• This feature is part of a CPJ special report: Deadly Pattern: 20 journalists died by Israeli military fire in 22 years. No one has been held accountable.
  Also read: How Israel probes journalist killings

The figures also reflect dangers in the places where Palestinians are able to report. Palestinians face extreme restrictions on movement. Palestinians cannot travel between Gaza — where Israel controls the airspace, territorial waters, and most land crossings —  and the occupied West Bank without Israeli permission. Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank also need Israeli permission to enter Israel and east Jerusalem. Palestinians in east Jerusalem, which Israel annexed in a move not recognized internationally, have more freedom of movement; like other non-Gaza residents they still need Israeli permits to enter Gaza. The Israeli Government Press Office, which coordinates between the government and journalists, told CPJ it supports the applications of Palestinian journalists to report inside Israel. 

The result of these restrictions is that Palestinians journalists are largely confined to reporting where they reside — often the sites of major violence. They are often early on the scene to cover Israeli military operations in their towns and cities, serving as the first eyes and ears on events that quickly become world news. 

Israeli soldiers’ views on Palestinian journalists also undermine their safety, journalists on the ground told CPJ. “They don’t consider Palestinian journalists as journalists, they consider us the same as Palestinian demonstrators and they target us like they do demonstrators,” said Hafez Abu Sabra, a Palestinian reporter with Jordan’s Roya TV.

This is in sharp contrast to the way the military treats Israeli reporters, who may coordinate with the army to go to Palestinian cities in the West Bank, areas Israeli citizens normally cannot access. “The army knows the handful of journalists who cover military operations and when to have them tag along,” said Emanuel Fabian, a military correspondent with The Times of Israel. Israeli reporters, like all Israeli citizens, are barred from entering Gaza.

Haaretz’s Amira Hass, who regularly files from Palestinian areas, says that most Israeli newspapers don’t provide a full depiction of Palestinian life under Israeli restrictions, instead focusing on the military angle. “The mainstream media in Israel does not cover the occupation, really,” she said. In general, Palestinian newspapers also don’t provide in-depth coverage of Israeli life, but do cover Israeli politics by translating the Hebrew press. 

Foreign correspondents are the journalists tasked with spanning the divide. With Israeli Government Press Office permission, they are able to report in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza — and they face dangers in doing so. “We can basically go anywhere we want, and I think the ease of access sometimes obscures the fact that this is a very dangerous place to work,” The Guardian’s Jerusalem correspondent Bethan McKernan told CPJ. “It is unpredictable, and violence can break out unexpectedly at any moment.”

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

• This feature is part of a CPJ special report: Deadly Pattern: 20 journalists died by Israeli military fire in 22 years. No one has been held accountable.
  Also read: A deadly reporting field for Palestinian journalists

If an incident taking place during active combat raises the suspicion of a violation of international law, the office of the army chief of staff opens a preliminary examination known as “a fact-finding assessment.” The findings are passed on to the Military Advocate General who decides whether they warrant the opening of a criminal investigation. Since the assessments began in 2014, Israel has examined five journalist deaths and one large-scale bombardment that killed three journalists. Not one of these assessments led to a criminal investigation. 

The assessments were supposed to bring the military justice system into line with international standards, but many Israeli and international human rights organizations dismiss them as cosmetic changes to a system that is still designed to shield soldiers.

The assessments, which were intended to be rapid and efficient, can drag on for years, according to Israeli human rights group Yesh Din and CPJ’s research. In the unusual event that an assessment triggers a criminal investigation, investigators have to start from scratch and cannot use anything uncovered during the assessment. This creates further delays, rights groups say, during which witnesses’ memories fade and evidence may disappear.

Once a “fact-finding assessment” is done it goes to the office of the Military Advocate General, a unit that human rights groups say is neither impartial nor independent. Yesh Din referenced the case of journalist Yousef Abu Hussein of Hamas’ Voice of Al-Aqsa Radio, who was killed at his home in Gaza in an IDF bombing in 2021. The Military Advocate General’s office “had a hand in approving the policy that classified Abu Hussein as a military target, provided clearance for the strike that killed him, or helped draft the criteria for proportionality when innocent civilians are harmed in an attack on a military target,” wrote Yesh Din. And yet the Military Advocate General was tasked with deciding whether to open a criminal investigation into his killing — and in this case did not.  

In an email to CPJ, the IDF said of Abu Hussein’s killing: “It was found that the strike targeted a legitimate military target, was approved by the relevant officials, and was in accordance with the principle of proportionality,” meaning the military claimed that the circumstances of the killing comported with international law. 

The Military Advocate General rarely opens criminal cases, or does so slowly. Yesh Din examined Israel’s track record in the 2021 military operation that killed Abu Hussein, Operation Guardian of the Walls. It found that as of one year later, the army had opened assessments into 84 incidents, but only began a criminal investigation into one. As of that time, the majority of the assessments were still ongoing. 

When a criminal investigation is opened, it is conducted by the military police. For years, human rights groups have criticized these investigations as relying on soldier testimonies without gathering physical evidence or witness statements, or doing so long after the incident in question. Rights groups have said that military units involved in the incident are tasked with identifying suspects and witnesses, typically after debriefings in which accounts may have been coordinated and rehearsed. 

“From Israel’s perspective, this isn’t about establishing accountability and protecting the rights of victims — it’s the opposite,” said Hagai El-Ad, head of Israeli human rights group B’Tselem. “I’m not expressing an opinion. B’Tselem has more inside information into the whitewashing of the killings of Palestinians than anyone else. We’ve investigated hundreds of cases — and we’ve done that while engaging directly with the Israeli authorities.” 

However, B’Tselem is no longer cooperating with the Israeli army’s investigative system, saying in 2016 that it “would no longer play a part in the pretense posed by the military law enforcement system and will no longer refer complaints to it.”

Before the new mechanism came into place nine years ago, Israel opened preliminary probes or very basic checks into at least seven journalist killings. Only one of these yielded a criminal investigation, the 2003 death of British journalist James Miller. But his case was closed and authorities did not bring criminal charges. In at least five cases of journalist killings documented by CPJ, Israel did not announce any probe.  

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

At a press conference Wednesday, April 26, at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand, Democratic Voice of Burma editor-in-chief and CPJ International Press Freedom Award winner Aye Chan Naing handed the camera to Nagai’s sister Noriko Ogawa, who has long sought its return from Myanmar authorities and traveled from Japan for the event.

DVB gained access to the camera from an undisclosed source in Yangon and spirited it across the Myanmar-Thailand border after the February 2021 military coup and subsequent clampdown on the press, according to Aye Chan Naing. Nagai’s last footage contained in the camera was shown at the press conference.

CPJ Senior Southeast Asia Representative Shawn W. Crispin was invited by DVB and Nagai’s family to speak at the event, where he addressed Nagai’s still-unresolved killing and more broadly the continued killing of journalists with impunity in Myanmar.

Read Crispin’s remarks below:

We’re here today to honor the memory of fallen Japanese journalist Kenji Nagai, a courageous reporter who tragically lost his life in pursuit of the news.

The return to his family of the camera he was using to report when he was shot and murdered in the streets of Yangon while covering political protests is long overdue—over 15 years overdue.

DVB should be commended for its dogged journalistic pursuit of the camera and the exceptional risks it has taken to return it to Kenji’s family.

But ultimately, today’s event is an important and timely reminder that Myanmar’s military has and continues to kill journalists with impunity, and that the killings won’t stop until Kenji’s murder receives full justice—from the foot soldier who pulled the trigger to any commanders who gave shoot-to-kill orders to the military leaders who orchestrated the lethal repression.

The grotesque military mindset behind these killings is that with time they will be forgotten and thus forever unresolved. But may the recovery of Kenji’s camera and the moving personal footage it contains revive the call for justice and remind the world of the brutality and lies that have long characterized Myanmar’s military rule.

Then as now, killing with impunity is deeply engrained in the Myanmar military’s DNA and until the soldiers and their commanders responsible for Kenji’s murder are brought to account in court, if not locally than internationally, then the lethal silencing of journalists will endure.

Myanmar authorities have long sought to whitewash the circumstances of Kenji’s killing, claiming he was shot by an unknown shooter from a long distance and not by a soldier at point-blank range—as various media reports, including DVB’s on-the-spot footage of the fateful event, show was the case.

The Myanmar soldier who pulled the trigger has not been identified nor held to account for his crime against a working journalist, a killing that aimed to black out news reporting of the military’s lethal repression of anti-military street protestors involved in the then so-called Saffron Revolution.

The Japanese government, meanwhile, has after initial pursuit cynically allowed the case to go cold and forgotten over the years, and has implicitly helped to cover up the circumstances of Kenji’s murder by not publicly revealing the results of its own internal autopsy which reports indicate contradicts Myanmar’s official account.

An Asahi Shimbun report quoting a recently retired Japanese government pathologist, who was silenced while in government service but outspoken since, indicate Kenji was killed from a bullet at point-blank range and not by long-distance sniper fire, giving the lie to Myanmar’s official version of events.

Tokyo has shamefully prioritized maintaining good diplomatic relations and strong commercial ties with Myanmar’s generals over pursuing justice for Kenji’s murder.

That’s an important subtext to today’s event that hopefully the Japanese government will seek to reverse, particularly as the current military rulers continue to harass and target independent Japanese reporters.

While the return of the camera and the last shot footage it contains will hopefully bring a measure of closure to Kenji’s long-suffering family, who again have futilely sought the camera’s return from Myanmar authorities for over 15 years—it does nothing in respect to achieving justice for his death.

The military regime responsible for Kenji’s murder has been reincarnated in the junta government that is now terrorizing, shuttering, and literally killing Myanmar’s independent journalists and media outlets.

CPJ’s research shows at least four local journalists have been killed with impunity since coup-maker generals seized power from an elected government in February 2021.

Myanmar ranked eighth on CPJ’s 2022 Impunity Index, a ranking of countries worldwide where the killers of journalists go free. It marked the first time Myanmar appeared on our index, underscoring the severity of Myanmar’s post-coup press freedom crisis.

CPJ reporting shows several other reporters have been tortured while in military custody. And dozens are now languishing behind bars on trumped-up and bogus anti-state charges, including a handful of intrepid DVB reporters.

Make no mistake, Myanmar’s generals will continue to harass, jail, and kill media members as long as they feel they can get it away with it.

But may they be reminded today that the world hasn’t forgotten about Kenji’s murder at the military’s hands, nor will it give the regime a pass for the crimes it’s committing now, every day, against the independent journalists who literally risk life and limb to report the news.

The world is watching and CPJ will continue to call for justice until Myanmar’s journalist-killing soldiers are put where they belong, behind bars in the same prisons they now use to jail and silence the free press.

Thank you for the opportunity to participate in today’s event.

[Editor’s note: This article has been updated to correct the date of the press conference.]

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

“The harsh sentence handed to journalist Nguyen Lan Thang is an outrage and must be immediately and unconditionally reversed,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “Vietnam must stop treating independent journalists like enemies of the state.”

On Wednesday, April 12, the Hanoi People’s Court convicted and sentenced Thang in a one-day, closed trial to six years in prison under the penal code’s Article 117, a provision that outlaws “creating, storing, disseminating or propagandizing information, materials, items and publications” against the state, according to multiple news reports. His sentence includes two years of probation.

Thang, a regular contributor to the U.S. Congress-funded Radio Free Asia since 2013, was charged for posting 12 interviews on YouTube and his Facebook account, which has over 157,000 followers. Thang frequently reported on issues including freedom of religion and land confiscations.

Only four defense lawyers and Thang’s wife, Le Bich Vuong, were allowed inside the courtroom during the trial, RFA reported.

Thang is among four RFA contributors currently imprisoned in Vietnam, the outlet said in an April 12 statement condemning Thang’s sentencing.

Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security did not immediately respond to CPJ’s email requesting comment on Thang’s conviction.

Vietnam was holding 21 journalists behind bars when CPJ conducted its annual prison census on December 1, 2022. That figure did not include Thang, as CPJ could not confirm whether his arrest was related to his journalism at the time.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

Provisions in the draft law, On the Legal Regime of Martial Law, previously criticized by CPJ, would grant the Armenian government the power under declaration of martial law to block websites, social media, and internet applications and to enact partial or complete internet shutdowns across the country’s territory.

The letter highlights how the legislation poses a “serious threat to the freedom of expression in Armenia” and represents “an excuse to curtail press freedom.” Internet shutdowns “make it extremely difficult for journalists, the media, and human rights defenders to carry out their work,” and “restricting internet access in any manner disrupts the flow of information and hinders reporting and accountability for human rights abuses,” the letter says.

The full letter can be read here.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

Thang, a political activist and contributor to U.S. Congress-funded Radio Free Asia who also posted reporting on his personal social media accounts, was arrested on July 5, 2022, in Hanoi, the capital, according to news reports and Rohit Mahajan, RFA’s chief communications officer, who spoke with CPJ via email. Thang was held incommunicado until being charged in January under the penal code’s Article 117, a provision that bars “creating, storing, disseminating or propagandizing information, materials, items and publications” against the state.

Mahajan recently confirmed to CPJ that the anti-state charges pending against Thang are related to his journalism. He said Thang has been charged for posting 12 interviews on YouTube and his Facebook account, which has over 157,000 followers.

Thang’s trial is scheduled to start on April 12 at Hanoi’s People’s Court in a closed hearing where only his family and lawyers will be allowed to attend, according to RFA. He is being held at the Hanoi Police Department’s Temporary Detention Center No. 1.

“Nguyen Lan Thang has spent more than nine months behind bars for his journalistic activities,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “Vietnamese authorities must drop all charges against him, and free Thang and all the other journalists wrongfully held behind bars in the country immediately.”

Thang has contributed to RFA since 2013, according to the outlet. In his reporting for RFA, Thang “struck a moderate tone, seeking balance and avoiding sharp, direct criticism,” Mahajan said.

In a June 15, 2022 RFA column, he reported on the deaths of two soldiers in service that quoted family members who doubted official accounts that their sons committed suicide.

In an April 4, 2022 post for RFA, Thang claimed that Russian ships had turned off their locator systems to evade being tracked for alleged illegal oil sales.

Thang is also a member of the No-U Football Club Hanoi, a local activist group that protests China’s sweeping sovereignty claims in the South China Sea and has had many of its members arrested.  

Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security did not immediately respond to CPJ’s email request for comment on Thang’s case and detention.

Vietnam was holding 21 journalists behind bars when CPJ conducted its annual prison census on December 1, 2022. That figure did not include Thang, as CPJ could not confirm whether his arrest was related to his journalism at the time.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

On Thursday, March 30, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) stated that it had detained Gershkovich, a Moscow-based reporter with The Wall Street Journal, in the city of Yekaterinburg, according to multiple news reports. Later that day, a Moscow court ordered Gershkovich to be placed under arrest until May 29 on charges of spying for the U.S. government, according to a statement by the joint press service of the Moscow courts.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the authorities have imposed harsh restrictions on the independent press.

The Wall Street Journal said that Gershkovich was detained on Wednesday on a reporting trip in Yekaterinburg. The Journal said it “vehemently denies the allegations from the FSB and seeks the immediate release of our trusted and dedicated reporter.” The Journal did not immediately respond to CPJ’s emailed request for comment.

“By detaining the American journalist Evan Gershkovich, Russia has crossed the Rubicon and sent a clear message to foreign correspondents that they will not be spared from the ongoing purge of the independent media in the country,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, in New York. “Authorities must immediately and unconditionally release Gershkovich, drop all charges against him, and let the media work freely and without fear of reprisal.”

CPJ emailed the FSB, the Russian Foreign Ministry, and the press office of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow for comment, but did not immediately receive any reply.

The FSB said it “intercepted the illegal activities” of Gershkovich, accused the journalist of collecting information “constituting a state secret about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex,” and stated he was detained “while attempting to obtain classified information.” If convicted, Gershkovich could face up to 20 years in jail, according to Article 276 of the Russian Criminal Code.

Gershkovich has lived in Moscow for six years, was accredited with the Russian Foreign Ministry, and was covering Russia as part of The Wall Street Journal’s Moscow bureau.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova alleged that Gershkovich’s actions in Yekaterinburg had “nothing to do with journalism,” adding that it was “not the first time that a well-known Westerner has been ‘grabbed by the hand.’” Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesman, said that Gershkovich was “caught red-handed.”

“Evan is a thoroughly professional journalist who has been arrested by the FSB on obviously bogus espionage charges. Journalism is not a crime. Evan should be released immediately,” Pjotr Sauer, a reporter for The Guardian newspaper, and a friend and former colleague of Gershkovich, told CPJ via messaging app.

At least 19 journalists, were behind bars in Russia on December 1, 2022, when CPJ conducted its most recent prison census.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

“Targeting journalists during an event to honor reporters is a despicable and cowardly act,” said Beh Lih Yi, CPJ’s Asia Program Coordinator. “Brave Afghan journalists are already reporting in extremely challenging circumstances. The Taliban must investigate quickly, bring the perpetrators to justice, and end impunity for those who target journalists.”

The explosion took place at a cultural center in Mazar-e-Sharif, the capital of northern Balkh province, on Saturday as journalists gathered for an event marking the National Journalists Day, according to those reports. A security guard was killed and several journalists were injured.

Police put the number of journalists injured at five, while the Afghanistan Journalists Center, a local media group, said at least 16 were wounded. CPJ could not immediately independently verify the number of casualties.

No one has claimed responsibility for Saturday’s attack so far. The incident came two days after a suicide bombing in Mazar-e-Sharif killed the provincial governor and two other people at his office in an attack claimed by the militant group Islamic State.

Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent via messaging app.

Afghanistan was ranked fourth on CPJ’s 2022 Global Impunity Index, which spotlights countries with the worst records for prosecuting murderers of journalists.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

Developed in collaboration with TrustLaw—the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s global pro bono service—this guide covers the legal rights journalists have in India. It provides guidance to equip journalists with a working understanding of the remedies and protection measures that are available under Indian law.

The guide and overview are also available in Hindi.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

On Wednesday, February 22, about 20 supporters of Nigeria’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) hit and kicked Ugbal, editor of the privately owned news site CrossRiverWatch, as he worked to report on a dispute between the political supporters and a community youth group outside a PDP office in Calabar, the capital of Cross River State, according to a report published by Ugbal’s outlet and the journalist, who spoke to CPJ over the phone.

Separately, on the same day in Oshogbo, the Osun state capital, security forces working under the orders of officials with the Osun branch of the Central Bank of Nigeria barred journalists from at least 10 separate media houses from accessing the bank office, where Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials had come to collect election materials, including result sheets and ballot papers, according to a report by privately owned newspaper The Nation and its author Toba Adedeji, who was there and spoke by phone with CPJ. Adedeji told CPJ that when he had covered a similar collection of election materials ahead of the Osun state governorship elections in July 2022, journalists had been permitted to access the bank offices.

Nigeria’s elections for federal lawmakers are scheduled for February 25, and elections for state governments are scheduled for March 11. CPJ’s previous reporting detailed safety concerns for journalists covering the elections, including in Cross River State.

