reported by local outlets on July 27.

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AFP correspondent Deyda Hydara, front, pictured in November 1999. In testimony to a truth commission, a Gambian army officer accused ex-President Yahya Jammeh of ordering the 2004 murder. (AFP/Seyllou)

Gambia ex-President Jammeh ordered Deyda Hydara’s murder, truth commission told

gambia_jammeh_deyda_hydara_murder_truth_commission

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Kazakh police block an area to prevent protests against presidential elections in Nur-Sultan, the capital city of Kazakhstan, on June 10, 2019. Local internet users are being asked to download a security certificate that could allow the authorities to monitor or censor encrypted websites. (AP Photo/Alexei Filippov)

Kazakhstan government-backed security certificate raises censorship, surveillance concerns

New York, July 22, 2019 — Telecommunications providers in Kazakhstan’s capital, Nur-Sultan, have requested internet users to install a security certificate issued by government authorities onto their personal devices, which could compromise their digital security, according to a report by the BBC and Adil Nurmakov, a political scientist and digital media expert based in Nur-Sultan,…

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Men with poles are seen after attacking journalists and anti-extradition bill demonstrators at a train station in Hong Kong on July 22, 2019. (Reuters/Tyrone Siu)

Journalists attacked by counterprotesters in Hong Kong

Taipei, July 22, 2019 — A group of masked individuals beat journalists, demonstrators, and passersby with sticks and metal rods at Hong Kong’s Yuen Long metro station after an anti-extradition bill protest concluded last night, according to news reports. At least 45 people were injured in the attacks, according to those reports.

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The offices of Geo News are seen in Karachi, Pakistan, on April 11, 2018. The network was recently blocked in many parts of the country. (Reuters/Akhtar Soomro)

Pakistani broadcaster Geo News blocked amid prime minister’s visit to Washington

New York, July 21, 2019 — Pakistan’s most popular news channel, the privately owned Geo News broadcaster, has been forced off the air or had its channel number abruptly changed in many parts of the country, according to reports on social media and the broadcaster’s managing director, Azhar Abbas, who spoke to CPJ via messaging…

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People exit from the international arrivals terminal at the new Istanbul Airport in Istanbul, Turkey, on July 16, 2019. Two documentary filmmakers were sentenced to four and a half years in prison on July 18. (Reuters/Marius Bosch)

Turkish court sentences documentary filmmakers to 4 and a half years

Istanbul, July 19, 2019–Documentary filmmakers Ertuğrul Mavioğlu and Çayan Demirel, directors of the 2015 documentary movie “Bakur” (“North”), about the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), were sentenced to four years and six months in prison yesterday for “making propaganda for a [terrorist] organization” by a court in the southeastern city of Batman, according to news…

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