Iraqi authorities shut down internet, detain and assault journalists amid protests
Between July 14 and September 6, 2018, at least seven Iraqi journalists were assaulted or detained while covering protests over government corruption and the lack of basic services in several cities across Iraq, and the offices of two local media outlets were set on fire, according to news reports, the journalists’ employers, the local press…
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of August 27, 2018
Police assault reporters in Istanbul Turkish police violently attacked several reporters trying to cover a weekly silent protest, known as the Saturday Mothers, in Istanbul’s Galatasaray Square on August 25, the New York Times reported. The reporters, alongside activists participating in the protest, were attacked by the police during the 700th vigil for those who…
Nicaragua convicts two men in journalist’s killing in trial criticized as unfair
Bogotá, Colombia, August 29, 2018–A Nicaraguan court on August 27 found two men guilty in the shooting death of journalist Ángel Eduardo Gahona in a trial that the journalist’s widow, defense lawyers, and human rights groups characterized as flawed. CPJ today called on authorities to conduct a transparent investigation and trial to ensure that Gahona’s…
Ugandan police arrest and detain radio presenter overnight
Ugandan police on August 17, 2018 detained Samuel Kyambadde, a political show host and news presenter with the privately owned Metro FM, on allegations that he incited violence during his program, Kyambadde told CPJ on August 22. The journalist was released on bond the following day and is required to report daily to the Old…
CPJ Safety Advisory: Covering Unite the Right rally and counter-protests in Washington, D.C.
Hundreds of protesters are expected to join a “white civil rights rally” in Washington, D.C., on August 11 and 12 to mark the one-year anniversary of the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, which became violent and resulted in the death of one woman. A coalition of local organizations is planning counter-protests in Washington…
CPJ Safety Advisory: Covering protests in Bangladesh
On July 29, two students were killed, and 12 others injured when a bus plowed into a passengers waiting at a stop in Dhaka. Since then, daily demonstrations that started in Dhaka have spread throughout Bangladesh. Thousands of students have demonstrated on the streets of Dhaka at major traffic intersections, causing congestion that has nearly…
Bangladesh orders Shahidul Alam held 7 days; more than a dozen journalists attacked
New York, August 6, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Bangladeshi authorities to immediately halt widespread attacks on journalists covering ongoing student protests in Dhaka and to release photographer Shahidul Alam from jail.
Bangladeshi photographer Shahidul Alam detained after post about Dhaka protests
New York, August 5, 2018–A group of men who said they were from the detective branch of Dhaka police today took Shahidul Alam, a photographer, commentator, and the founder of the Bangladeshi multimedia organization Drik and Pathshala Media Institute, from his home, hours after he posted a video to Facebook about protests in the city,…