“Nigerian authorities should hold accountable those responsible for attacking journalist Jonathan Ugbal, and political parties should make clear that such interference by their supporters will not be tolerated,” said Angela Quintal, CPJ’s Africa program coordinator, from New York. “Authorities should ensure journalists are not denied access to cover Nigeria’s democratic process.”

Regarding the incident in Calabar, the community youth group had gone to the PDP office to call for lawmakers from that party to improve roads and access to utilities, according to Ugbal and a member of the community group who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity for security reasons.

The journalist said he had finished filming the altercation and was leaving the scene when the attackers swarmed him, hit him across his body, damaged his devices, and took one of his three phones, some of his money, two of his bank cards, and his office ID card. Those items were not returned, he said.

The PDP supporters beat the journalist with their hands and kicked him until a bystander pulled him into a nearby shop, Ugbal said, adding that his bag fell to the ground during the attack, damaging his laptop and phones. As he waited in the shop, the party supporters deleted images from one of his phones, Ugbal said. As he left, he collected his bag with his computer and two remaining phones.

As Ugbal walked away, another group of about five PDP supporters approached and hit him with their hands, he said. After Ugbal identified himself as a journalist, they recognized him as a host with the privately owned broadcaster Hit 95.9 FM, where he also works. Those supporters looked through his bag, took his ID card, bank cards, and some money, then let him leave.

Ugbal said he went to a medical clinic after the attack, but no doctors were available, so he returned the next morning and received medication for pain in his neck and back due to the attack. He told CPJ that he intended to file a report with police but had been advised by his lawyer to first get a medical examination.

Venatius Ikem, the PDP chairman for Cross River State, told CPJ by phone that he was in transit before the line was disconnected. When CPJ called back, the connection was too poor to communicate. CPJ also sent questions via messaging app but received no response.

CPJ called Eta Mbora and Efa Esua Nyong, two incumbent PDP candidates that have offices in the building where Ugbal was attacked, but received no response.

CPJ’s calls and text messages to the INEC national spokesperson, Festus Okoye, and his Osun State counterpart, Oluwaseun Osimosu, went unanswered.

CPJ also called and sent emails to contacts listed on the Central Bank of Nigeria website but received no response.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

The statement makes concrete recommendations in advance of this year’s report, which will be published in July.

The joint statement can be found here.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

“Critical journalism during a time of mourning for the tens of thousands of lives lost to the earthquakes may appear harsh, but it can also pave the way to justice for the victims and better regulations to save lives in the future,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna, in New York. “Turkish authorities should revoke the penalties leveled against broadcasters FOX TV Turkey, Halk TV, and TELE1, and refrain from silencing media criticism of the government and its institutions.”

On Tuesday, February 22, the Radio and Television Supreme Council, the government telecommunications regulator known as RTÜK fined Halk TV and TELE1 5% of their annual revenue and fined FOX TV Turkey 3%, the reports said. The RTÜK also suspended the next five episodes of the Halk TV and TELE1 shows that aired criticism of the government’s earthquake preparation and rescue efforts.

The outlets have the right to appeal to RTÜK decisions under Turkey’s telecommunications law.

Separately, the RTÜK on October 19, 2022, had imposed a three-day broadcast ban on TELE1 that will begin Wednesday, February 23, in response to a parliamentary deputy’s comments on a political debate show in September 2022. Socialist politician Sera Kadıgil described the Presidency of Religious Affairs, Turkey’s official religious authority, as “a tool for political Islam” while she was a guest on the show. TELE1 will comply with the court order for an immediate ban while its appeal is pending. 

CPJ emailed RTÜK for comment but did not receive any response.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

On February 8, police in the capital Lilongwe summoned Mtenje via phone to appear the following day for questioning over a Maravi Post story she did not write or publish, according to news reports, a statement by the Malawi chapter of the regional press freedom body Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), a bail form that CPJ reviewed, and a CPJ interview with the journalist. When Mtenje arrived at the station the next day, police detained her for 12 hours and charged her with defamation and offensive communication following a complaint by National Intelligence Service Director General Dokani Ngwira.

“The detention, confiscation of her phone, and charging of Malawian journalist Dorica Mtenje following a complaint from the country’s intelligence chief about an article that was not bylined and that she did not write is a fishing expedition to intimidate the press,” said Angela Quintal, CPJ’s Africa program coordinator, in New York. “We urge Malawian authorities to immediately drop the charges against Mtenje and ensure that criminal defamation is repealed, in the same way that sedition and insulting the president are no longer crimes in Malawi.”  

On February 18, President Lazarus Chakwera assented to the Penal Code (Amendment) Bill of 2022, which repeals the crimes of sedition and insulting the president.

On February 9, Mtenje appeared at police headquarters in Lilongwe at around 8 a.m. and was formally charged and detained at about 5 p.m., according to a news report and the journalist. Mtenje said her mobile phone was confiscated but returned upon her release three hours later.

Her supervisor, Lloyd M’bwana, was also summoned for questioning over the same story but he did not appear, according to MISA, Mtenje, and M’bwana, who spoke to CPJ. M’bwana told CPJ he did not go because he did not receive an official summons, only a call from police.

Mtenje is charged with offensive communication, under to Section 87 of the Electronic Transactions and Cyber Security Act, and defamation, under Section 200 of the country’s penal code.

If found guilty of offensive communication, Mtenje faces up to a year in prison or a fine of 1 million Malawian kwacha (US$975), while the defamation charge carries an undefined fine, a two-year imprisonment, or both.  

Mtenje told CPJ that she appeared before police on her own and was not accompanied by a lawyer. 

“I asked the officer why they summoned me after showing me the story I didn’t even write, but I was told they suspect that me and my boss could have written it,” Mtenje told CPJ. “They took away my phone…at some point, one officer went away with it. It has no password.”

Information Minister Moses Kunkuyu told CPJ he had secured Mtenje’s release and that her case was “closed.” However, the officer who handled the matter claimed to be unaware of the closure after her release, according to Mtenje.

When reached by CPJ via messaging app, Ngwira said he had not made any complaints against a journalist, but he alleged thata tabloid had been writing “lies against my person and the National Intelligence Service without even a single attempt to seek our side of whatever they write.” 

Ngwira said a police investigation was what led to the summoning and arrest of Mtenje. “I believe they are still investigating, and even for her to be released quickly was because MISA Malawi through their [chairperson] reached out,” he told CPJ.

Malawi Police Service spokesperson Peter Kalaya did not immediately respond to CPJ’s request for comment sent via messaging app. He is quoted by the MISA statement as saying police were only acting on a complaint by the National Intelligence Service Director. 

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

On February 8, the Ankara chief prosecutor’s office indicted 10 Kurdish journalists, nine of whom have been under pretrial arrest since late October, on the charge of membership in a terrorist organization. The indictment was made available to the journalists’ lawyers and CPJ on Friday, February 17, after it was approved by the court.

“Turkish authorities’ recent indictment of 10 journalists on terrorism charges is the latest in a long string of prosecutions of members of the press in retaliation for their reporting,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna, in New York. “The authorities should drop the charges, release all journalists imprisoned for their work, and put an end to equating journalism with terrorism.”

Those indicted were: pro-Kurdish Mezopotamya News Agency editor Diren Yurtsever; Mezopotamya reporters Berivan Altan, Ceylan Şahinli, Deniz Nazlım, Emrullah Acar, Hakan Yalçın, Salman Güzelyüz, and Zemo Ağgöz Yiğitsoy, freelance journalist Öznur Değer; pro-Kurdish news website JİNNEWS reporter Ümmü Habibe Eren; and former Mezopotamya reporting intern Mehmet Günhan. They were charged with being members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), according to those reports and the indictment, which was reviewed by CPJ.

The prosecutors alleged that Mezopotamya and JİNNEWS are directly linked to the PKK, including having financial ties, and cited more than 100 news stories about the outlawed group as evidence. Other evidence used against the journalists included tapped phone calls, travel records, printed and digital material found at their homes and workplaces, social media posts, small financial transfers, and the testimony of a secret witness.

CPJ asked Resul Tamur, a lawyer for the journalists, if there was any basis for the allegations of financial ties to the PKK; he said the prosecution had “opinion-based” evidence that was “not solid.” The journalists have previously denied the charges, according to the indictment.

The defendants face up to 15 years in prison if found guilty under Turkey’s anti-terrorism laws.

All the defendants except intern Günhan were ordered imprisoned by an Ankara court in late October. Ağgöz, the mother of a newborn baby, was put under house arrest; this was lifted in late December, but she was banned from foreign travel. 

CPJ emailed the Ankara chief prosecutor’s office and the Justice Ministry for comment but received no immediate reply.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

“The opacity around the trial and sentencing of Belarusian journalist Yury Hladchuk shows that the Belarusian authorities continue to target journalists in the shadows, far from public scrutiny,” said Carlos Martinez de la Serna, CPJ’s program director, in New York. “Belarusian authorities should not contest Hladchuk’s appeal, drop all charges against him, and release him along with all other imprisoned journalists.”

In December 2022, a court in Minsk convicted Hladchuk of insulting Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko and “organizing or participating in gross violations of public order,” and sentenced him to two years and six months in jail, according to those reports and Viasna, a banned human rights group that continues to operate unofficially. Hladchuk’s appeal is scheduled for February 28.

Authorities detained Hladchuk, the branded content editor for ABW.by, a leading automobile news website, along with the outlet’s chief editor Yuliya Mudreuskaya, in June 2022. In September 2022, Mudreuskaya was sentenced to 1.5 years in a prison colony for allegedly participating in protests.

Belarus is one of the world’s worst jailers of journalists, according to CPJ’s 2022 prison census.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

The draft EU law is seeking to strengthen media freedom and pluralism in EU member states.

The text of the letter can be found here.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

In recent years, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and other press freedom groups have expressed concern over an alarming increase in cases in which Brazil’s judicial system is weaponized against journalists and media outlets to stifle and discourage reporting. These legal attacks take many forms, including direct censorship and removal of content through civil lawsuits, criminalization of journalists through slander and defamation investigations and judicial procedures, and attempts to undermine or compromise source confidentiality.

Many journalists in Brazil do not have access to lawyers who specialize in press freedom issues or the resources to pay for legal services. Furthermore, many of them are not aware of several initiatives and organizations that can provide support for journalists and media workers facing legal action, much less how to contact these resources for help.

In response to this critical issue, CPJ has worked with local partners to compile this directory of resources providing different types of legal aid to help connect journalists in Brazil in need of legal support with the initiatives and organizations that can support them. The guide lists various initiatives that can provide support to journalists facing lawsuits, along with a brief description of the type of support provided and information about how journalists can contact them to request support.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

“Cameroonian authorities must ensure transparency in the investigation into the brutal killing of Martinez Zogo and guarantee that the process is followed in a way that delivers full justice,” said Angela Quintal, CPJ’s Africa program coordinator, in New York. “Unfortunately, past inquiries into the deaths of journalists, including Samuel Wazizi, have left much to be desired, and authorities must ensure that their investigations and findings surrounding Zogo’s murder are public and credible.” 

On Thursday, February 2, in a statement published on social media, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, the secretary general of Cameroon’s presidency, announced that investigations led to the arrest of several individuals “highly suspected of being involved in this heinous crime,” and that others remain wanted. Ngoh’s statement did not name those arrested.

According to the same news reports, the investigations led to the recent arrests of Léopold Maxime Eko Eko, head of the General Directorate of External Intelligence (DGRE), and Justin Danwe, director of operations at the DGRE.

Unidentified attackers abducted Zogo, the director of the privately owned radio broadcaster Amplitude FM, from his car on the evening of January 17 in the capital city of Yaoundé. The attackers chased Zogo, who had recently reported on alleged public embezzlement involving a prominent businessman, to the gate of the local gendarmerie office near the journalist’s home, where he had sought help. Zogo’s mutilated body was found on January 22; Cameroonian authorities announced the same day that they had begun an investigation to find the perpetrators and hold them accountable.

In a separate incident, Cameroonian journalist Samuel Wazizi died in government custody in August 2019, but authorities failed to inform Wazizi’s family of the death for 10 months or hand over his body, according to CPJ research. CPJ has called for Cameroonian authorities to fully account for Wazizi’s death. At least five journalists remain behind bars in Cameroon in connection with their work, according to CPJ’s December 1, 2022, prison census.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

Earlier that day, during his weekly commentary slot on the current affairs radio show Alô Guiné (Hello Guinea), Intupe, a lawyer and political commentator for the privately owned broadcaster Radio Bombolom, had criticized a rally attended by Tcherno Bari, the head of the president’s security force, Intupe told CPJ. He said he had hosted a legal commentary segment on that show for about four years, and discussed a variety of legal cases in Guinea Bissau.

At about 6:30 p.m. Bari, who was armed and dressed in plainclothes, arrived at Intupe’s home on the outskirts of the capital city of Bissau with four other men in police uniforms, Intupe said. 

Bari approached Intupe with one of the men and demanded to know who had told him to “make the video,” an apparent reference to the program earlier that day, a video of which was posted to Facebook.

Intupe and his family members resisted the men’s attempts to shove him into a van, and Bari hit Intupe’s wife with a rifle and summoned the other men to assist.

“They beat me with the rifle in the head, and I started to bleed” Intupe told CPJ. “Then they managed to grab my arms and legs to drag me into the van.”

He told CPJ that the men drove him around for about five minutes while his family followed the vehicle, honking their horn and screaming to raise alarm. The men then stopped the van and took Intupe onto the street, where they photographed him, grabbed his arms, and kicked him repeatedly.

“They kept asking who had sent me to comment on air,” he said. Intupe told CPJ he received stitches for a head wound at the Main Military Hospital in Bissau.

Contacted by phone, Bari told CPJ the justice system would deal with the situation and refused to comment further.

Later that day, President Umaro Sissoco Embaló condemned the attack on his official Facebook page and called for a thorough investigation of the “barbaric act of violence” against Intupe. However, Embaló later walked back that statement, Intupe told CPJ.

On December 5, following a press conference in which Intupe identified Bari as the leader of the attack and noted that Embaló had walked back his condemnation, armed men in two vehicles and a motorcycle arrived at Intupe’s home, fired gunshots at the house, and fled the scene, he said.

Intupe immediately went into hiding. When men arrived at his home a third time on December 9, he fled the country, and remains abroad for fear for his safety, he told CPJ. 

After he fled Guinea-Bissau, unidentified men followed Intupe’s wife’s car for more than an hour and “kept making dangerous maneuvers to identify the passengers,” he said.

Nicolau Dautarim, the host and producer of Alô Guiné, told CPJ via messaging app that he believed the attacks on Intupe may also be tied to his on-air comments about men accused of an attempted military coup in February 2022. Intupe is representing some of the people detained for alleged involvement in the coup.

Dautarim told CPJ that “intimidation and fear are standard weapons” used by the government against criticism, and that he himself has been a victim because of the content of his program. “In 2021, I had to go into hiding twice after receiving threats and information that I would be abducted. It happens often.”

When CPJ contacted presidential spokesman Óscar Barbosa and asked whether Bari had been suspended pending an investigation, he asked via message app that the request for comment be sent via email. Barbosa did not respond to CPJ’s follow-up requests for comment.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

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Covering one’s own community can empower and motivate local journalists by allowing them to provide important and not necessarily obvious context and to see the immediate and long-term impact of their work. However, emotional and geographic proximity can also lead to increased stress and burnout, and can even increase one’s likelihood of developing PTSD.

This guide aims to support local journalists’ ability to care for their mental health as they cover gun violence. Aimed at newsroom managers and journalists covering the story, the guide is organized into three parts: before, during, and after an assignment.

Before the assignment

Newsroom managers:

● Provide staff with the support, tools, and knowledge needed to cover gun violence effectively. For example, ensure all your team members understand how exposure to trauma can impact both sources and journalists. Discuss the physical and emotional signs of trauma exposure and organize training sessions with outside experts.

● Regularly check in with staff. Ask them what resources would be useful to support their work. Also, make it easy for staff to find external support, such as therapy. In the United States, the Journalist Trauma Support Network (JTSN) offers a directory of trauma-informed therapists who have experience working with journalists.

● Consider the identity and backgrounds of team members. For example, ask yourself if a reporter assigned to cover a story has connections to that community or might know someone affected. This doesn’t mean they shouldn’t cover the story; in fact, this might make them better suited to do so. But it does mean they might need additional support. Remember (especially in a local newsroom) that your whole team can be affected through secondary stress—or vicarious trauma—not just journalists in the field. Keep an eye on those monitoring social media and working with graphic visuals or other disturbing content. Not only will they likely be exposed to graphic content, but the content may be related to people and places they know.

● Define a mission and articulate it to your team. If journalists believe they are making a difference in their community, their resilience will be enhanced. Be sure to convey that the harassment and threat they may face online is in no way reflective of the quality of their work.

Journalists:

● Learn how to spot your own signs of distress. Recognize what happens when you feel stressed or overwhelmed. Focus on techniques that could help mitigate this, including writing a list of strategies that previously have worked for quick reference. 

● Seek professional help if you need it. JTSN connects U.S. journalists with therapists trained in journalism’s unique culture and occupational challenges.

● Journalists’ well-being is supported by the belief that their work has both purpose and potential for positive impact—that they do no harm to their sources. This is particularly important when working within your own community. Research and learn trauma-informed interviewing techniques before covering an event. For example, a tip sheet by Washington Post reporter John Woodrow Cox offers essential guidance on interviewing children. 

During the assignment

Newsroom managers:

● Maintain regular contact with journalists during assignments.

● Debrief after each assignment or at the end of each day if the story is ongoing. Helpful debriefs often include discussing what has gone well, what challenges arose, and what could be done differently.

Journalists:

● Many journalists struggle to balance empathy and compassion with journalistic detachment. If you become overwhelmed while covering gun violence, don’t be hard on yourself. However much you think you understand the situation, avoid telling sources during an interview that you understand how they feel—everyone experiences trauma differently.

● Journalists’ resilience is enhanced by the belief that they’ve done a good job. Conducting sensitive, trauma-informed interviews is fundamental to this. (Read CPJ’s interview with four journalists who cover gun violence for tips on how to conduct trauma-informed interviewing.) It’s important to show humanity when covering the immediate aftermath of a tragedy. Don’t try to speak with someone who does not seem equipped to handle an interview; or ask yourself what needs to be shown to your audience. For example, after a mass shooting, do you really need to interview families at the scene? In a shooting, don’t just focus on the act of violence: Find out about the victims’ lives and interests. A guide from the Dart Center for Journalism and Traumaoffers more information on interviewing victims and survivors of traumatic events.

● Photojournalists, social media teams, and those working with imagery are likely to be exposed to graphic content when covering gun violence—especially when it’s in their own community. Some steps can be taken to mitigate the effects of this content: take regular breaks, regularly alter your viewing position, and consider blocking out the most distressing part of a screen or frame—for example, a place or person you are familiar with. If you start to feel anxious, practice breathing techniques. To learn more, refer to the Dart Center guide focused on handling graphic imagery.

