Legal Action

Lusaka, May 31, 2024—Lesotho authorities should withdraw statements equating media interviews with outlawed music groups to criminal offenses and provide guarantees that journalists will not face arrest for doing their jobs, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday.   During a May 21 press briefing, deputy police commissioner and then-acting head of the police force…

Berlin, May 30, 2024—Russian authorities must end the prosecution and harassment of journalists connected with the Latvia-based independent news site Meduza and those who share its content, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. On May 2, the Cheryomushki district court in the Russian capital Moscow initiated administrative proceedings against Galina Timchenko, head of Meduza,…

Bangkok, May 29, 2024—Proposed amendments to Indonesia’s broadcasting law represent a clear and present danger to press freedom and should be scrapped immediately to uphold and protect democracy, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. According to multiple press reports citing a leaked draft of the broadcast bill, electronic and television broadcasts of “exclusive investigative journalism” would be restricted…

Stockholm, May 28, 2024 — The Committee to Protect Journalists strongly decries the Georgian parliament’s Tuesday decision to overturn a veto by the country’s president and adopt a Russian-style “foreign agents” law that would target media outlets and press freedom groups. “The ruling Georgian Dream party’s decision to push through Kremlin-inspired ‘foreign agents’ legislation despite…

New York, May 24, 2024 — Nigerian authorities should drop their investigation into journalist Madu Onuorah and cease arresting journalists in connection with their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. Armed police officers from Nigeria’s eastern Enugu and Ebonyi states arrested Onuorah, the publisher and editor-in-chief of Global Upfront Newspapers, at his home…

São Paulo, May 24, 2024—A decision by Brazil’s top court to recognize the judicial harassment of journalists and to introduce procedures to help prevent courts being misused to intimidate and silence the media is a welcome move towards safeguarding press freedom, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. On May 22, the Supreme Court unanimously…

Istanbul, May 22, 2024 – Turkish authorities must drop charges against journalist Sinan Aygül alleging that he threatened the men who attacked him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday.  In June 2023, Aygül, chief editor of the privately owned local news website Bitlis News and chair of the local trade group Bitlis Journalists Society, was hospitalized after he was…

Berlin, May 22, 2024—Russian authorities must immediately halt their criminalization of journalists and independent media outlets by labeling them as “undesirable” and by issuing punitive sanctions against those they deem “foreign agents,” the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. On May 16, the prosecutor general’s office banned SOTA, one of Russia’s last independent news outlets,…

The Committee to Protect Journalists and nine other organizations representing news media titles, journalists, and campaign groups, urged U.K. authorities on Tuesday to urgently repeal Section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013, which could force publishers to pay the costs of people who sue them — even if the outlet wins. Section 40,…

Stockholm, May 20, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists on Monday called on Kyrgyzstan to allow the country’s leading investigative news site Kloop to resume work and stop using the courts to silence critical media, following the rejection by a city court of Kloop’s appeal against a liquidation order. “The court’s rejection of Kloop’s appeal against…