Die Welt Turkey correspondent jailed pending trial
New York, February 28, 2017–Turkish prosecutors should immediately and unconditionally drop all charges against Deniz Yücel, Turkey correspondent for the German newspaper Die Welt, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Istanbul’s Ninth Court of Penal Peace last night ordered the journalist, a dual citizen of Turkey and Germany detained since February 14, jailed pending…
Iraqi Kurdish journalist killed by roadside bomb in Mosul
New York, February 25, 2017–Iraqi Kurdish reporter Shifa Zikri Ibrahim, known professionally as Shifa Gardi, was killed today by a roadside bomb while covering the Iraqi Army’s offensive against the Islamic State group in western Mosul for the Kurdish TV station Rudaw, the network said. A cameraman for the network, Younis Mustafa, was also injured…
Reporters barred from U.S. press secretary briefing
New York, February 24, 2017–The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by the decision today to bar nine news outlets from an informal briefing known as “a gaggle” by President Donald Trump’s White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer. Separately, at the Conservative Party Action Conference in Maryland today, Trump said that journalists should not be…
Venezuela suspends CNN en Español broadcasts
New York, February 15, 2017–Venezuela’s state telecommunications regulator Conatel today ordered transmissions of CNN en Español to be suspended in the country, according to reports. A statement from the regulator said that Conatel was initiating administrative proceedings against the Spanish-language channel of CNN, which it said distorted the truth and “attack[ed] the peace and democratic…
Ukraine police see journalism as motive in Pavel Sheremet’s murder
New York, February 8, 2017–Ukrainian investigators’ announcement today that they consider Pavel Sheremet’s journalism as the most likely motive in his July 2016 murder is a welcome step toward bringing his killers to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov told journalists in Kiev that police believe Sheremet, who…
Belarusian court rules to extradite blogger to Azerbaijan
New York, February 7, 2017–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned today’s decision by the Supreme Court of Belarus to extradite Russian-Israeli blogger Aleksandr Lapshin to Azerbaijan to stand trial for traveling to the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh and for criticizing Azerbaijani policies.
Kenyan court finds criminal libel laws unconstitutional
New York, February 6, 2017–Today’s ruling by Kenya’s High Court that the country’s criminal defamation law is unconstitutional is a welcome step toward safeguarding press freedom and free speech, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
British photographer wounded in eastern Ukraine
New York, February 3, 2017–British freelance photographer Christopher Nunn was injured last night while covering shelling in the eastern Ukrainian town Avdiivka, according to press reports. “I am alive,” the photographer wrote on Twitter after the incident. His translator Vladimir Subotovsky told CPJ today that Nunn was in stable condition after undergoing eye surgery.