After the assignment

Newsroom managers:

● Keep an eye on team members who have been covering difficult stories and consider offering opportunities for breaks or another reprieve like covering a lighter story. If they’ve conducted a tough interview in the morning, ask if they’d like to focus on something less intense in the afternoon. Be sure to offer time away from work, such as an afternoon or a long weekend. Minimize contact during off hours.

● Be mindful of your own mental health and follow the advice you give your team: recognize if you’re starting to feel overwhelmed, set boundaries between work and your personal life, and seek professional help if you need it.

Journalists: 

● Take careful, clear, time-stamped notes while listening to recordings or working with documents containing emotionally difficult content so you don’t have to repeatedly listen or read back. 

● Limit your exposure to graphic imagery. Research shows that repeated exposure to traumatic imagery can increase risk of vicarious trauma—this risk increases when the person handling the imagery has a personal connection to the events. There are several precautions you can take. Eliminate needless, repeated exposure by meticulously organizing your files; take frequent screen breaks; don’t pass graphic imagery to colleagues without warning them of the content. To learn more, refer to the Dart Center guide focused on handling graphic imagery.

● Ensure that you take time away from work. Decompress through exercise, walking, or socializing. Try not to engage with graphic or disturbing content outside of work—instead engage in activities like reading books, listening to podcasts, playing sports, and other enjoyable activities that help take your mindelsewhere. Take all opportunities for paid time off.

● Generally, journalists who are closely affected by a local tragedy may find it useful to attend commemorations and services. Journalists are not just covering community tragedy; they are living in the community too.

● Develop supportive relationships with your colleagues. Research shows that peer support is one of the most important factors associated with journalists’ resilience.

If you or your colleagues need additional support, please contact the Dart Center (DartWebsite@gmail.com) or Committee to Protect Journalists (emergencies@cpj.org).

CPJ and Dart Center resources:

● ‘Trauma makes its way back to you’: Four U.S. journalists on covering mass shootings

● Handling Traumatic Imagery: Developing a Standard Operating Procedure

● Tips for Interviewing Victims of Tragedy, Witnesses, and Survivors

● Essential Tips for Interviewing Children

● The JTSN Therapist Directory

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

“The release of journalist Ivor Shearer is a small relief after four months of unjust and arbitrary detention, and we call on the Taliban to immediately release all other journalists who are being held,” said CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Beh Lih Yi. “The continued detention of Afghan journalists underscores the dire situation of press freedom in Afghanistan, which has gone from bad to worse with an intensifying crackdown on the media in the past year.”

Shearer arrived in Doha, Qatar, on Tuesday after he was freed and appeared to be healthy, a source familiar with the matter told CPJ, asking not to be named for safety reasons.  

Afghan producer Faizullah Faizbakhsh, who was arrested along with Shearer on August 17 while they were filming in the Afghan capital Kabul, has not been released and his whereabouts remain unknown, the source added.

The Taliban authorities and U.S. State Department have not identified the two Americans who were released on Tuesday. Citing anonymous sources, CNN and The Washington Post reported that one of the two Americans was Shearer.

Taliban intelligence agents detained Shearer and Faizbakhsh while they were filming in Kabul, where a U.S. drone strike killed Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri earlier in August. 

Shearer was one of at least three journalists imprisoned in Afghanistan as of December 1, 2022, according to CPJ’s annual prison census. Afghanistan appeared on the list for the first time in 12 years after the Taliban took back control of the country in August 2021.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

December 20, 2022

Sent via email

Dear President Giammattei,

We are writing to express our deep concern over—and opposition to—the continued detention of and criminal charges against international award-winning journalist José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, whose trial proceedings began on December 8. 

Zamora, the founder and director of multiple outlets including the daily newspaper, elPeriódico, has been recognized with Columbia University’s Maria Moors Cabot Prize, the King of Spain International Journalism Award, and the Committee to Protect Journalists’ International Press Freedom Award, among other prizes, for his decades of exceptional journalism.

We have followed the case against Zamora and elPeriódico with great concern since July, when police detained him on charges of blackmail, influence peddling, and money laundering for receiving $38,000 intended for elPeriódico. To date, prosecutors have failed to present any compelling evidence that Zamora committed any illegal act in accepting money donated to the newspaper; the main witness against Zamora and other elPeriódico employees charged in the case is a former banker himself accused of corruption. Nor have we seen any legitimate arguments at the court or appellate level for keeping Zamora behind bars for the more than four months he has already awaited trial. 

Zamora’s family has reported that the 66-year-old journalist is being kept in virtual solitary confinement, with limited access to water and food, and that he has faced arbitrary changes to visiting hours, according to filings by his attorneys with the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. His pre-trial detention violates Article 7 of the American Convention on Human Rights, which Guatemala has ratified. Even if, as prosecutors have stated in court, authorities are concerned that Zamora may try to influence the testimony of his employees, keeping him in pre-trial detention is hardly the only—though it is certainly the most overtly punitive—way to prevent such communication that does not involve violating Zamora’s rights or risking his health and safety.

Zamora has faced multiple threats and serious attacks on his life because of his reporting. As you are well aware, in 2003, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights granted Zamora precautionary measures to protect him from persecution for his work, following a home invasion and violent attacks against his family by individuals who identified themselves at the time as agents of the Guatemalan National Civil Police and Guatemala’s Public Ministry. 

We also are concerned about the timeline of events in Zamora’s case, that elPeriódico was set to publish articles alleging government corruption in the days immediately preceding the charges against him, and that because of his detention and the case against him and other newspaper employees, elPeriódico recently was forced to cease print publication. 

We call on your administration to immediately and unconditionally release Zamora, drop the unwarranted and undue criminal charges against him and other members of elPeriódico, and ensure the press is allowed to cover his trial proceedings free of any censorship or interference. Finally, we urge you to allow investigative journalists to work freely and safely to open a new chapter in Guatemalan history, one that defines the country as a leader in protecting freedom of expression in the Americas.

Sincerely,

Aaron Glantz, executive-in-residence, Maynard Institute for Journalism Education
Adamy Gianinni dos Santos
Alex Goldmark, JSK journalism fellow
Alina Fichter, DW, Germany
Amie Ferris-Rotman, New Lines Magazine
Ana Maria Carrano, El Detector, Univision
András Kepes
Andrea Elliott, journalist
Ann Hayward, independent
Ann Marie Lipinski, Nieman Foundation for Journalism
Anne Marie Sorensen, Politiken, Denmark
Anuradha Bhasin, Kashmir Times
Barbara Maseda, Proyecto Inventario
Berifi Apenteng, Ghana Journalists Association
Beth Duff-Brown, journalist
Betsy O’Donovan, assistant professor, Department of Journalism, Western Washington University
Bob Thompson, retired, The Washington Post
Bruce Benson, alumnus, JSK Journalism Fellowship
Bryan Pollard, The Associated Press
Burt Herman
Camila Segura, directora editorial, Radio Ambulante
Carlos Dada, journalist
Carlos F. Chamorro, journalist, director, Confidencial, Nicaragua
Carlos Martínez de la Serna, Committee to Protect Journalists
Carlos Puig, Class of 1998, Nieman fellow
Carolina Guerrero, El hilo, Radio Ambulante
Cheryl Devall, KRVS, Lafayette, Louisiana
Chicas Poderosas
Christianne Gonzalez, Brasil NewsCom
Christy George, freelance public radio editor
Cinar Oskay, JSK journalism fellow
Cíntia de Lima
Cristina Tardáguila, Agência Lupa (Brasil)
Cristina Zahar, Associação Brasileira de Jornalismo Investigativo (Abraji)
Dagmar Thiel, Fundamedios
Daniela Pinheiro
David Dow, Society of Professional Journalists
David Trujillo, Radio Ambulante
Dawn Garcia, director, John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships, Stanford University
Djordje Padejski, John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships, Stanford University
Dr. Luisa Ortiz Pérez, JSK journalism fellow, Stanford University
Eduardo Goulart, OCCRP
Ergun Babahan, retired
Eric Ortiz
Eric Pryne, retired, The Seattle Times
Eric V Tait Jr., EVT Educational Productions
Eric Westervelt, NPR
Erich Vogt, University of Toronto
Ewa Zadrzynska, freelance writer
Fátima Cabañas, Cultura CoOp México
Federica Bianchi, L’Espresso
Florencia Coelho, La Nación, Argentina
Gabriel Sama
Gail Ablow, Class of 2004, JSK journalism fellow; producer, Anna Deavere Smith Projects
Geoff McGhee, independent
Guilherme Amado, Abraji
Guillermo López Portillo, Nmas, Televisa
Hansheng Chen, freelancer
Howard Berkes, retired correspondent, NPR Investigations Unit
Ian Stewart, International Studies Institute, University of New Mexico
Ivan Martínez-Vargas, reporter
Izabela Moi, Agência Mural de Jornalismo das Periferias
Jake Nicol, JSK journalism fellow
Janet Rae-Dupree, freelancer
Janine Zacharia, Stanford University
Jenifer McKim, GBH News, Boston
Jeremy Adam Smith, University of California, Berkeley
Jim Colgan, former JSK journalism fellow
Joan Laatz Jewett, The Oregonian
Joe Copeland, InvestigateWest
Jorge Imbaquingo, El Comercio, Ecuador
Joseph Neff, The Marshall Project
Joseph Poliszuk
Joshua Benton, Harvard University
Juan Ortiz, Giro Latino
Juan Pablo Meneses, Universidad Portátil
Judith Torrea, independent border reporter, Ciudad Juárez
Julia Michaels, Riorealblog
Katy Newton
Kennedy Jawoko, former JSK journalism fellow, Stanford University
Kirit Radia, ABC News
Krista Almanzan
Laura Wides-Muñoz, author and journalist; Class of 2013, Nieman fellow
Louis Freedberg, California Media Collaborative
Luiza Duarte, independent journalist
Luz María Helguero, Democracia Desarrollo y Prensa Regional
Maggie Jones, freelancer
Marcelo Träsel, Abraji
Márcia Bechara
Margarita Assenova, The Jamestown Foundation
María Lilly Delgado, periodista independiente, Nicaragua
Maritza L. Felix, Conecta Arizona
Marta Alencar, Coar
Mary Aviles, JSK journalism fellow
Matt Kiefer, Chicago Public Media
Maya Vidon-White, freelance journalist
Melissa Chan, independent journalist
Michael V. Marcotte, University of New Mexico
Natalia Mazotte, Insper University
Natalie Pawelski
Nathalie Alvaray
New Mexico Local News Fund
Nuno Vargas
Oleksandr Akymenko, Class of 2016, JSK journalism fellow, Stanford University
Owais Aslam Ali, Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)
Pam Maples, John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships, Stanford University
Patricia Mercado Sánchez, Conexión Migrante
Paulette Brown-Hinds, publisher, Black Voice News
Paulynn Sicam, Women Writers in Media Now, Philippines
Peter H. Lewis, Asheville Watchdog
Peter Y. Sussman, journalist and author
Phillip Martin, GBH News Boston
Raquel Salomão Utsch de Carvalho
Rebecca Aguilar, Latinas in Journalism
Reinaldo Chaves
Relly Davidsoh, John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships, Stanford University
Rick Young
Rita Neubauer
Roman Anin, editor-in-chief, IStories, Russia
Ronnie Hess
Rosental Calmon Alves, Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas
Ryan Nakashima, JSK journalism fellow
Seema Yasmin
Sérgio Spagnuolo, Núcleo Jornalismo, Brasil
Sexa Muradyan Public Journalism Club
Shahrazad Encinias, freelance journalist
Sharon Salyer, journalist
Silvia Lisboa, Matinal, Brasil
Steve Harris, JSK journalism fellow, Stanford University
Stuart Gannes, JSK journalism fellow, Stanford University
Subbu Vincent, Class of 2016, JSK journalism fellow, Stanford University
Takeshi Kawasaki, independent journalist, Japan
Teresa Mioli, Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas
Tiago Rogero, Abraji
Tim Regan-Porter, Colorado Press Association
Tom Gibboney, JSK journalism fellow, Stanford University
Vicki Monks, freelance Journalist
Vinnee Tong, JSK journalism fellow, Stanford University

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

Düzgün told CPJ via messaging app on November 21 that he had been stopped at customs at the Sabiha Gökçen Airport in Istanbul by the passport police, who told him that he was not allowed into Turkey. When he asked why, the journalist was told he had an “N82”code near his name on the records and asked to return to Cyprus, which he did. He had been traveling to Istanbul for a meeting with a Turkish news agency, the journalist added.

N82 is a restriction code used to block certain foreigners’ entry to Turkey for security reasons, Havadis reported.

Düzgün is a citizen of the Turkish-occupied Northern Cyprus, which declared independence in 1976, three years after Turkey’s partial invasion of the island, but is not recognized by any other country besides Turkey.

“I was denied entry because I have been criticizing the works of the [Turkey’s ruling] Justice and Development Party in Cyprus,” Düzgün told CPJ, when asked why he thinks he was banned from entry. The journalist argued that Turkey’s government has been intervening in the domestic policies of Northern Cyprus, and his critical reporting on these matters led to his ban.

Düzgün said he tried to get information from the Turkish embassy in Northern Cyprus via his lawyer but did not receive any reply.

CPJ emailed Turkey’s Interior Ministry for comment but did not receive any reply.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

The census records journalists known to be in custody as of December 1, 2022, providing background information and demographic data on each case, as well as in-depth analysis of trends driving the sharp increase in the number of journalists behind bars in recent years.

The 2022 prison census will reveal which governments are the worst jailers of journalists globally and include thematic and country-specific features by CPJ experts. In recent years, the census has found that the number of journalists behind bars has reached record levels.

WHAT: CPJ’s census of journalists jailed around the world in 2022

WHEN: December 14, 2022, 12:01 a.m. EST/5:01 p.m. GMT

WHERE: www.cpj.org

###

CPJ is an independent, nonprofit organization that works to safeguard press freedom worldwide.

Note to editors:

To request a copy, please contact press@cpj.org. CPJ experts are also available for interviews in multiple languages.

Media contact:

press@cpj.org

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

Around 6:30 p.m. on November 13, police arrested Phiri and Kapunda as they filmed officers preparing to arrest opposition Economic and Equity Party leader Chilufya Tayali at his home in the capital, Lusaka, according to multiple media reports, a statement by the Zambian chapter of the regional press freedom group Media Institute of Southern Africa, and a Facebook post by Phiri. 

Phiri and Kapunda work for the privately owned broadcaster Muvi TV, and CPJ spoke to both journalists and Muvi TV’s CEO, Mabvuto Phiri, by messaging app for this report.

The journalists were detained for 21 hours and spent the night in a cell before they were released on November 14, after signing an admission of guilt and paying a fine of 54 Zambian kwachas (US$3.25) for disorderly conduct, they told CPJ. The journalists said they wouldn’t challenge the matter further.

“Authorities in Zambia must ensure that journalists are free to cover breaking news in the public interest without having to contend with censorship and heavy-handed actions of police, including arbitrary detention,” said Angela Quintal, CPJ’s Africa program coordinator, in New York. “The fact that journalists Innocent Phiri and Obvious Kapunda had to plead guilty and pay a fine under duress or risk continued detention is unacceptable, and their admission of guilt and fine must be nullified.”

Police were angered by the journalists’ presence at the operation and ordered them to leave or risk being shot at, claiming the operation was “sensitive,” Phiri and Kapunda told CPJ. The journalists continued to report, and the officers arrested them and threatened to shoot Phiri if he did not comply, according to Phiri and security footage uploaded to Facebook.

Phiri said the officers took them to Le Soleil Police Post in the Lusaka suburb of Roma and briefly confiscated their phones and camera.

On November 14, police charged the journalists with disorderly conduct contrary to Section 60 of the Zambia Police Act, according to the journalists’ lawyer Leon Lemba, who spoke to CPJ by phone, and a report quoting police spokesperson Rae Hamoonga.

Police initially intended to charge the journalists with obstruction of police under the penal code, which carries a sentence of up to five years, Lemba said.

Police spokesperson Rae Hamoonga and chief government spokesperson Chushi Kasanda did not respond to CPJ’s requests for comment sent via messaging app and text.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

“While CPJ welcomes the release of journalists Toru Kubota and Than Htike Aung, we reiterate that they never should have been imprisoned in the first place,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “These periodic and partial releases are cynical and simply not sufficient: Myanmar’s junta must free all of the journalists it wrongfully holds behind bars.”

Kubota was arrested on July 30 while covering a protest in Myanmar’s main city of Yangon and convicted and sentenced in October to 10 years in prison on charges of sedition and violating immigration and other laws.

Than Htike Aung was arrested on March 19, 2021, while covering a court case outside of the Dakkhin Thiri court in the capital Naypyidaw. He was sentenced in March this year to two years in prison under Article 505 (a) of the penal code, a broad provision that criminalizes incitement and the dissemination of false news.

CPJ is monitoring and investigating to ascertain if any other journalists were released in Thursday’s amnesty. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a local monitoring group, said in a statement that only 72 political prisoners were freed as part of the release.

Myanmar’s Ministry of Information did not respond to CPJ’s emailed request for information on the number of journalists included in the pardon order. Myanmar was the world’s second-worst jailer of journalists in 2021, with 26 journalists behind bars at the time of CPJ’s December 1, 2021, prison census. 

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

The Honorable John Lee
Chief Executive
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, People’s Republic of China
Chief Executive’s Office
Tamar, Hong Kong

Sent via email: ceo@ceo.gov.hk

Dear Chief Executive Lee,

We, the undersigned press freedom and human rights groups, are writing to request your leadership to cease targeted persecution against Jimmy Lai, the 74-year-old founder of Next Digital Limited and the Apple Daily newspaper, release him from jail, and immediately drop all charges against him.

On December 1, Lai will stand trial without a jury on collusion charges under the national security law. He has been behind bars for more than 22 months since December 2020 after being charged under the national security law.

Prior to your inauguration in July, you promised freedom of the press in Hong Kong would continue to be protected by the city’s Basic Law and meet the international standards of media freedom. You reiterated in a September speech at a National Day media reception that Hong Kong is governed by rule of law, and that freedom of speech and of the media are fully guaranteed under the Basic Law.

We welcomed your commitment to uphold press freedom and your remarks recognizing journalists as a force “for societal progression and the improvement of people’s lives through objective and fair reporting and commentary.”

But these promises ring hollow when Lai, one of Hong Kong’s best-known media figures, sits behind bars for his commitment to critical journalism. Such journalism is essential to your efforts in cementing Hong Kong’s role as a global financial hub, for which a free press and judicial independence are vital elements, and to comply with international legal obligations to uphold press freedom.

Lai’s imprisonment and the jailing of other Hong Kong journalists, including several executives of the now-defunct Apple Daily, have seriously undermined the confidence in the city’s judiciary and the rule of law.

Lai was first sentenced to 14 months in prison in April 2021 for “organizing and knowingly taking part in unauthorized assemblies” in August 2019. The following month, a court sentenced him to another 14 months for “organizing an unauthorized assembly” in October 2019 and ordered Lai to serve a total of 20 months’ imprisonment.

In December 2021, Lai was sentenced again to 13 months in prison for “inciting others” to take part in an unauthorized assembly in 2020.

