COVID-19

Miami, July 23, 2020 – Paraguayan authorities must thoroughly investigate the detention and assault of journalist Roberto Esquivel and ensure those responsible are held to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On July 18, Paraguayan soldiers detained Esquivel, a local freelance journalist, in the city of Bella Vista Norte, near the Brazilian border,…

Managua, Nicaragua, July 19, 2020–Honduran journalist David Romero Ellner died yesterday around 7 a.m. of respiratory failure after contracting COVID-19 while imprisoned at the Támara National Penitentiary, according to newspaper La Prensa. Authorities had transferred Romero to the National Cardiopulmonary Institute on July 5, according to newspaper El Heraldo. “We are shocked and saddened by…

On June 21, 2020, officers of Gambia’s anti-crime police unit detained Ebou N. Keita, an editor and camera operator with the privately owned Gambian Talents Television broadcaster, for photographing police arresting people protesting the country’s COVID-19 restrictions, according to Keita and Gambian Talents Television founder Pa Ousman Joof, both of whom spoke to CPJ via…

How many people worldwide have been infected by the coronavirus, and how many have died as a result? Finding reliable information on the virus’s toll has proven such a challenging task that it is nearly impossible to answer these basic questions, five data journalists from around the world told CPJ in May and June. In…

New Delhi, July 13, 2020 – West Bengal authorities must immediately release journalists Suraj Ali Khan and Safikul Islam, as well as Islam’s wife, Alima Khatun, and drop all the charges against them and investigations into their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. At about 3 a.m. on June 29, police arrested Khan…

Washington, D.C., July 13, 2020 — In response to the death of Egyptian journalist Mohamed Monir after contracting COVID-19 in pretrial detention, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement: “We are extremely disturbed by journalist Mohamed Monir’s death today after he spent more than two weeks unnecessarily held in pretrial detention at Cairo’s…

Bangkok, July 13, 2020 – Malaysian authorities should cease investigating Al-Jazeera staffers and stop using legal threats to harass the media, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On July 10, Malaysian police interrogated six reporters and staff members of the Qatari broadcaster in relation to a July 3 documentary, “Locked Up in Malaysia’s Lockdown,” aired…

Nairobi, July 9, 2020 — Tanzania’s broadcasting regulator should immediately lift its suspension of Kwanza Online TV and stop weaponizing regulations against critical media outlets, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On July 2, the Contents Committee of the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority, a department within the country’s broadcast regulator, sent a letter to…

Between April 5, 2020, and June 11, 2020, one journalist was assaulted by police, another had his property destroyed by local authorities in retaliation for his reporting, and at least five others were subject to criminal investigations and, in one case, an interrogation, according to interviews CPJ conducted with five of the journalists and media…

Berlin, July 9, 2020 – Serbian authorities should quickly and thoroughly investigate attacks on journalists covering anti-government protests in the country, and bring those responsible to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On July 7 and 8, demonstrators and police attacked at least 10 journalists who were documenting protests in Belgrade, the capital,…