Nigeria’s military raids Daily Trust offices, arrests editor
New York, January 7, 2019–Nigerian authorities should immediately release Uthman Abubakar, an editor of the privately owned Daily Trust, return equipment seized in raids on the paper’s offices, and cease the intimidation of news outlets covering the conflict in Nigeria’s northeast, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
CPJ, international journalists express deep concern over deteriorating press freedom climate in Nicaragua, call for release of detained reporters
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.
Journalist arrested, others beaten during Bangladesh elections
New York, January 2, 2019–The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Bangladeshi authorities to immediately release Hedait Hossain Molla, a reporter who was arrested in Khulna yesterday in relation to his election coverage, according to news reports.
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of December 6, 2018
Anti-state charges for 5 journalists Five journalists from the opposition daily Sözcü were indicted for “willingly and knowingly helping a [terrorist] organization without being in its hierarchical structure,” BBC Turkey reported on December 10. Chief editor Metin Yılmaz, online chief editor Mustafa Çetin, online news coordinator Yücel Arı, and columnists Emin Çölaşan and Necati Doğru…
Journalists fleeing threats at home trapped in ICE detention over US asylum seeker policy
When Cuban police escorted Serafín Morán Santiago on to a plane to Guyana in 2016, they warned the journalist he could be jailed for 15 years if he tried to return. Authorities there had already detained and tortured him for his reporting. But when he was attacked in Guyana and then threatened in Mexico, Morán…
Militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham threatens to execute Syrian journalist Amjed al-Maleh
Beirut, December 11, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today expressed grave concern about the fate of Syrian journalist Amjed al-Maleh. According to news reports, Syrian militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham threatened to execute al-Maleh, a Syrian freelance journalist and media activist from the southwestern Syrian city of Madaya whom the group had been holding captive…
Israel raids Palestinian news agency, detains journalist in the West Bank
Washington D.C., December 10, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists expressed concern at today’s raid on the offices of the Palestinian News and Information Agency (WAFA) by Israeli forces in the West Bank city of Ramallah and the detention of Al-Quds News Network writer and Quds Radio Tulkarm correspondent Sameh Manasra by Israeli authorities.
CPJ Safety Advisory: Covering protests in France and Belgium
Despite the French government announcing it will drop a proposed fuel tax rise, the gilets jaunes (yellow jackets) group, truckers, and farming groups have called for more protests, according to The Guardian. Mass demonstrations have taken place across France and Belgium as initial protests over the proposed increase in fuel duty on diesel spread to…
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of December 2
Journalists in court A Diyarbakır Court on December 5 ordered Rojhat Doğru, a journalist formerly with the northern Iraq outlet Gali Kurdistan TV, to be detained pending investigation, the pro-Kurdish Mezopotamya Agency reported. According to the report, Doğru was taken into custody in Istanbul on the accusation of “being a member of a [terrorist] organization,”…