While the judge ordered the sentence to run concurrently to the previous sentences he was serving, Lai has now been behind bars for more than 22 months, exceeding the 20-month term he was previously given.

As well as his upcoming national security trial, a court in October found Lai guilty of fraud for allegedly violating the lease of Next Digital’s headquarters, although it is clear that he was targeted in retaliation for his journalism.

Also in October, another court upheld a ruling that police could search Lai’s two mobile phones that stored journalistic information, violating the basic principles of press freedom and journalistic confidentiality.

In addition, his international legal team at Doughty Street Chambers has faced intimidation and harassment through anonymous emails, warning the lawyers against traveling to Hong Kong to defend Lai or risk facing action under the subversion law.

We welcome your pledge to enhance the confidence of the public and the international community in Hong Kong’s rule of law in your first policy address as chief executive. As the chairperson of the Committee for Safeguarding National Security of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region that oversees the Hong Kong Police Force’s national security department, exercising your authority to drop the charges against Jimmy Lai and free him immediately is a crucial step toward regaining global confidence in Hong Kong.

Time is of the essence for your government to act and we strongly urge you to do so now.

Sincerely,

Amnesty International
ARTICLE 19
Association of Taiwan Journalists
Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation
Committee to Protect Journalists
Croatian PEN Centre
Freedom House
Human Rights Watch
Independent Chinese PEN Center
International Federation of Journalists (IFJ)
PEN America
PEN Club Français
PEN International
PEN Lebanon
PEN Netherlands
PEN Türkiye Center
PEN Ukraine
Peoples’ Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR), India
Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
Swedish PEN
Taiwan Association for China Human Rights
Trieste PEN Centre
Vietnamese League for Human Rights in Switzerland

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

On Saturday, October 29, at least 23 journalists from Kiwanja and Rutshuru took refuge at the Kiwanja headquarters of the U.N. mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, known as MONUSCO, following the takeover of the cities by the M23 rebel group and threats by M23 to kill local journalists, according to media reports and a post on Twitter by MONSUCO. 

Two members of MONUSCO working in Kuwanja, who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity for security reasons, said the U.N. has since evacuated the 23 journalists to Goma, the nearby capital city of North Kivu province, via flights on October 31, November 2, and November 3. 

Darlène Rushago, director of the privately owned Radio Umudiho FM broadcaster, and Vianney Watsongo, a journalist with the privately owned Radio-Television Evangélique et de Développement Hermon (RTDEH) broadcaster, who both spoke to CPJ via messaging app after the evacuation to Goma, said they received threatening calls from members of the M23 group during its advance.

They said M23 members threatened to kill them and other journalists that had reported information they viewed as favorable to the DRC military, and that other journalists in the area had received similar calls and had fled to towns outside Kiwanja and Rutshuru.

“Warring parties in the eastern DRC should ensure the safety of journalists working to report the news,” said Angela Quintal, CPJ Africa program coordinator, in Johannesburg. “When journalists are denied the ability to cover conflicts, those most affected have a harder time making informed decisions that may be the difference between life and death.”

Also on October 29, private citizens forced their way into the Radio Umudiho FM office in Rutshuru, and stole equipment and materials, Rushago told CPJ. Rushago said that when the M23 rebels entered the city she ordered the suspension of all broadcasts and the relocation of the transmitter and other Radio Umudiho FM equipment before people attacked their office.

Following the M23 takeover of Kiwanja and Rutshuru, some radio stations broadcasting in the cities halted standard broadcasts and transmitted only music for fear that other content would prompt reprisal, according to local media reports.

Conflict between the M23 and DRC government forces has escalated in recent days, as Congolese authorities continue to accuse Rwanda of supporting the rebel group, accusations Rwanda has denied.

CPJ called the general number for the MONUSCO base in Kiwanja. The person who responded declined to comment or give their name and said CPJ should speak to the affected journalists. 

CPJ’s calls to DRC military spokesman General Sylvain Ekenge rang unanswered.

CPJ’s calls to M23 president Mertrand Bisimwa rang unanswered. Previously, an M23 spokesperson told CPJ that all journalists’ “safety are one hundred percent guaranteed” in an area controlled by M23.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

On Wednesday, October 26, a court in Minsk, the capital, found Satsuk, chief editor of the independent Yezhednevnik news website, guilty of taking a bribe, inciting hatred, and abusing power or authority, and sentenced him to eight years in jail, according to media reports and a statement by the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ), a shuttered local advocacy and trade group.

“CPJ is outraged that Siarhei Satskuk has been sentenced to eight years in prison in a shamefully fabricated case. Belarusian authorities are hell-bent on retaliating against journalists’ brave and critical reporting on matters of public interest,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, in New York. “Belarusian authorities must not contest Satsuk’s appeal and release him immediately, along with all other imprisoned members of the press currently detained or on trial.”

The court also fined Satsuk 16,000 Belarusian rubles (US$6,360) and banned him from holding certain positions for five years after his release from prison, those reports said. In addition, the court ordered Satsuk to pay 12,384 Belarusian rubles (US$4,930) in compensation. 

Satsuk intends to appeal the verdict, his brother Ailaksandr told CPJ.

Satsuk’s trial began on September 23 at the Minsk City Court, according to Viasna, a banned human rights group that continues to operate unofficially. On October 20, independent newspaper Narodnaya Volya reported that the state prosecutor requested eight years of imprisonment for Satsuk.

Satsuk, the author of a number of high-profile investigations into alleged corruption at the Belarusian Health Ministry, was detained in December 2021 in connection to a bribery case for which he was previously arrested in March 2020, according to multiple news reports. Belarusian authorities blocked Yezhednevnik’s website on the same day, those reports said.

Satsuk’s arrest in March 2020 followed the publication of reports by Yezhednevnik on the COVID-19 pandemic.

On June 9, BAJ reported that Satsuk had also been charged with inciting hatred, under Article 130, Part 2 of the criminal code, and abuse of power or official authority, under Article 426, Part 2 of the criminal code. BAJ reported that authorities had not disclosed any information publicly about the new charges.

CPJ called the Ministry of Interior’s press service, but nobody answered the phone. CPJ emailed the Belarusian Investigative Committee, but did not receive any replies.

Belarus was the world’s fifth-worst jailer of journalists, with at least 19 journalists behind bars on December 1, 2021, when CPJ published its most recent prison census.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

Police confiscated Ndomba’s cellphone and wallet, shoved him under the seat of a police van for at least half an hour, and took him to a police station for another hour before being released without charge, according to those sources.

Ndomba told CPJ that, while wearing his press vest, he was interviewing two students on Facebook Live when around 12 police officers on motorcycles approached. Ndomba said an officer forced him to stop filming and demanded that he erase the footage, claiming the demonstration was not authorized and illegal. Ndomba refused and showed the officer his press card, but was still detained, he said.

The demonstration was organized by students protesting against discrimination, after some of the students had been removed from class because of their Afro hairstyles, according to a DW report.

Ndomba said he was detained with about 14 students who remained at the police station after he was released, some of whom he said were clearly minors.

Ndomba said he overhead an officer saying he should be released “to avoid controversy.”

In a statement, DW spokesperson Christoph Jumpelt urged authorities to put a stop to arbitrary police actions against accredited journalists. He said this was the third incident involving DW journalists in less than two months in Angola, including the brief detention of a correspondent and abduction of a media worker during the August 2022 elections in the country. 

On October 12, Interior Minister Eugénio Laborinho said after a meeting with the Union of Angolan Journalists that he regretted the recent restrictions on journalists’ activities but urged journalists to better identify themselves, according to news reports.

Reached by phone, Luanda police spokesperson Nestor Goubel hung up the phone after hearing CPJ’s request for comment and did not answer subsequent calls or messages via messaging app.

In 2020, following the detention of at least six journalists while covering a demonstration in Luanda, President João Lourenço publicly apologized, yet CPJ has since documented the detention of other journalists by police clamping down on demonstrations, including during the run-up to the recent elections.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

Online abuse and digital threats to journalists have been steadily increasing, as has political violence across the United States. “The 2020 election season was an inflection point that led to a step-change in acceptance of violence as a political tool,” according to Rachel Kleinfeld, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

CPJ is a founding partner of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, a comprehensive database of press freedom violations in the United States. The organization has tracked the rise of anti-press rhetoric and violence in recent years, including at least 30 assaults of journalists in 2022 through October 3.

Although most assignments might not involve risk, covering rallies, protests, and campaign  events could potentially be hazardous for journalists. Some vote-counting centers and polling places are potential hotspots, with self-appointed poll observers and even armed protesters a disruption concern. Election workers themselves have been targets of violence and intimidation.  

Editor’s Checklist

For journalists, having a simple conversation with your editor can increase risk awareness and enhance your safety. The following checklist enables editors to best prepare journalists and other media workers as they cover election hotspots or risky assignments.

When selecting your reporting team, consider:

• How experienced are the journalists?
• Have they covered stories with elevated tension or emotions that can lead to violence?
• Do they have a history of good decision-making under pressure?
• If they are inexperienced, what support mechanisms can you put in place to increase their safety? For example, could a more senior journalist cover the desk and provide guidance if needed?
• Is your team mentally prepared to be confronted by aggressive individuals?
• On higher-risk stories, can you assign two journalists, so no one works alone?
• Bear in mind that exposing the identity of the journalist may increase their risk of harm, and plan accordingly. In some cases, a journalist’s identity may also help to keep them safe.
• Do they have local knowledge about the area they will be working in?

As part of your risk assessment, discuss:

• Establishing a check-in procedure.
• What footage or other material will be needed to complete the assignment. There is no point lingering at a risky crowd event gathering material that will not be used.
• Conducting a dynamic risk assessment and consider using CPJ’s risk assessment template.
• The potential for online attacks as a result of reporting on the election. Review CPJ’s editor’s checklist on protecting staff and freelancers against online abuse.
• What indicators to look for that would trigger a withdrawal of the team.
• Recording the emergency contacts and details of all staff being sent on the assignment.

Guidance for journalists in the field

Awareness:

• Maintain a low profile and gauge the mood of crowds toward the media before entering any situation. Always use discretion when reporting or filming, especially around people who are armed or aggressive.
• Plan for regular check-ins with your editor or newsroom point of contact. If working as a freelancer, consider having a check-in procedure with a fellow journalist, family, or friend.
• Take the time to plan an exit strategy in case the situation turns violent. Identify where you can take cover if you are able to escape, or until help arrives.
• If you are working alone or after dark, be extra vigilant, as the risk potential increases.
• Avoid individuals who are under the influence of drugs or alcohol.   
• If possible, try to build a rapport with individuals before interviewing them. 
• When conducting an interview, consider your situation. Are you surrounded by others who may take an interest in your reporting? It is often individuals on the periphery who start causing trouble, rather than interviewees.
• When you are on the phone or filing copy or footage, ensure that you are in a protected space where you can see threats coming.
• In general, be prepared to be verbally abused, intimidated, or even spat at. Remain calm and do not allow yourself to be provoked. 
• Consider your choice of clothes. Avoid wearing flammable materials, such as nylon, or anything that is loose-fitting and can be grabbed. Avoid newsroom logos and political slogans, as well as military fatigues and black-colored outfits, which are often worn by far-left anti-fascist (antifa) groups.
• If an incident occurs, take notes on what happens and notify the relevant authorities. 
• Continuously observe the mood and demeanor of the authorities. Visual cues such as police in riot gear, shield walls, or thrown projectiles are potential indicators that aggression can be expected. Pull back to a safe location when such “red flags” are evident.
• In general, be prepared to leave the situation if you feel the level of risk escalating or that appealing to the authorities would be to no avail.
• If you leave, retreat to a safe location before reporting into your newsroom or point of contact. 

Dealing with aggression:

• Read people’s body language, and use your own body language, to pacify a situation.
• Maintain eye contact with an aggressor, use open hand gestures, and talk in a calming manner.
• Keep an extended arm’s length from the threat. If someone grabs you, break away firmly without aggression. If cornered and in danger, shout.
• If the situation escalates, keep a hand free to protect your head and move with short, deliberate steps to avoid falling. If part of a team, stick together and link arms.
• Be aware of the situation and your own safety. While there are times when documenting aggression can be newsworthy, taking pictures of aggressive individuals can escalate a situation.

Digital safety: Protecting your devices and their content

It is important to maintain best practices around securing your devices and the content contained within them. If you are detained while covering the election, your devices may be taken and searched, which could have serious consequences for both you and your sources. The following steps can help protect you and your sources:

General best practices:

• Lock your laptop and phone with a PIN or password. This will better protect the content on your devices if they are taken from you.
• Be aware that the authorities may be able to access your phone even if it is secured with a code. Using biometrics can be helpful if you need quick access to your phone, but journalists should be mindful that it can also give others, such as the authorities, easier access to your device. Know your rights with respect to what the authorities can and cannot do with your devices and the content stored on them.
• Update your operating system when prompted to help protect devices against the latest malware, including spyware.
• Turn on encryption for your devices if it is not already enabled by default.
• Do not leave devices unattended in public, including when charging, to avoid them being stolen or tampered with.
• Avoid using USB sticks that may be handed out at election events. These could contain malware that could infect your devices.
• Be aware that any phone conversation or SMS message sent via a cell phone provider can be intercepted, and the content obtained. To avoid this, use end-to-end encrypted messaging services, such as WhatsApp or Signal. Learn more about how to use these apps securely in CPJ’s guide to encrypted communications.
• Be aware that contacts on your phone may be stored in more than one location, including in apps on the phone and in a cloud account linked to the phone, such as Google Drive or iCloud. Take time to review your contacts and remove anyone who could be at risk if your devices are taken and searched.
• When reporting at the event, have a process for safeguarding material that you have already collected. That way, if you are detained, the authorities will only have access to your most recent content, not all of your materials
• Write down on paper or your arm the contact details of key people, such as your editor or a trusted colleague, in case you are detained and your devices are taken. You may also consider writing down the number of a legal contact. The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (RCFP) has a legal hotline for journalists reporting in the United States.
• Consider setting up your devices to wipe remotely. This will delete all content on your phone or laptop once activated, but only if it is connected to either WiFi or mobile data. You will need to set up remote wipe in advance, and you should give a trusted person access to the password so they can erase your content in case you are detained.
• Be aware that live streaming from an event gives away your location.
• Ideally, journalists should avoid carrying their personal phones to cover an election rally or protest. If you work for a news outlet with budget to cover a work phone, you should request one.

Digital safety: Protecting your personal data online and safeguarding against online harassment

Journalists covering the U.S midterm elections could be subjected to online abuse and the unwanted publication of their personal data online. Media workers are facing an increasingly hostile online environment.

To minimize the risk:

• Be aware that there is often an uptick in online abuse during election periods. This could include targeted smear campaigns against a journalist or their media outlet.
• If you can, speak with your newsroom or editor about any concerns you have about potential online abuse. Check if the outlet has an online abuse policy or support system for journalists who are targeted online. Editors can review CPJ’s pre-assignment checklist for projecting journalists against online abuse.
• Different stories carry different online risks. Speak with your editor about possible threats and how to mitigate them, including any preventative measures you can take. Be aware that you are most at risk of an online attack after publishing a story.
• Review your online profile for images and information that could be manipulated or used as a way to discredit you. Journalists should take steps to remove any information that they feel could be used against them.
• Check to see if your address or other personal data, such as your date of birth or telephone number, is available online. You should take steps to remove that information yourself or request for it to be removed, where possible. See CPJ’s guide to removing personal data from the internet for more information.
• Sign up to have your personal information removed from data broker sites, using services such as DeleteMe, which is owned by the company Abine. Be aware that these services remove data from the most common data broker sites, so your personal information will likely continue to exist on the internet in some form. Consider signing up family members if you consider yourself at high risk of being targeted. Be mindful that it can take up to a month to have your data removed.
• During the election period, monitor your social media accounts for increased levels of harassment or abusive commentary.
• Protect your accounts by creating long, unique passwords for each account. Turn on two-factor authentication for all your accounts, and ideally use an app, rather than your phone number, to receive the code. See CPJ’s Digital Safety Kit to learn more about account security.
• Review the privacy settings on all of your social media accounts. Read more about what data is best kept private in CPJ’s guide to removing personal data from the internet. Social media accounts can also reveal your location, so disable location tracking if you feel it puts you at risk.
• Turn off geo-location for posts on all accounts. If you are going to post photos showing your exact location, consider waiting until after you have left the area.
• Where possible, create professional accounts for social media.

During an online attack:

• Consider making all of your social media accounts private, and ask family members to do the same. In many cases, journalists can be doxed or targeted with content posted by friends or family members.
• Inform your family, employees, and friends that you are being harassed online. Adversaries will often contact family members and your workplace and send them information or images in an attempt to damage your reputation.
• Speak with your newsroom to see what support is available to you. If you are a freelancer, or your newsroom does not have a policy in place, you can find resources at the Coalition Against Online Violence’s Online Harassment Resource Hub.
• Try not to engage with those who are harassing you online, as this can make the situation worse. If you are targeted by an orchestrated smear campaign, it may be helpful to write a statement outlining the situation and pinning it to the top of your social media accounts. Media outlets can also write statements of support as a way to counteract a targeted campaign.
• Be vigilant for any hacking attempts on your accounts and ensure that you have locked down your privacy settings, set up two-factor authentication, and create long, unique passwords for each account.
• Review your social media accounts for comments that may indicate that an online threat may escalate into a physical attack. This could include people posting your address online and calling on others to attack you or increased harassment from a particular individual. Ask a trusted person to help you review your mentions or monitor your account to protect your mental health or if you are unable to monitor it yourself.
• Document any abuse that you feel is threatening. Take screenshots of the comments, including the social media handle of the person who is threatening you. This information may be useful if there is a police inquiry.
• You may want to block or mute those who are harassing you online. You should also report any abusive content to social media companies or email providers and keep a record of your contact with these companies.
• Be aware of the possibility of fraud if private information about you has been publicized. Consider contacting your employer, bank, or utility companies to let them know if you have been doxed.
• You may want to consider going offline for a period of time until the harassment has died down.

For more information and suggestions for keeping yourself safe online, consult CPJ’s Resources for protecting against online abuse.

The Committee to Protect Journalists is a member of the Coalition Against Online Violence, a collection of global organizations working to find better solutions for women journalists facing online abuse, harassment and other forms of digital attack.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

“Today’s sentencing of radio host Edmund Wan Yiu-sing to 32 months in prison shows Hong Kong authorities’ relentless efforts to silence political criticism by journalists,” said Iris Hsu, CPJ’s China representative. “The government should stop using the colonial-era sedition law and apparent retaliatory charges of financial crimes against the press.”

Wan, an internet radio host who broadcasts under the name “Giggs,” hosted shows for the independent station D100 that report and comment on political issues in mainland China and Hong Kong. Wan also called for donations to support Hong Kongers who have left Hong Kong to study in Taiwan on his website and social media, according to news reports.

According to a press summary published by the Hong Kong Judiciary, Wan pleaded guilty on September 1 to one count of sedition and three counts of money laundering, and the confiscation of HK$4.87 million (US$620,386), under a plea agreement. In return, six other similar charges were left on file and cannot be brought against Wan without the court’s permission.

