Pajhwok Afghan News agency targeted in bomb blast
New York, June 11, 2015–The Committee to Protect Journalists is greatly concerned by a bomb attack on the Pajhwok Afghan News agency’s Jalalabad office in Nangahar province on Wednesday night. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, according to media reports.
Baku 2015: Press freedom, Azerbaijan, and the European Games
Tomorrow 50 countries are due to take part in the opening ceremony of the inaugural European Games in Baku, but Azerbaijan’s most prominent journalist, Khadija Ismayilova, will not be at the celebrations. The award-winning investigative reporter has been in jail since December on retaliatory charges over her writing on corruption.
At least four journalists attacked in Nigeria in one week
Abuja, Nigeria, June 5, 2015–At least four journalists have been attacked in Nigeria, and one forced to flee his state, in the past week, according to news reports and one of the journalists. The attacks occurred in the same week that the Committee to Protect Journalists wrote an open letter to new President Muhammadu Buhari,…
CPJ urges Nigerian president to prioritize press freedom
President Buhari: The Committee to Protect Journalists is writing to congratulate you on your recent victory in Nigeria’s presidential election. As Nigeria prepares to enter a new chapter in its history, we urge you and your administration to take steps to ensure that journalists are able to work freely and openly in the country without fear of reprisal of any form.
Chinese cartoonist Rebel Pepper struggles to survive in self-imposed exile
When calls for Wang Liming to be arrested were made on a forum hosted by China’s state-controlled press last year, the satirical cartoonist who lampooned the Communist Party leadership decided it would be safer to stay in Japan, where he had been traveling. But while he may have avoided possible arrest, the cartoonist, known as…
CPJ condemns Putin’s decree banning coverage of military casualties
New York, May 28, 2015–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns today’s presidential decree that extends a ban on coverage of military casualty figures to “peacetime, during special operations,” as well as in wartime. Such coverage, deemed to be disclosure of state secrets, is punishable by prison terms up to 20 years, according to local press…
Colombian president tells CPJ he will prioritize combating impunity in anti-press attacks
Bogotá, Colombia, May 27, 2015–In a meeting on Tuesday with the Committee to Protect Journalists and the Colombian press freedom group Foundation for a Free Press, or FLIP, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos pledged to prioritize combating impunity in attacks against the press.
Second journalist killed in Brazil in less than a week
New York, May 26, 2015–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the murder of Brazilian radio journalist Djalma Santos da Conceição and calls on authorities to investigate and bring all those responsible to justice. Santos da Conceição’s body was found with signs of torture on Saturday in the northeast state of Bahia, one day after the…
Fabricated attacks by Colombian journalists mask real dangers
Although Colombian journalists are frequently threatened by Marxist guerrillas, criminal gangs, and corrupt politicians trying to silence them, two recent cases that created widespread concern–including alerts from CPJ–were fabricated by the very reporters who claimed to have been targeted.
Amid violence in Burundi, radio stations attacked
New York May 15, 2015–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a series of attacks on Burundian news outlets and calls on all sides in the unrest to refrain from attacking or threatening journalists. In recent days, at least five radio stations were attacked during violence over an attempted coup in the capital, Bujumbura, and threats…