According to CPJ research, Wan has been held behind bars for 20 months since his arrest in February 2021.

CPJ’s December 1, 2021, prison census found that China remained the world’s worst jailer of journalists for the third year in a row. It was the first time that journalists in Hong Kong appeared on CPJ’s census.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

Mabasa–better known as Percy Lapid–was gunned down inside his vehicle by unidentified motorcycle-riding assailants in Las Piñas City on the night of Monday, October 3, according to the national police and news reports. He was on his way to work at the time, his brother Roy Mabasa said on Facebook.

Percival Mabasa, host of the “Lapid Fire” program on the DWBL 1242 radio station, had been a prominent critic of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte in his commentaries and YouTube broadcasts, according to the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP).

“The killing of radio journalist Percival Mabasa once again shows the Philippines remains one of the most dangerous places for journalists,” said Beh Lih Yi, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. must end the culture of impunity that surrounds the killing of Filipino journalists. This cannot continue as business as usual.”

The Presidential Task Force for Media Security, a government body composed of law enforcement agencies including the national police, said in a statement on its Facebook page that it would presume Mabasa’s killing to be “work related” while investigating, though it was too early to establish the exact motive.

CPJ emailed Marcos Jr.’s office and the task force for comment but did not receive an immediate reply.

Mabasa was the second journalist killed since Marcos Jr. took office on June 30, the NUJP said. The first case was radio broadcaster Rey Blanco, who was stabbed to death on September 18 in the central province of Negros Oriental, according to the union. CPJ is investigating Blanco’s killing to determine whether it was work-related.

In May, CPJ wrote to the office of then President-elect Marcos Jr., urging him to protect journalists in the Southeast Asian country and restore the Philippines’ once-proud standing as a regional bastion of press freedom.

The Philippines ranked seventh on CPJ’s 2021 Impunity Index, a measure of countries worldwide where journalists are murdered and the perpetrators go free.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

Frantzsen Charles and Tayson Lartigue were shot and killed when a group of journalists was attacked while reporting on rising gang violencein the Cité Soleil neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital, at around 3 p.m. on Sunday, September 11, according to news reports and Jacques Desrosiers, secretary-general of the Association of Haitian Journalists (AJH), a local trade group, who spoke with CPJ via messaging app. The bodies of the journalists have not been recovered, according to those reports.

Charles was a reporter for online news outlet FS News Haiti, according to an obituary the outlet published, and Lartigue was the founder of Tijén Jounalis, which covered local and breaking news on social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, according to those reports and CPJ’s review of the outlet’s social media accounts.

“Frantzsen Charles and Tayson Lartigue are the latest names added to this year’s tragic tally of journalists killed while on assignment in Haiti,” said CPJ Latin America and the Caribbean Program Coordinator Natalie Southwick. “Haitian authorities cannot continue standing idly by as the country’s journalists risk — and lose — their lives to keep their fellow citizens informed. Authorities must ensure Charles and Lartigue’s bodies are returned to their loved ones and that Haitian journalists can do their jobs safely.”

Charles and Lartigue were among a group of seven journalists who went to Cité Soleil to report on ongoing gang violence in the neighborhood and interview the family of a 17-year-old resident  killed the day before, according to Desrosiers and Haitian news website AyiboPost, which interviewed witnesses in Cité Soleil. The group had finished their interviews and were leaving the neighborhood, with Charles and Lartigue riding on the motorbike in the lead, when they were ambushed and shot, according to those sources.

The other five journalists were able to flee to safety, where they attempted to call Charles and Lartigue and return for them, according to news reports. One of the other journalists in the group told AyiboPost that the attackers seized Charles and Lartigue’s motorbike and reporting equipment. 

Rival armed groups have been engaged in violent confrontations in Cité Soleil for several weeks, Desrosiers told CPJ.

Haitian National Police spokesperson Garry Desrosiers told Spanish news agency EFE that police were “aware that five of the journalists ‘exited with difficulty’ from the location” and that they “had information” that Charles and Lartigue had been killed. He urged journalists to “be careful” when reporting in neighborhoods like Cité Soleil.

CPJ reached out to the Haitian National Police for comment via the contact form on their website but did not immediately receive a response.

Acting Prime Minister Ariel Henry posted a series of tweets about the case to his official Twitter account on Monday.

“We are deeply shocked by the news of the assassination of two young journalists: Tayson Latigue and Frantzsen Charles, yesterday Sunday, in Cité-Soleil, in the exercise of their profession. We strongly condemn this barbaric act, while sending our heartfelt thoughts to the families of the victims and their colleagues,” Henry wrote.

“Armed conflicts between rival gangs make it difficult for journalists to work in Haiti,” AJH’s Desrosiers told CPJ. “This is the second time in the year 2022 that journalists have been murdered while working in the field.”

In January, suspected gang members shot and killed two Haitian journalists, Wilguens Louis-Saint and John Wesley Amady, while they were reporting on the lack of security in a gang-disputed area in Port-au-Prince, as CPJ documented at the time.

In February, Haitian National Police officers opened fire on a protest by textile workers demanding a higher minimum wage in Port-au-Prince, killing broadcast reporter Maximilien Lazard and injuring two other journalists.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

President Serdar Berdimuhamedov
Oguzhan Presidential Palace
Independence Square
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan

Sent via email

Dear President Berdimuhamedov,

Following your recent inauguration as president of Turkmenistan, we at the Committee to Protect Journalists, an independent non-governmental organization advocating for press freedom worldwide, are writing to ask that you use this opportunity to end your country’s restrictions on a free and independent media. As a first step, we urge you to lift restrictions on the press and release imprisoned journalist Nurgeldi Halykov, who was sentenced two years ago today on charges that we believe are in retaliation for his reporting.

Our research at CPJ has documented comprehensive censorship by multiple state agencies which, together with state monopolies over print publishing, broadcasting, and internet services, ensure that little information enters the public domain unless approved by the government. Independent online news outlets such as Khronika Turkmenistana and Turkmen.news are forced to operate from abroad and remain blocked inside Turkmenistan. Such outlets generally rely on networks of undercover correspondents who are frequently jailed for extended periods when their work is discovered, while relatives of journalists who have fled abroad are harassed by law enforcement officers.

Despite this concerning record, as president you have a historic opportunity to chart a new course for your nation. In your inauguration speech on March 19, you rightly identified protecting the constitutionally guaranteed rights of Turkmen citizens as your fundamental duty. Article 42 of the constitution of Turkmenistan enshrines the rights of freedom of speech and freedom to seek, receive, and distribute information. Turkmenistan’s mass media law forbids media censorship, interference in the activities of the media, and monopolization of the media by natural or legal entities, and guarantees citizens’ access to foreign news media. CPJ calls on you to oversee the translation of these positive provisions into reality as an urgent and integral part of your duty to uphold the constitution and the law.

Given the imperative of reform and the existence of legislation that ought to promote press freedom, we are worried by reports of intensified online censorship in recent months. Turkmen journalists tell us that most foreign media and social media networks have long been inaccessible. A government campaign to block whole servers hosting the VPNs (virtual private networks) that citizens use – at risk of prosecution and official harassment – to circumvent this stifling censorship has reportedly led to “near complete” internet shutdowns on several occasions this year. We urge you to lift these harmful restrictions, which deprive the Turkmen public of much-needed sources of information and in turn hinder the country’s development.

We are also deeply concerned by the plight of journalist Nurgeldi Halykov, convicted in September 2020 on trumped-up charges of fraud. A correspondent for the independent, Netherlands-based news website Turkmen.news, Halykov was arrested the day after he forwarded his employer a photo of a sensitive World Health Organization mission to Turkmenistan, and sentenced to four years in prison for allegedly failing to repay a loan. Halykov’s employer believes security services discovered Halykov’s wider work for Turkmen.news during interrogation and resolved to jail him for an extended period on fabricated charges. The outlet reported that Halykov was forced to admit to the fraud charges after being threatened with more serious fabricated charges of rape if he did not comply. We call on you to exercise your executive authority to overturn Halykov’s unjust conviction and release him without delay.

Easing restrictions on internet access and independent media and releasing Halykov would not only be the surest way for you to carry out your duty of upholding the constitution; such steps would also signal a commitment to reform to international institutions whose cooperation you have rightly identified as crucial to Turkmenistan’s development. We urge you to seize this important moment in your nation’s history to ensure that journalists are no longer jailed and harassed for their work.

We thank you in advance for your consideration and look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Jodie Ginsberg
President
Committee to Protect Journalists

Cc.

Merettagan Taganov, Minister of Justice
Ministry of Justice of Turkmenistan Building
Archabil Avenue, 150
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan
support@minjust.gov.tm

Rashit Meredov, Minister of Foreign Affairs
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Building
Archabil Avenue, 108
744000 Ashgabat, Turkmenistan
info@mfa.gov.tm

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

On August 8, the commander of the gendarmerie in the city of Doba detained Mouatangar, a correspondent for the radio station La Voix du Paysan, and accused the journalist of defaming him in a broadcast report about agricultural management, according to a statement by the Union of Journalists of Chad (UJT) and the journalist, who spoke to the CPJ over the phone.

Mouatangar told CPJ that earlier that day, he had broadcast a report about farmers in the village of Ndoroman, about six miles (10 kilometers) from Doba, who were angry about alleged over-grazing by herders. Mouatangar had quoted the herders as saying that the commander of the gendarmerie, whose name Mouatangar said he did not know, owned the fields and gave them permission to be there. CPJ was not able to determine the identity of the commander.

Mouatangar, who is also a farmer, was working in one of his own fields outside of Doba soon after the broadcast when he received a call from an unknown person who asked him to report to the office of the gendarmerie’s investigations unit, he told CPJ. When Mouatangar refused and asked why he was being summoned, the caller said he would need to “show the evidence” supporting the broadcast about the fields, the journalist said. Mouatangar offered to show them the damage to the fields in Ndoroman, which he said the caller interpreted as a refusal to comply with the summons.

After the call, two armed gendarmerie officers from the investigations unit arrived at his field on motorcycles and asked him to go with them to Ndoroman, Mouatangar said, adding that the officers let him change his clothes before taking him.

“They told me we were going to Ndoroman, and on the way they turned toward Doba,” the journalist told CPJ, adding that it felt more like a kidnapping than an arrest. When he arrived at the gendarmerie office in Doba, officers insulted him, called him a criminal, and accused him of defaming and smearing them, he said.

After Mouatangar spent the night at the Doba gendarmerie office, on August 9 officers tried to compel him to write a letter of apology to their commander and retract his reporting about Ndoroman, he said, adding that he refused. Then the officers brought the journalist before the local prosecutor, Colette Ngaoundi Bombaïto Nadjilem, who ordered his release but instructed him to return the next day.

On August 10, Mouatangar returned and met with Nadjilem, who told him the case had been dropped because the gendarmerie commander had withdrawn his complaint.

CPJ’s message sent to the directorate of the gendarmerie of Chad via a messaging app was not answered. CPJ reached out to the Doba prosecutor’s office via messaging app, but has not received a reply.  

Separately, on August 10, gendarmerie officers detained Sabartang, editor-in-chief of Radio Gaya Tcholwa, on the orders of Germain Beramgoto, a local government representative in the southwestern region of Kabbia, according to news reports and Nathan Tah Leubnoudji, secretary general of Chadian Journalists and Reporters Network, who spoke with CPJ in a phone interview.

The officers initially detained Sabartang at Beramgoto’s house and then transferred him to the local gendarmerie commander’s house, Leudnoudji told CPJ. On August 13, Sabartang was taken to the gendarmerie office and released without charge. While in custody, the officers seized Sabartang’s phone and questioned him about the broadcast.

Leubnoudji told CPJ that the journalist’s phone had not been returned as of September 12. CPJ reached out to Sabartang via messaging app, but did not receive a reply.  

The arrest was related to an August 3 broadcast by Sabartang about conflict over Beramgoto’s appointment of a local leader, with some in the area arguing that the local leader wasn’t representative of the people of Kabbia, according to Leubnoudji.

Several days before being arrested, Sabartang had received a phone call from Beramgoto, who blamed the journalist for the negative reaction against him following the broadcast, according to Leubnoudji and a recording of the call, which a local news site posted on Facebook and CPJ reviewed.

CPJ sent questions to Beramgoto via messaging app, but received no response.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

“The 22-year prison sentence for Ivan Safronov, guilty of no other crime than doing his job as a journalist, is simply unacceptable and utterly shocking, and must be immediately reversed,” said Carlos Martinez de la Serna, CPJ’s program director, in New York. “Russian authorities must not contest Safronov’s appeal, release him immediately, and stop targeting journalists with political trials aimed at suppressing and terrorizing independent voices.”

On Monday, September 5, a court in Moscow convicted Safronov, a former military correspondent for the Kommersant and Vedomosti newspapers, of treason, and sentenced him to 22 years in prison and imposed a fine of 500,000 rubles (US$8,240), according to multiple media reports. Safronov plans to appeal the verdict, media reported.

The journalist was also sentenced to two years of restricted freedom following his release, and will be eligible for parole in 14 years, Russian state news agency TASS reported.

Earlier today, the European Union delegation to Russia called on Russian authorities to drop the charges against the journalist and release him unconditionally.

Safronov has been jailed since July 2020 after authorities accused him of spying for a foreign country. Last week, media reported that the classified information Safronov allegedly shared was already publicly available and that he was prosecuted in retaliation for his 2019 reporting on Russian’s sale of fighter jets to Egypt.

On Tuesday, August 30, a Russian prosecutor requested that Safronov be jailed for 24 years.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

“The Israel Defense Forces’ admission of guilt is late and incomplete. They provided no name for Shireen Abu Akleh’s killer and no other information than his or her own testimony that the killing was a mistake,” said Sherif Mansour, CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa program coordinator. “That does not provide the answers–by any measure of transparency or accountability–that her family and colleagues deserve.”

Abu Akleh, a dual Palestinian American national, was shot and killed on May 11 while she was reporting on an IDF raid in the Palestinian West Bank city of Jenin.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

The complaint stems from a video investigation by Titu, which was broadcast by Ekattor TV on March 1, 2022, alleging that a local shrine’s management committee, led by Shahidul Islam Mollik, general secretary of the Mirzaganj Union Parishad, an administrative government unit, had engaged in corruption.

Mollik’s nephew, Badal Hossain, filed the complaint, which accused the journalist of violating three sections of the Digital Security Act, pertaining to defamation, unauthorized collection of identity information, and publication of false, threatening, or offensive information, according to those sources. Each of those offenses can carry a prison sentence of between three and five years, and a fine between 300,000 taka (US$3,160) and 1,000,000 taka (US $10,530). 

Titu told CPJ that after conducting research for the investigation in Mirzaganj, Hossain had called him on February 19 and urged him not to publish the report.

On February 20, Hossain came to the Ekattor TV office in the town of Patuakhali and offered the journalist a bribe in exchange for agreeing not to publish the report, according to Titu and CCTV footage of the incident, which was shown in Titu’s video investigation.

When reached via messaging app, Hossain denied the allegations that he pressured Titu not to publish the report.

Titu told CPJ that after accepting the complaint, the Barisal Cyber Tribunal subsequently ordered the Mirzaganj police station to investigate the complaint. Anowar Hossain Talukdar, the station’s officer in charge, is the vice president of the shrine’s management, according to Titu and a document issued by the Waqf Administration, a regulatory agency under the Ministry of Religious Affairs, which CPJ reviewed.

Mollik and Talukdar did not respond to CPJ’s requests for comment sent via messaging app.

Titu said that he expects to be summoned for further hearings after the police submits its investigative report to the tribunal. Under Section 40 of the Digital Security Act, investigations are to be completed within 60 days, with the possibility of extension upon court approval. Titu told CPJ that police did not complete the investigation within the 60-day period, adding that he was not informed that they were granted an extension.

Titu said he has repeatedly received direct, in-person threats from politicians and their associates for his extensive reporting on their alleged corruption. He fears these political leaders have banded together in recent months, he told CPJ, and are planning further retaliation against him, including possibly arrest.

CPJ has repeatedly documented the use of the Digital Security Act to harass journalists in retaliation for their work, and has called for the law’s repeal.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

“Although it will never bring back the lives of those killed, the sentencing of El Shafee Elsheikh for his role in the deaths of Islamic State hostages, including the horrific beheadings of journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, is an important milestone in the justice process,” said Katherine Jacobsen, CPJ’s U.S. and Canada program coordinator. “The murders of Foley and Sotloff are poignant reminders of the heightened risks freelance journalists take when doing their jobs.”

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

Arjón, the founder and editor of Facebook-based news outlet A Qué Le Temes, was found dead on Tuesday, August 16, in San Luis Río Colorado, a town in the northern Mexican state of Sonora on the U.S. border, according to news reports. According to an August 16 statement by the Sonora state prosecutor’s office (FGE), Arjón’s body was found near an expressway southwest of San Luis Río Colorado. In the statement, the FGE said the reporter appeared to have died from a violent blow to the head.

Arjón, 62, was first reported missing on social media on August 9, according to news reports, although the FGE said on August 15 on Twitter that no official missing person report had been filed. The FGE statement said the prosecutor had not yet ruled out any line of investigation.

On Wednesday, August 17, San Luis Río Colorado municipal authorities told local media that a suspect was arrested for his alleged involvement in the abduction and killing of Arjón and that the vehicle allegedly used while carrying out the crime had been located on August 3. According to the statement, the vehicle had been reported stolen in the U.S. state of California. No further details about the identity of the suspect of the motive for the killing were given.

Several telephone calls by CPJ to the FGE for comment on August 16 and 17 were not answered.

“The tragic and brutal killing of Juan Arjón López is only the latest in a year that is already one of the deadliest in recent history for the Mexican press,” said Jan-Albert Hootsen, CPJ’s Mexico representative. “Although some arrests have been made in earlier cases of press killings this year, an ongoing climate of impunity continues to fuel these attacks. Mexican authorities must conduct a swift and thorough investigation into Arjón’s killing and bring those responsible to justice.”

According to Humberto Melgoza, the editor of San Luis Río Colorado-based website Contraseña and a friend of Arjón’s, the reporter started the outlet on Facebook several months before his death. Melgoza added that Arjón had worked on and off as a journalist in the past and had been a collaborator for OmniCable, a now-defunct radio station, and that he combined his work as a reporter with delivering meals for a local restaurant.

According to Melgoza, Arjón had a troubled private life and lived in a substance abuse rehabilitation center in San Luis Río Colorado at the time of his death. “He was a good guy, though,” Melgoza told CPJ. “He was very lively, very sociable.”

Arjón reported on a wide range of subjects for A Qué Le Temes, including crime, local politics and the environment. The most recent articles were posted on August 2 and included two short news stories about the arrests of suspects of robberies and theft. Although his disappearance was not widely reported until August 9, CPJ was not able to verify whether he had stopped writing articles after August 2 or whether he disappeared on or shortly after that date.

Melgoza told CPJ that San Luis Río Colorado has recently seen a spike in violence, which he attributed to criminal gangs. “There is a lot of presence of drug traffickers here, lots of shootouts,” he said. According to local newspaper La Tribuna de San Luis, the municipalty had the fifth highest homicide rate in Sonora in 2021.

Mexico is the deadliest country in the Western Hemisphere for journalists. According to CPJ research, at least 11 reporters were killed in the country this year. At least three journalists were murdered in retaliation for their work, and CPJ is investigating eight other killings to determine whether they were work-related.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

New York, August 11, 2022 — One year after the Taliban’s return to power, Afghan news outlets are struggling to survive amid an increasingly restrictive censorship regime targeting independent journalists, the flight of many Afghan media workers, and the country’s declining economy, finds a new special report released Thursday by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

The assessment, “Afghanistan’s Media Crisis,”  finds a deterioration in press freedom over the last year, marked by censorship, arrests, assaults, and restrictions on women journalists. At the same time, the report showcases the tenacity and vital reporting by those journalists who remain and the valuable work of Afghan journalists working in exile.

“The Taliban’s moves to repress the media are having a devastating impact. The particularly restrictive measures targeting female journalists amount to an attempt to erase women from public life,” said CPJ President Jodie Ginsberg. “Afghanistan’s remaining journalists are determined to continue reporting but they, and the vast community of media workers now in exile, cannot be left to surmount the obstacles on their own. The Taliban must face significant international pressure to reverse course and cease their assault on a free press.”

CPJ’s report, based on interviews with a wide range of Afghan reporters and media executives, documents the Taliban’s arbitrary arrests, assaults, and threats against journalists–and the fear and self-censorship fostered by these new measures. The last year has seen a steep drop in the number of Afghan newspapers, radio stations and other news sources, as well as a collapse in the number of women journalists. The Taliban’s push to remove women from public life has meant that the daily realities of Afghan women often go undocumented and unheard.

“Afghan journalists are navigating a perilous environment as fear of the Taliban amidst the country’s sharply declining economy deal a double blow to the media,” said Steven Butler, a senior CPJ program consultant and one of the report’s authors. “The resilience of Afghan journalists who remain in the country, combined with those who report from exile, offer a glimmer of hope. But more is needed. The Taliban must abide by their initial promises to allow independent journalist to report freely and safely.”

The report offers a comprehensive set of policy recommendations to the Taliban, foreign governments, and international organizations. Among these, CPJ recommends that foreign governments provide resettlement support to at-risk journalists, as well as humanitarian and technical assistance to those remaining in Afghanistan. Critically, CPJ recommends that the Taliban end the involvement of the General Directorate of Intelligence in media oversight and allow civil institutions to exercise their authority over the sector. Pressure must also be brought to bear on the Taliban to live up to their pledges and guarantee the ability of all journalists and media workers to report and produce news freely and independently, without fear of reprisal.

Note to Editors: ‘Afghanistan’s Media Crisis’ is composed of three in-depth and richly sourced features based on expert analysis, first-hand accounts, and interviews with nearly two dozen Afghan journalists. It is accompanied by two first-person columns: an opinion column on supporting journalists in Afghanistan by Kathy Gannon, who reported on the country for more than three decades, and Rukhshana Media founder Zahra Joya on the challenges of reporting on the lives and concerns of Afghan women from exile, a set of recommendations, and accompanying video.

For more information or to arrange interviews with CPJ experts, contact press@cpj.org. This report is also available in Dari, Pashto, and Arabic.

###

About the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)

The Committee to Protect Journalists is an independent, nonprofit organization that promotes press freedom worldwide. We defend the right of journalists to report the news safely and without fear of reprisal.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, D.C. 20520

Sent via email

Dear Secretary Blinken,

As the one-year anniversary of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan approaches, we the undersigned press freedom and journalist safety organizations write to urge you and the Department of State to take every possible step to expedite the processing of Priority 2-referred Afghans under the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) and Special Immigrant Visa applications (P-2 and SIV) from at-risk Afghan citizens, and in particular journalists. While all human rights defenders remain in peril and are in urgent need of attention, Afghan journalists formed a critical component of two decades of democratization efforts in Afghanistan. They made it possible for the rest of the world to access and understand the inner workings of the country. Following the U.S. withdrawal, Afghanistan’s vibrant media sector was immediately targeted and continues to be under threat. The lives and livelihoods of hundreds of journalists and media workers depend on the U.S. making good on the commitments it made to ensure a swift process for qualified applicants to reach safety.

We are grateful for the public commitments you and President Joe Biden made in the weeks and months following the evacuation. However, one year later, the need remains immense and time is of the essence, particularly for those who are now stranded in a third country and facing the imminent possibility of being forced to return to Afghanistan.

The signatories of this letter are all members of the Journalists in Distress (JiD) Network, a group of 24 organizations that provide emergency assistance and safety support to journalists and media workers in crises globally. All our members are engaged in efforts to provide emergency funds, relocation support, and other resources in response to a growing demand from journalists and media workers under duress. Our organizations have helped in the evacuation, relocation, and provision of emergency support to hundreds of Afghan journalists since August 2021.

Collectively over the past year, our organizations, along with other members of the JiD, have received daily requests for assistance from displaced Afghan journalists with no access to immigration support or guidance, no insight into the timeline for processing visas, and no knowledge of what to do to get themselves and their families to safety. In many cases, they are now stranded in countries where they cannot work, or where their temporary visas—issued while awaiting P-2 and SIV processing—are now due to expire. Reports on the pace of P-2 processing paint a troubling picture. For journalists in this position the options are limited: risk homelessness, hunger, and potential legal consequences should they overstay their temporary visas or face the harrowing decision to return to Afghanistan.

Journalists in Afghanistan risked their lives to report the news, providing a vital public service and shining a light on circumstances often shrouded in darkness. They also acted as fixers, producers, and co-reporters to countless U.S. journalists and outlets, efforts for which this country owes them a debt of gratitude—and a lifeline.

From the initial days of the U.S. withdrawal, the Biden administration has repeatedly stated a commitment to protecting the most vulnerable and ensuring that those eligible for P-2 and SIV would be processed and moved to safety efficiently. A year later, there is little to show for it. Journalists remain in immigration limbo, from Islamabad to Mexico City, with little idea of when they can expect to receive an official update on their applications or be reunited with their families.

We understand that immigration processes must be thorough and that the demand is great, but it has now been a year and the situation is no less urgent than it was in August 2021. Therefore, we call on the Biden administration to:

1. Publicly commit to expediting the timeline for processing P-2-referred Afghans’ applications.
2. Work with governments where P-2-referred Afghans now reside to secure commitments that these governments will not deport the Afghans who are waiting for their applications to be approved.
3. Consider allowing P-2 applicants to claim asylum and allow Afghans who have entered the United States as parolees to be granted the legal status and benefits of resettled refugees, which we understand is within your legal authority.
4. Expand the range of immigration options available by supporting a congressional proposal to create an emergency pathway specifically for at-risk journalists, and identifying an alternative option for the many journalists that were ineligible for SIV or P-2, and lacked a pathway altogether.

Our organizations stand ready to support this process. Journalists’ lives depend on it.

Sincerely,

Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE)
Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
English PEN
European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF)
Free Press Unlimited (FPU)
Freedom House
International Cities of Refuge Network (ICORN)
International Media Support (IMS)
International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF)
PEN International
Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
Rory Peck Trust (RPT)

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

On July 21, Res Publica editor-in-chief Zamira Sydykova announced on the outlet’s website and on her Facebook page that Kyrgyzstan’s Ministry of Culture, Information, Sport and Youth Policy ordered internet service providers to block access to its website after the outlet failed to comply with the ministry’s earlier demand to remove two investigative articles. The block is to last two months, but can be renewed if the outlet fails to remove the articles, according to Akmat Alagushev, media representative for local advocacy group Media Policy Institute, which is advising the owner of the domain name for Res Publica’s website, Yaroslav Tartykov, on the case and who spoke to CPJ by telephone.  

This is the first useof the controversial law “On Protection from Inaccurate (False) Information” against a media outlet, according to Alagushev and news reports. The law was passed in July 2021 and the following month was signed by President Sadyr Japarov.

Res Publica intends to challenge the block in the courts, Sydykova told CPJ by phone.

“Kyrgyzstan’s false information law grants censorship powers to government agencies and effectively institutes a presumption of guilt against journalists. It should never have been signed into law in the first place,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna, in Madrid. “Kyrgyz authorities should immediately lift the block on Res Publica and discard the false information law, which is all too susceptible to abuse by officeholders and influential businesspeople.”

Under the law, individuals and legal entities can demand that online publishers remove allegedly false information and publish a correction within 24 hours; if the content is not removed, the plaintiff can apply to the Ministry of Culture for the content to be removed within a set timeframe and, if the material is again not removed, order a block of the relevant website or webpage for up to two months without a court decision, according to an April 2022 Cabinet of Ministers’ decree establishing the procedure for the law.

The Ministry of Culture ordered access to Res Publica’s website to be blocked after Asan Toktosunov, former head of a state-owned airport services company, filed a content removal request under the false information law in connection with two investigations the outlet published in 2019 that accused him of corruption, according to Sydykova and copies of the ministry’s decision reviewed by CPJ.

Tartykov told CPJ by messaging app that on July 15 a Ministry of Culture representative sent him by messaging app a letter dated June 15 ordering Res Publica to delete the two articles within three days, but by July 17, the website had already become inaccessible in Kyrgyzstan. Tartykov said the ministry claimed it had previously sent the letter to an email address used by Res Publica, but Sydykova denied the outlet had received any letter at this address.

In March 2022, Kyrgyzstan’s Supreme Court upheld lower court decisions ordering Res Publica to publish corrections on passages referring to Toktosunov in the two articles in question, according to copies of the rulings reviewed by CPJ. Sydykova told CPJ that she considers the court decisions unfounded and that she stands by the outlet’s reporting.

In 2021, shareholders removed Toktosunov from his post and Kyrgyz authorities convicted him of corruption following Res Publica’s investigations, Sydykova said.

Toktosunov confirmed this conviction to CPJ but said that the allegations for which he was convicted were not those reported on by Res Publica in its investigations. He said that he had resorted to the law on false information after his previous efforts to obtain enforcement of court decisions to publish corrections had not been successful.

Sydykova added that the Ministry of Culture did not cite the court cases when issuing the block, and that the proceeding under the law on false information was entirely separate.

Alagushev told CPJ that the case shows the “absurdity and arbitrariness” of Kyrgyzstan’s false information law. While the law’s procedure requires plaintiffs to send the ministry “substantiated demands,” it does not specify any criteria for the ministry to use when ordering removals, nor require the ministry to justify its decisions.

A ministry representative told local outlet Aprel that it is “not the job” of the ministry to rule on the veracity of disputed content but merely to act on the plaintiff’s complaint if website owners refuse the plaintiff’s request for removal.

Authorities can continue to renew the block as long as Res Publica refuses to remove the disputed material, Alagushev told CPJ. Website owners can appeal the Ministry of Culture’s decisions in the courts, he said, but such a process will likely take several months to complete, during which time the website may remain blocked.

Analyses of the law by Media Policy Institute and local legal NGO Adilet have argued that it will be used to silence corruption reporting, while the lack of transparency over decision-making itself entails a high risk of corruption and abuse of power.

CPJ emailed the Ministry of Culture for comment but did not receive a reply.

Established in 1992, Res Publica is Kyrgyzstan’s oldest independent news outlet, Sydykova said. Sydykova, a former Kyrgyz ambassador to the U.S., previously served three months in prison and was twice banned from journalism for extended periods on criminal libel charges, according to reports and Sydykova.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

On the one-year anniversary of the report’s publication, the statement says that although the report “provided a historic opportunity” for the Maltese authority to restore the rule of law and avoid an assassination like that of Daphne Caruana Galizia ever happening again, Maltese authorities failed to implement necessary changes. “The changes introduced so far are token gestures, rather than urgently needed, radical and effective change,” the statement said.

The full statement can be read here.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

Since the outset of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, CPJ Emergencies has been responding to the needs of journalists in Russia as they sought to navigate—or in some cases escape—an increasingly hostile environment. 

For journalists and media outlets operating in Russia, the introduction of amendments to the country’s criminal and administrative codes in March 2022 marked the beginning of a new and dangerous era, threatening fines and lengthy prison terms for those convicted of disseminating “fakes” or any information that Russian authorities deemed to be false. Many Russian journalists, as well as international journalists working in the country, felt they had no choice but to flee for their own safety. Many of the country’s independent outlets relocated outside Russia.

This guide, jointly assembled by TrustLaw and the Committee to Protect Journalists, is intended to provide user-friendly, practical guidance for both journalists and newsrooms seeking to understand Russia’s “fake news” laws and how they’ve been applied thus far to both local and international press. 

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

On Tuesday, July 26, Abu Akleh’s relatives met with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Washington, D.C., and demanded an independent probe into her killing, according to news reports and tweets by Lina Abu Akleh, the journalist’s niece, who wrote after the meeting that Abu Akleh’s family was “still waiting to see” if the Biden administration would answer their calls for justice.

“While CPJ welcomes Secretary Blinken’s meeting with Shireen Abu Akleh’s family, the Biden administration has shirked its obligations to her family and to press freedom for too long,” said CPJ Director of Advocacy Gypsy Guillén Kaiser. “Actions must follow words, and the administration must keep its promise to thoroughly and transparently investigate her killing.”

Multiple eyewitnesses and investigations concluded that an Israel Defense Forces soldier shot and killed Abu Akleh, an Al-Jazeera correspondent and dual Palestinian American national, on May 11 while she was reporting on an IDF raid in the Palestinian West Bank city of Jenin. A U.S. State Department investigation concluded that an Israeli soldier “likely” killed Abu Akleh but that there was “no reason to believe” the soldier intentionally targeted her.

Abu Akleh’s family rejected the investigation’s finding in a statement at the time and called on the FBI to lead an investigation into her death.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

“The ongoing detentions and extremism investigations into four journalists known for their coverage of social injustices and their sharp criticism of authorities are dubious, to say the least, and raise fears of a new wave of repression against Tajikistan’s embattled press,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, in New York. “Tajik authorities should release Avazmad Ghurbatov, Daler Imomali, Zavqibek Saidamini, and Abdusattor Pirmuhammadzoda at once, drop all investigations into them, and stop harassing journalists whose only crime is to report on sensitive topics.”

On June 15, police arrested Imomali, an independent journalist who covers social issues on his YouTube channel, which has nearly 150,000 subscribers, for participating in banned extremist organizations, failure to pay taxes, and making a false accusation of a crime, and separately arrested Ghurbatov, a freelance video reporter and camera operator who works for Imomali, for allegedly assaulting a police officer, as CPJ documented at the time. 

Saidamini, an independent journalist, and Pirmuhammadzoda, an independent blogger, collaborated with Imomali and called for his and Ghurbatov’s release, and went missing and were presumed detained on July 8 and 9, respectively, as documented by CPJ.

On July 15, a spokesperson for Tajikistan’s prosecutor-general confirmed that Saidamini was being held in the town of Vahdat, outside the capital, Dushanbe, and said the journalist was under investigation for participation in extremist organizations, according to news reports. The spokesperson said Saidamini is accused of participation in the political organizations Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT) and Group 24, both banned as extremist by Tajikistan’s Supreme Court.  

That spokesperson said Pirmuhammadzoda was sentenced to 10 days’ detention for disobeying police orders on July 9, those reports stated. The journalist’s brother, Abdukarim Pirmuhammadzoda, who spoke to CPJ by messaging app, told CPJ that he was not released after 10 days.

On July 19, Shodi Hafizzoda, the head of the Interior Ministry’s Department for Combating Organized Crime (DCOC), announced an investigation into Pirmuhammadzoda for making “public calls for extremist activities or justifying extremism,” and said that prosecutors are investigating Ghurbatov for “membership” in IRPT, local media reports stated.

Participation in extremist organizations carries a five to eight year prison sentence under Article 307(3).2 of the criminal code; calling for extremist activities or justifying extremism online or in the media carries a five to 10 year prison sentence under Article 307(1). A local expert who requested anonymity due to fear of retaliation told CPJ that any charges filed against Ghurbatov for alleged membership in IRPT would likely be charged under Article 307(3).2.

Imomali and Saidamini have previously repeatedly denied belonging to any parties or groups, according to those reports. Pirmuhammadzoda’s relatives reject the accusation against him, according to those reports and Abdukarim Pirmuhammadzoda.

IRPT representatives have denied Ghurbatov has any links to the party, and Group 24 has denied collaboration with Saidamini, according to a report by U.S. Congress-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Tajik service, known locally as Radio Ozodi, and a Group 24 statement. 

CPJ was unable to independently confirm whether any of the journalists denied the current extremism accusations, or whether any have been formally charged.

Saidamini and Pirmuhammadzoda’s relatives did not know the journalists’ whereabouts until the July 15 press conference, reports stated. Pirmuhammadzoda’s brother told CPJ that the journalist’s family has not had contact with him since July 9, does not know if he has access to a lawyer, and found out about the accusations against him via media reports. A lawyer hired by Pirmuhammadzoda’s family was being denied access to the journalist as of July 21, his brother said.

CPJ called and emailed the Prosecutor-General’s Office and called Ghurbatov and Imomali’s lawyer for comment but did not receive a response. The lawyer has reportedly signed a nondisclosure agreement with authorities, as CPJ documented.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

Here is some information to keep in mind to mitigate the risk:

• Boobytraps, mines, improvised explosive devices (IEDs), and unexploded ordnance (UXO) are a potential risk in areas where there has been combat, near the front lines, or that have been occupied.
• Areas near military installations/camps, checkpoints, bridges, paths, abandoned vehicles or buildings, and access points like doorways are popular places to leave explosive traps. In some conflict zones, combatants have even booby-trapped bodies and animal carcasses.
• Before entering an area, always do a risk assessment and speak to local people or authorities. Identify the potential for UXO and what type of signage is used in the area. Have an emergency evacuation plan in place in case you encounter explosives or there is an incident. First aid assistance and evacuation should be a primary consideration.
• In areas where explosive devices are likely, do not move around at night or when visibility is reduced.
• When entering a new area, always look out for official and/or improvised warnings/signage warning of UXO. Some other indicators of a potential threat include debris caused by explosions, explosive craters, abandoned weaponry, and recent signs of excavation or disturbed ground/vegetation.   
• Remember: If there is one explosive device there are likely to be more. Bomblets and independent small charges are often used in such areas. There are even explosive devices designed to resemble toys or other innocent items.

If you encounter UXO or explosive devices:

• Stop immediately
• Never touch it or attempt to defuse or move it.
• Keep calm. Call for help and clearly communicate the threat to all in your party. Extract yourself by carefully leaving the exact same way you arrived.
• Once safe, use your mobile phone to establish the GPS location of the explosive devices/UXO and report them to the authorities.
• Warn other media and individuals in the area about the risks. 

CPJ has more resources to help you prepare for a safe assignment on our website.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

For additional safety information, please see CPJ’s safety guidance on protecting against online harassment, removing your personal data from the internet, and protecting against targeted online attacks.

Editors and journalists should also consult CPJ’s digital safety kit for more information on digital security best practices.

As part of the risk assessment process, consider the following:

• Does the journalist already have a history of being attacked online? If so, this likely means that he or she will be attacked again.

• Does the story involve contacting people who are known to harass others online, for example members of online communities or certain political groups and their supporters?

• Is the subject of the story likely to cause the journalist to be attacked online? Be aware that certain groups are more active online than others.

• Is your journalist aware of the risks of online abuse related to the story they are covering?

• Your journalists are more likely to be attacked online just after publication. Be aware that others in the newsroom, including those who are publicly affiliated with the news outlet, may also be attacked online as a result of the story.

• Be aware that journalists and newsrooms are increasingly being targeted by sophisticated online smear campaigns. These campaigns often try to discredit an individual journalist or the outlet by linking them to an issue, a government, or an organization. For example, by stating that the media outlet receives money from foreign governments. 

• Online abuse can sometimes lead to physical threats. This risk is greater if the people attacking your reporter online live locally.

Before assigning a story:

Managing personal data

• Ask the journalist to review what personal data is available about them online. They should do this using all search engines and using the incognito or private window option in their browsers. The journalist should review photos, video, and comments under stories, as well as any content on websites. For more information on managing and removing your personal data, see CPJ’s safety note.

• Journalists should be encouraged to remove data that could be used to identify them, locate them, or contact them through a means they do not want, for example through their personal email address. This should include any information posted or shared by family members and friends.

• Both the editor and the journalist should be aware that online abusers often target a journalist’s family members. Journalists may wish to speak to family members about this.

• If based in the U.S., journalists should be encouraged to sign up to a service, such as DeleteMe, that removes their personal data from data-broker sites.

Account security

• Editors and journalists should be aware that online harassers often target a journalist’s account and try to gain access.

• The journalist should secure both their work and personal accounts with two-factor authentication (2FA).

• The journalist should ensure they are using good password security to protect both their work and personal accounts.

• Journalists should avoid using their personal email address or phone number when contacting sources that have a history of harassment and doxxing, for example members of the far right.

• Ideally reporters should be given a work phone for contacting possible hostile sources.

Consider the following:

• Does the newsroom have a protocol for dealing with online abuse, including steps for reporting online harassment?

• Has the newsroom planned for a situation of doxxing?

• What tech support will you be able to offer a journalist should their online accounts be hacked? Does that support extend to a journalist’s personal online accounts?

• What mental health and wellbeing support is available for a journalist targeted by online abuse?

Click here to download a printable version of this checklist.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is a member of the Coalition Against Online Violence (CAOV), which has numerous resources for journalists and editors on how to deal with threats of digital harassment and abuse. See the CAOV’s Online Violence Response Hub for more information.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

Unfortunately, PPE can be expensive, and difficult for many journalists to source. The rules governing its transportation across borders can also pose challenges due to the variety of laws across the region.

The Thomson Reuters Foundation and the Committee to Protect Journalists, with the support of pro bono lawyers across Europe, developed a practical guide to help journalists quickly understand what PPE can be moved from Moldova, Hungary, Slovakia, and Poland into Ukraine.

This guide was compiled by:

Committee to Protect Journalists
TrustLaw
Allen & Overy
Turcan Cazac
Hogan Lovells

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

In one May 15 message, which CPJ reviewed, the sender wrote, “I will do whatever it takes to look for you in this Nigeria and cut off your head from your body.” That was followed with messages saying, “Next time you will know how to mind your business,” and, “It is a promise.”

On June 3, the same WhatsApp user suggested their target was a female journalist, calling her a “useless woman.”

According to the FIJ report, the news outlet sent a WhatsApp message from a separate number to the unknown sender, whose WhatsApp profile suggested that they were a travel agent. The sender requested that FIJ pay 250,000 naira (US$602) for a trip from Cyprus to the United Kingdom, according to the same report. When FIJ requested an invoice for the proposed payment, the sender ended the conversation and blocked the FIJ number, the report said.

The threats came less than a month after FIJ published an April 18 report accusing a Belarus-based Nigerian travel agent of fraud.

Separately, on May 6, FIJ published a report accusing a traditional herbal doctor of fraud. Following that report, the doctor messaged FIJ expressing displeasure over the report and referred to the author as a “foolish woman,” Ayeni told CPJ.

Ayeni told CPJ that FIJ had not reported the threats to police.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

Moments later, Nicaraguan National Police officers raided the outlet’s offices in the capital Managua and “aggressively forced” the outlet’s receptionist and accountant to leave, according to EFE and multiple news reports. Later on June 10, Trinchera de la Noticia announced that it was shutting down operations. EFE reported on June 12 that the police still occupied the offices.

The official notice of the closure, which Nicaraguan news website Confidencial published and CPJ reviewed, was issued by the Public Registry of Real Estate, which is under Nicaragua’s judicial branch. It accused Trinchera de la Noticia of committing a “severe infraction” by violating various articles of Nicaragua’s criminal code, commercial code, the General Law of Public Registries, and others. The resolution stated that the outlet “disrupted social peace and refused to provide information within the established time frame or did so incompletely” and ordered the outlet’s owners to pay a fine of 53,748 córdobas (US$1,500).

CPJ called Talavera several times and sent a message through Twitter to the outlet seeking comment. The outlet’s Twitter account responded, saying that Trinchera de la Noticia was not giving any further statements. CPJ emailed the Nicaraguan police and judiciary for comment but did not receive a response.

Trinchera de la Noticia was founded in 1999 by journalist Xavier Reyes Alba and produced a news website and a weekly print tabloid distributed in hotels and embassies in Managua, according to the U.S. Congress-funded broadcaster Voice of America. That report said the outlet operated on an annual subscription basis and usually covered politics and financial news. After its closure, there is only one subscriber-funded print tabloid–Bolsa de Noticias–left in Nicaragua, according to that report.

CPJ has extensively covered the Nicaraguan government’s ongoing crackdown against the press since a wave of protests in spring 2018, including imprisonments, criminal proceedings, the occupation of news outlets, criminal defamation charges, and physical attacks. One journalist was killed while covering protests in April 2018.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

On May 25, Gambian authorities released a white paper on the findings and recommendations of the TRRC, which was established by the government of current President Adama Barrow in December 2017. The commission’s main objectives were “to create an impartial record of violations and abuses of human rights” that occurred during Jammeh’s 22-year administration, promote healing, and “address impunity” to “prevent the repetition of the violations.”

After being voted out of office in 2017, Jammeh fled to Equatorial Guinea and claimed political asylum, and is protected by authorities there, according to Human Rights Watch.

Authorities accepted the TRRC’s recommendations that Jammeh should be investigated and prosecuted for the murder of journalist Deyda Hydara, the disappearance of journalist Ebrima Manneh, the arson attacks on Radio 1 FM and The Independent newspaper, and the attacks on journalists working with the Freedom Newspaper news website. 

Manneh, a reporter for the Gambia-based newspaper Daily Observer, went missing on July 7, 2006, after he was arrested by National Intelligence Agency officers wearing plain clothes, as CPJ documented. His body was found by police officers 11 years later.

Gambian authorities declined TRRC’s recommendation to decriminalize sedition, writing that the law is a “necessary part of a nation’s security” if it is not “misused or abused by governments to curtail media freedom,” according to the paper, which added that the government would take steps to provide a “clearer definition” of sedition. In 2018, a ruling by the Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) directed Gambia to “repeal and /or amend” its law on sedition as well as other laws that it found violated the rights of journalists. CPJ and other rights groups submitted an amici curiae brief in that case and previously documented the prosecution of journalists under Gambia’s sedition law.

“The decision by Gambian authorities to accept most of the recommendations from the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission is commendable but also requires immediate action to halt the decades of impunity for the killings of journalists Deyda Hydara and Ebrima Manneh, and other crimes against the press,” said Angela Quintal, CPJ’s Africa program coordinator, from Johannesburg. “The administration of President Adama Barrow should recognize how Gambia’s sedition law threatens freedom of the press and prioritize legal reforms that ensure journalism is not criminalized.” 

The Gambian government accepted TRRC’s recommendations to reform the criminal code and other laws that criminalize the press, according to the paper and Fatau M. Jawo, a lawyer and human rights advocate who spoke to CPJ by phone. Most notably is the 2013 Information and Communications (Amendment) Act, which imposes a 15-year jail term and a 3 million Dalasis (US$56,000) fine on those convicted of spreading false news or derogatory statements against government officials, as CPJ has documented. 

The paper also acknowledges the “great lengths” that Jammeh went to in order to attack the media and formally recognized several incidents, including the murder, “torture,” and arbitrary arrests and detention of journalists, most of which CPJ has documented:

• The murder of Deyda Hydara, the managing editor and co-owner of the independent newspaper The Point and a correspondent for AFP and Reporters Without Borders.
• A potential role in the disappearance of Ebrima Manneh
• The closure of privately owned Citizen FM radio
• The closure of Senegalese private radio station Sud FM
• The closure of the independent Taranga FM radio station
• Disruption of internet access
• Deportation of at least seven foreign journalists and “making conditions for foreign journalists [so] untenable that many left the country”
• The arrest of seven journalists and press leaders: Pap Saine, Alieu Badara Sowe, Bruce Asemota, Emil Tourey, Sarata Jabbi, Pa Modou Faal, and Sam Sarr.

Bafou Jeng, a senior counsel at the Gambian ministry of justice, declined CPJ’s request for comment and recommended that questions be directed to Kimbeng Tah, the ministry official responsible for handling TRRC activities. CPJ emailed Tah but did not receive a response.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

“Philippine authorities must reverse their order to close Rappler and to block access to independent news websites Bulatalat and Pinoy Weekly, and cease fabricating spurious reasons to suppress the free press,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “We strongly urge President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to reverse the outgoing Duterte government’s abysmal press freedom record.”   

Rappler founder and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa released a statement on Tuesday while attending a conference in Hawaii saying that the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission had upheld an earlier ruling revoking the news outlet’s operating license for violating foreign ownership rules, according to news reports.

Ressa was quoted in the reports saying Rappler would appeal the ruling, that the news outlet is “not shutting down,” and that legal proceedings in the case to date have been “highly irregular.” Ressa, the 2018 recipient of CPJ’s Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award, did not immediately respond to CPJ’s request for comment on the closure order.

Separately, the Philippine National Telecommunications Commission on June 8 ordered access to the independent news websites Bulatlat and Pinoy Weekly blocked on accusations they publish “misinformation” and support local terrorist organizations, according to news reports. The NTC ordered internet service providers to impose the blocks on June 18, according to a statement by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, a local press freedom advocacy group.

National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. was quoted in a state media report as saying he ordered the blocks because the news websites’ reporting had violated the Anti-Terrorism Act, including by inciting and recruiting to commit terrorism.

Rhea Padilla, national coordinator of the Altermidya network of independent media groups–of which both Bulatlat and Pinoy Weekly are members–told CPJ by email that the accusations are false and that authorities have failed to provide “any evidence at all” to justify the blockages.  

The Philippine Securities Exchange Commission, National Security Council, and National Telecommunications Commission did not respond to CPJ’s emailed requests for comments on the closure and blockage orders.  

Rappler has consistently denied that its use of Philippine Depositary Receipts, an investment instrument that may be issued with corresponding company shares and held by both Filipinos and foreigners, violates a constitutional ban on foreign investment in media and that their use was accepted by the SEC in 2015, according to a CNN report.

The news reports noted that the SEC’s ruling against Rappler comes just days before Duterte will step down after six years in power and President-elect Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. is inaugurated.

In a public letter, CPJ recently called on Marcos to reverse his predecessor’s various press freedom-eroding actions and policies, including against Rappler and Altermidya network members.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

“Philippine authorities must reverse their order to close Rappler and to block access to independent news websites Bulatalat and Pinoy Weekly, and cease fabricating spurious reasons to suppress the free press,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “We strongly urge President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to reverse the outgoing Duterte government’s abysmal press freedom record.”   

Rappler founder and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa released a statement on Tuesday while attending a conference in Hawaii saying that the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission had upheld an earlier ruling revoking the news outlet’s operating license for violating foreign ownership rules, according to news reports.

Ressa was quoted in the reports saying Rappler would appeal the ruling, that the news outlet is “not shutting down,” and that legal proceedings in the case to date have been “highly irregular.” Ressa, the 2018 recipient of CPJ’s Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award, did not immediately respond to CPJ’s request for comment on the closure order.

Separately, the Philippine National Telecommunications Commission on June 8 ordered access to the independent news websites Bulatlat and Pinoy Weekly blocked on accusations they publish “misinformation” and support local terrorist organizations, according to news reports. The NTC ordered internet service providers to impose the blocks on June 18, according to a statement by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, a local press freedom advocacy group.

National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. was quoted in a state media report as saying he ordered the blocks because the news websites’ reporting had violated the Anti-Terrorism Act, including by inciting and recruiting to commit terrorism.

Rhea Padilla, national coordinator of the Altermidya network of independent media groups–of which both Bulatlat and Pinoy Weekly are members–told CPJ by email that the accusations are false and that authorities have failed to provide “any evidence at all” to justify the blockages.  

The Philippine Securities Exchange Commission, National Security Council, and National Telecommunications Commission did not respond to CPJ’s emailed requests for comments on the closure and blockage orders.  

Rappler has consistently denied that its use of Philippine Depositary Receipts, an investment instrument that may be issued with corresponding company shares and held by both Filipinos and foreigners, violates a constitutional ban on foreign investment in media and that their use was accepted by the SEC in 2015, according to a CNN report.

The news reports noted that the SEC’s ruling against Rappler comes just days before Duterte will step down after six years in power and President-elect Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. is inaugurated.

In a public letter, CPJ recently called on Marcos to reverse his predecessor’s various press freedom-eroding actions and policies, including against Rappler and Altermidya network members.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

On June 21, a federal high court in the Ogun state capital, Abeokuta, granted Bashiru bail under a series of requirements, which included a bond of 3 million naira (US$7,230) and two sureties, according to court documents reviewed by CPJ and Festus Ogun, Bashiru’s lawyer, who spoke to CPJ by phone. Bashiru was arrested on May 13 after his news website republished a report about the alleged criminal records of Ogun state governor Dapo Abiodun, as CPJ documented. The journalist’s lawyer told CPJ that Bashiru remained behind bars because the bail conditions were very difficult to meet, and said they would seek an amendment to the conditions.

“The bail conditions set for Nigerian journalist Olamilekan Hammed Adewale Bashiru are outrageously onerous,” said Angela Quintal, CPJ’s Africa program coordinator, from Johannesburg. “Bashiru should have never been arrested in the first place. Nigerian authorities should act swiftly to secure his release and ensure that these overly stringent bail conditions are not used as a tool to keep him behind bars.”

One of the sureties must be a senior civil servant and the other a business owner willing to provide their personal and business phone numbers, addresses, banking details, and a property deed, according to those sources. Additionally, the business owner must provide their business registration documents, and the civil servant must provide their passport, which will be held along with their property documents by the court until the end of the trial.

Bashiru’s next hearing is scheduled for July 19. Nigerian journalist Luka Binniyat was forced to meet similar bail conditions following his arrest in November 2021, as CPJ documented.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

On Thursday, June 23, a judge at the High Court in Mbandaka, the capital of the DRC’s western province of Équateur, declined a June 21 request by Bofumbo’s lawyer, Edmond Mbokolo, for the journalist to be granted provisional release, according to Mbokolo, who spoke to CPJ over the phone, and media reports. Mbokolo told CPJ that Bofumbo is scheduled to appear in court again on June 28.

“Chilassy Bofumbo and all other members of the press behind bars for their work in the Democratic Republic of the Congo should be released without delay,” said Angela Quintal, CPJ’s Africa program coordinator, from Johannesburg, South Africa. “The prolonged and ongoing detention of journalists in the DRC is a grim indicator for press freedom in the country.”

Bofumbo is the editor-in-chief of the local broadcaster Radio Télévision Sarah, a correspondent for the Kinshasa-based Flash Info Plus news website and the Bukavu-based Radio l’Essentiel online broadcaster, and a coordinator for FILIMBI, a nongovernmental organization that promotes civil participation among Congolese youth, according to CPJ research. Bofumbo’s June 21 court appearance was the first since November 2021, when he was arrested while covering a protest, charged with various crimes, and his case was sent for review to the Court of Cassation in Kinshasa, the capital, according to CPJ research and Mbokolo.

Bofumbo appeared on CPJ’s 2021 prison census, which annually documents all journalists jailed around the world for their work on December 1. Separately, at least two other journalists — Patrick Lola and Christian Bofaya — were arrested in Mbandaka in January 2022 over their coverage of protests in Équateur province in late 2021, according to CPJ reporting.

Editor’s note: The spelling of Edmond Mbokolo’s name has been corrected in the second and fourth paragraphs.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

“The extradition of Julian Assange to the United States to face trial on charges under the century-old Espionage Act is a blow to press freedom with implications for journalists everywhere,” said CPJ Executive Director Robert Mahoney. “We urge the Biden Administration to live up to its stated commitment to a free press by dropping all charges against the Wikileaks founder.”

U.S. prosecutors have indicted Assange on 17 espionage charges and one charge of computer misuse over WikiLeaks’ publication of thousands of leaked military and diplomatic documents. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 175 years in prison.

Wikileaks released a statement saying it would appeal the decision, according to news reports. The Home Office said Assange has 14 days to appeal.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

The strike hit the Erbil-Pirmam road around 9:35 p.m., leaving three people slightly injured and damaging a restaurant and a number of vehicles, the Directorate General of Counter Terrorism said in a statement.

Nabaz Rashad, a reporter for the independent TV news website Westga News, told CPJ that, “minutes after the strike, I arrived at the scene even before the security forces and started going live on our Facebook page via my mobile phone.” While live streaming, he said, “security forces came and hit me with their fists, breaking my mobile phone and receiver. I kept telling them that I am a journalist and have my press ID, but useless!”

“They took me and locked me up inside their military vehicle for an hour, abusing and threatening me,” Rashad added.

When he went to the main Asayish headquarters at Erbil a couple of hours later, Rashad was forced to sign a pledge stating, “I am responsible if any photos and videos go viral,” in order to get his broken mobile phone and receiver back, he said.

Jihad Waisi, a correspondent for the NRT TV, a news broadcaster funded by the opposition New Generation Movement, told CPJ that the security forces intercepted and stopped all the media outlets and forced them to leave the scene, with no exceptions.

“We were a team of three, covering it from a distance, but the security forces came and took all the equipment and our personal mobile phones, asking us to leave the place immediately,” said Waisi, adding that they got back the equipment and mobile phones, except for the camera’s memory card.

In a statement posted on Facebook, Metro Center for Journalist Rights and Advocacy, an Iraqi press freedom organization, urged the security forces “to let the journalists work and cover the scene freely without any obstacles.”

“The attack on Westga News reporter Nabaz Rashad, confiscation of journalistic equipment, and blocking media outlets would not strengthen the security plan nor hide the realities,” Metro Center said.

When CPJ reached out to two journalists from other media organizations who were also prevented from covering the incident that night, they confirmed the information but refused to comment further due to concerns about reprisal from their outlets, which are affiliated with the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party.

CPJ reached out to Erbil Asayish spokesperson Ashti Majeed via email and messaging app for comment, but did not receive any response.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

On May 24, agents of the Italian Anti-Mafia Investigation Directorate (Direzione Investigativa Antimafia) raided and searched the newsroom of public broadcaster RAI3’s investigative program “Report,” and the home of its reporter, Paolo Mondani, in Rome, according to a report in daily newspaper La Repubblica and the journalist, who corresponded with CPJ via email. 

The public prosecutor’s office in Caltanissetta, a town on the island of Sicily, issued a search warrant on May 20, as part of a leak investigation in relation to a report by Modani, which aired on RAI3 on May 23, about alleged links between organized crime groups and Italy’s far right, according to these sources.

Mondani told CPJ via email that the search warrant authorized agents to confiscate digital and paper documents. At around 7 p.m. on May 24, while the search was underway, the warrant was revoked by the prosecution before the police confiscated any documents from RAI3 or the journalist because authorities had found a confidential document they had been looking for during a separate search of a former policeman’s home.

The police did not obtain access to Mondani’s private devices, he told CPJ.

The search documents and warrant disclosed that the police had tailed Mondani’s news crew and secretly filmed its meeting with a key source, Mondani told CPJ. The police had also intercepted his phone calls, he said.

In addition, about a month before the report aired, Mondani had been summoned by the Caltanissetta prosecutor’s office to find out about interviews he was conducting, according to an interview he did on May 26 with news website BlogSicilia and the journalist.   

“Italian authorities should conduct a swift and transparent investigation into the circumstances of the raid and search of the newsroom of RAI3 investigative program ‘Report’ and the surveillance of its news crew, explain their actions, and stop harassing journalists in their leak investigation,” said Attila Mong, CPJ’s Europe representative. “Raiding and searching newsrooms and journalists’ homes and monitoring newsgathering activities has no place in an EU member state. Authorities should refrain from actions that risk endangering the confidentiality of professional sources, which might have a chilling effect on journalists’ work.”

Mondani’s report alleged that a politician from Italy’s neo-fascist right was at the scene during a bomb attack by the Sicilian Mafia on May 23, 1992, in the Sicilian town of Capaci that killed a judge, his wife, and the three members of their police escort, according to a report by news site Euractiv and the journalist.

Salvatore De Luca, public prosecutor of Caltanissetta, told Italian news agency ANSA that the journalist was not under investigation and that the searches were being carried out to verify the authenticity of the sources.

In August 2021, Italian police increased protection of “Report” host and deputy director Sigfrido Ranucci after an assassination plot against him by an organized crime group was revealed, as CPJ reported at the time.

CPJ emailed questions to the Anti-Mafia Investigation Directorate in Rome and the public prosecutor’s office in Caltanissetta, but did not receive an immediate reply.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

Benya FM was unable to broadcast for four days as a result of the damage, according to Benya FM’s program manager Usman Kwaku Dawood, who also spoke to CPJ by phone.

On May 20, Ghanaian police charged the three alleged attackers with assault, unlawful entry, conspiracy to commit a crime, stealing, and causing unlawful damage, according to a report by the privately owned news website The Ghanaian Standard and Abraham Bansah, commander of the Elmina police prosecuting the case, who spoke to CPJ over the phone.

During a court hearing that day, the three men pleaded not guilty to the charges, according to The Ghanaian Standard report and Dawood, who attended the hearing. The case is expected back in court on June 28, Dawood said.

Eshun, who is also known as Osofo Blessing, and Egyirfah,who is also known as Nana Gyefo, told CPJ that they were familiar with the attackers and identified them as supporters of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP). Dawood told CPJ that apparent NPP members attended the hearing in support of the three men.

The attack took place as Eshun was discussing the politics of local fishing during a program called “Afarikua,” whichaired at 7 p.m. That night’s segment focused on the perceived irregularities in the distribution of premix fuel, a government-subsidized petroleum product managed under Ghana’s Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, according to the ministry’s website, The Ghanaian Standard report, as well as Eshun and Dawood.

One of the three alleged attackers was described in court as an attendant at a premix fuel station, according to Egyirfah and The Ghanaian Standard report.

Egyirfah told CPJ that the three men arrived at the station by motorbike and began calling for Eshun by one of his on-air pseudonyms before entering the building.Suspecting the attackers were there for trouble, Egyirfah attempted to lock the entrance to the station before they could reach it, he said. But the attackers forcefully pushed back the door, and twisted his left arm, then started destroying equipment as they searched for Eshun, according to Egyirfah.

Once the attackers found the studio, they pulled Eshun from his seat, stomped on his back, sides, and stomach, and dragged him out of the room, the journalists told CPJ, adding that the attacks only stopped when Eshun became unconscious.

Eshun said his Android phone, which was in his pocket, was smashed during the attack, breaking the screen. The attackers also destroyed a studio mixer, two headphones, fivemonitors, six computers, three keyboards, three tables, two chairs, and a video graphic adaptor cable, according to the journalists and The Ghanian Standard report.

When Eshun regained consciousness later that day, he reported the attack to the divisional police station, he said. He was given a permit to receive free medication at a local hospital while the police opened an investigation into the incident, according to Eshun.

CPJ emailed questions on May 30 to the Ghana Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development through the contact information on its website, but has not received a response.

CPJ’s calls and text messages on May 31 to NPP General Secretary, John Boadu, went unanswered.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

Around 6:30 p.m. on May 28, a group of about 15 people gathered in front of the building where Castor lives with his family in the city of São Paulo, attempted to enter the building, and threatened to “break everything” in his apartment, according to news reports and the journalist, who spoke to CPJ in a phone interview.

Castor told CPJ that, earlier that afternoon, he had filmed three municipal guards hitting a woman and spraying her with what appeared to be pepper spray during a security operation targeting drug users on Helvetia street in downtown São Paulo. He shared the video on Instagram and Twitter, and it was broadcast later that day by TV Globo and embedded by other media outlets.

Local residents who supported the police action and angry with Castor for documenting and exposing the police abuse sent threatening messages via neighborhood WhatsApp groups and gathered outside his residence to confront him, according to news reports and the journalist, who added that threatening messages were also posted on Telegram neighborhood groups.

“Authorities in São Paulo must promptly and thoroughly investigate the alarming escalation of threats and harassment against photojournalist Caio Castor and immediately adopt all necessary measures to ensure his and his family’s safety,” said Carlos Martinez de la Serna, CPJ’s program director, in New York. “Journalists play a vital role in documenting and exposing alleged police brutality and human rights violations, and they must be able to do so without risking reprisal by security forces or anyone else.” 

Castor told CPJ that the group was buzzing the intercom and when he picked up, one man yelled, “You bastard, we’ll get up there! We’ll break into your apartment! We’ll break everything.” A friend of Castor called the São Paulo state civil police, he said, and the group dispersed when a patrol car arrived shortly after 7 p.m.

Since May 11, São Paulo city municipal guard and São Paulo state police forces have been conducting frequent operations targeting hundreds of drug users in the area known as “crackland” in downtown São Paulo, forcing the groups to displace and relocate to other areas, according to news reports.

Castor said that during the hours after he posted the video on Instagram at around 2 p.m., members of WhatsApp and Telegram neighborhood resident groups started to post intimidating and threatening messages. Members of the groups also shared his name and address.

According to screenshots CPJ reviewed,messages included threats such as, “[I] want to beat up that guy,” “I hope this person is the next victim.” They also called him an “idiot” and “defender of criminals who film the part that interest him to harm those who are working,” and accused him of “working for organized crime.”

At least two people messaged him on Instagram warning him about the Telegram group members, according to screenshots CPJ reviewed. One member said they “want the death of the drug users and anyone who helps them, including you. They know you live on Helvetia street, they are really angry.”

“In a few hours, the angry speeches in the groups escalated to a physical presence in my building,” Castor told CPJ. “We turned off the lights. They were ringing the intercom repeatedly. At some point, I answered. When one of them yelled they were going to come up and break everything, it was a shock. I thought, we’re screwed.”

Castor filed a police report, which CPJ reviewed, the night of May 28.

Castor told CPJ he and his family left the apartment on the morning of May 29 and haven’t returned since then, fearing for their safety.

Castor told CPJ that, following the May 11 policing operations, a group of drug users had settled on Helvetia street, where he lives, and that local residents formed groups on WhatsApp and Telegram to discuss how to respond to the situation. According to Castor and to screenshots CPJ reviewed, several residents expressed support for the police’s brutal repression of drug users and homeless people. “I thought this was too little,” said one person in the group, referring to the incident Castor filmed.

The press office of the São Paulo State Public Security Secretary said in an email that the journalist “was briefed about the six month deadline to present criminal charges against the perpetrators,” but did not answer CPJ’s questions about the investigation of the incident nor about measures to protect Castor and his family.

The São Paulo city communications secretary said in an email that the Municipal Secretary for Urban Security has “placed on leave the agents filmed [hitting and using pepper spray] and opened internal investigations into the facts.”

Castor has worked as a freelance photojournalist, reporter, and video editor for 10 years, covering human rights, policing, and environmental issues for several national and international outlets including El País, A Pública, BBC Brasil, The Intercept Brasil, and Repórter Brasil.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

On May 4, Sierra Leone’s Office of National Security (ONS), a federal security agency, submitted a complaint to the Independent Media Commission, the country’s media regulator, according to a copy of the complaint published by the Africanist Press and Bah, who spoke by phone with CPJ.

The complaint accused the Africanist Press of making “a deliberate attempt…to stir disaffection in the military,” which the ONS said could “cause unrest in the country.” The agency asked the commission to warn the news organization against “inciting publications.”

The Africanist Press is a U.S.-based news site that covers Sierra Leonean politics and “grassroots African perspectives” on current events, according to its website.

The ONS letter followed a May 3 Africanist Press report, published on Bah’s Facebook page, which has more than 14,000 followers, alleging that the salaries of 30 officials in Sierra Leone’s finance ministry could cover the monthly earnings of 1,747 Sierra Leonean soldiers, Bah told CPJ.

“Sierra Leonean authorities should cease their harassment of the Africanist Press and must investigate the death threats against its publisher, Chernoh Alpha Bah, instead of trying to censor him,” said Angela Quintal, CPJ’s Africa program coordinator, from New York. “Allegations of treason and claims that journalism threatens national peace are dangerous tools too often wielded by authorities against the press and can have a chilling effect on press freedom.”

The U.S.-based Bah has also been the target of death threats and other threats sent via social media. On May 6, Bah received a death threat in a Facebook direct message from a user who accused him of trying to “distract the real citizens of Sierra Leone,” according to Bah and a screenshot of the message reviewed by CPJ.

On May 23, a Facebook group called the General Kalokoh Media Team posted that the Africanist Press should face prosecution for cybercrimes, accusing Bah of exposing “highly classified” data. The group, which as of late May had more than 700 members, states its purpose as “promoting the interest of the president,” an apparent reference to President Julius Maada Bio.

When CPJ called a number listed on the General Kalokoh Media Team’s Facebook account, a person who claimed he could speak anonymously for the Facebook group said they have contacted local and international authorities about the Africanist Press posts, which he said are inciting soldiers against the government. “We will not entertain any sort of negotiations. We must track him down,” the person said, referring to Bah.

On May 24, Sorie Fofana, a member of the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party and chairman of the government-owned Sierra Leone Cable network’s board of directors, wrote in an opinion piece on the news site he publishes that authorities should treat Africanist Press reports as treason and said the news organization was run by “dissident elements.”

When contacted by CPJ via phone, Fofana said he made the allegations because he views the Africanist Press reports as an incitement of the army, which he described as “unacceptable.”

Bah said his news site has continued publishing reports on alleged corruption under the Bio administration, but added that the growing threats against the Africanist Press could lead to the news site being suspended and to his own extradition from the United States for prosecution in Sierra Leone.

Previously, on March 2, the privately owned news site, AYV Newspaper published a report quoting senior government officials as saying that the Bio administration was planning to sue the Africanist Press for defamation and publishing “unverified data” while reporting on alleged corruption among government officials and First Lady Fatima Jabbe Bio.

Bah told CPJ that he believed, based on conversations with confidential sources, that the threatened lawsuit was related to a January 25 Africanist Press report alleging that the first lady had spent 7.89 billion leones ($US615,000) of public funds on personal shopping. As of May 24, the Africanist Press had not received any communications about the lawsuit, said Bah.

Sierra Leone’s Minister of Information and Communications, Mohamed Rahman Swaray, told CPJ by phone that he would reply to written concerns about the threats of violence and prosecution. CPJ sent him questions via messaging app, but has not received a response.

CPJ’s calls and text messages on May 24 to Abdulai Caulker, the national security coordinator at the ONS, and Victor Massaquoi, chairman of the Independent Media Commission, went unanswered.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

The PKK, a militant group and political party active in Turkey, Iraq, and Syria, is listed as a terrorist group by the United States, Turkey, and other countries.

The Kurdistan 24 crew—correspondent Diyar Jamal, cameraman Karwan Yara, and driver Soran Hakim—was attacked in front of the province’s forensic medicine department in Sulaymaniyah those sources said. The crew was covering the delivery of the body of the murder victim, Zaki Chalabi, by his friends and relatives.

On May 17, two unidentified gunmen on a motorcycle had fired at a restaurant Chalabi owned in the Bakhtiyari neighborhood of Sulaymaniyah, hitting him, Iraqi-Kurdish news outlet Rudaw reported. Chalabi was reported dead the next day after undergoing two surgeries.

Esta media, a news website affiliated with Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, which governs Sulaymaniyah province, reported on its Facebook page that the journalists were severely beaten by PKK supporters.

Jamal told CPJ via phone that “there were about 20 to 30 supporters” of the PKK, and that they “tried to force us to report that Turkey was involved in the killing of the restaurant owner, even though the investigation hasn’t yet been concluded. So we refused to do so.”

“They abused and chanted slogans against us, they accused us of working in favor of MIT,” which is Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization, Jamal said, adding, “Right away, they attacked and beat us badly. Our clothes were all torn.”

The three journalists ran off in different directions, leaving their equipment behind, except the camera, Jamal said, adding, “They looted the voice receiver and the car keys, our mic was later found destroyed, our cameraman could run with his camera.”

Jamal said the security forces and other journalists intervened. “The security forces fired bullets into the air to disperse the assailants and rescued us,” he said.

Hakim told CPJ that, “despite of security forces’ attempt to protect me, they took me three times and beat me very badly. Even when I ran to take a taxi, they get me out of the taxi and beat me again.” His body is “full of bruises and cuts,” he said.

Yara told CPJ that he escaped via taxi, without sustaining any series injuries. “Many people gathered around us and assaulted us,” he said. “I hugged my camera and live streaming device and ran to the security forces and asked for protection.”

In a joint press conference on May 18, Metro Center for Journalist Rights and Advocacy and the Sulaymaniyah branch of the Kurdistan Journalists Syndicate, condemned the attack. The two regional press freedom groups stressed that “no one should interfere in the journalists’ work or tell them how to report the event while conducting their media coverage.”

In a statement issued following the attack, Kurdistan 24 described the attack as “an infringement on the freedom of the press.”

“We would like to make it clear to everyone that Kurdistan 24 has always professionally covered events, and it will never stop its professional work in telling the truth through its media coverage,” said the broadcaster, which is supportive of Iraqi Kurdistan’s ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party.

CPJ reached out to Sarkawt Ahmed, the spokesperson of Sulaymaniyah police, via phone and left a message, but did not receive an immediate response.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

On Tuesday, May 24, Khairkhah, a photojournalist and reporter with the local Subhe Kabul newspaper, disappeared from the Kote Sangi area of District 5 in the capital of Kabul, according to his nephew Mohammad Abbasi, who spoke to CPJ in a phone interview, and media reports. Khairkhah told his family that he was going to the area to report and would attend his evening university classes, his nephew said, adding that his uncle did not attend the classes and they could not find any information about him in the hospitals, police districts, or the Kabul police command.

In a separate incident, on May 19, Naimulhaq Haqqani, the Taliban’s director of information and culture in western Herat province, told his personal assistant to expel Marjan Wafa, a reporter with the independent local Radio Killid station, from his press conference, according to a journalist with knowledge of the incident who talked to CPJ on condition of anonymity, fearing the Taliban’s reprisal, and media reports. Wafa, the only female journalist at the press conference, reportedly was complying with the Taliban’s dress code by wearing a face covering that exposed only her eyes. Haqqani’s personal assistant did not give her any reason for the order to leave.

Wafa’s expulsion came amid a broader crackdown on women reporters, with Taliban ministries ordering female TV journalists to wear masks while on air.

“The disappearance of journalist Ali Abar Kharikhah in Kabul and the expulsion of female reporter Marjan Wafa from a press conference in Herat add to growing concerns about the dangers and abuse journalists face in Afghanistan under Taliban rule,” said CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Steven Butler. “It’s beyond time for the Taliban to take responsibility for the safety of reporters and to allow all members of the press—men and women—to report the news without interference, including abolishing the decree that women TV journalists cannot appear with uncovered faces.”

Khairkhah works as a journalist and is also an undergraduate journalism student in Kabul. He has recently conducted interviews with Afghan politicians for Subhe Kabul, which covers Afghan news and current affairs.

CPJ contacted Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesperson, for comment via messaging app but did not receive any response. CPJ was unable to find contact information for Herat province’s director of information and culture.

CPJ has documented the increasingly prominent role of the General Directorate of Intelligence in controlling news media and intimidating journalists in Afghanistan.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

The journalists told CPJ that their March 25 article, which was based on confidential information from sources close the prosecution, revealed that the Office of the Prosecutor General had named several former board members of the bank as official suspects in their investigation into alleged money laundering.

The journalists said that following the publication of the article, the prosecution filed a complaint. The court, which did not hold a hearing, ruled that based on section 214 of Estonia’s Law on Criminal Procedure, they had violated the rules prohibiting anyone from publishing information about a pre-trial criminal investigation without the prosecution’s prior approval.

Chief Public Prosecutor Taavi Pern told ERR News that the prosecutor’s office decided to seek fines because it had repeatedly warned the journalists not to disclose any information on the criminal investigation without their approval.

The two journalists told CPJ that they had appealed the verdict, since the court did not recognize that they acted in the public interest.

In a statement published in Eesti Ekspress following the court verdict, Vedler stood by their reporting and said they had acted in the public interest. “Until now, the principle has been valid in Estonia that the word is free and the published information must be true. Neither the journalist nor the publication had to ask anyone for permission to broadcast important news to the public,” he wrote.

CPJ emailed questions to the Office of the Prosecutor General but received no reply.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

ZIK FM and Sen TV are subsidiaries of the private media group D-Média, which is owned by Bougane Guèye Dany, leader of the opposition coalition Gueum Sa Bopp.

The alleged violations took place during on-air segments by Ahmed Aïdara, a member of the opposition Yewwi Askan Wi (Liberate the People) coalition who was elected mayor of Guédiawaye, a suburb of Dakar, in January. During those segments, several of which CPJ reviewed, Aïdara provided commentary on daily news stories.

The broadcasters’ suspension was lifted after the three days. On April 5, 2022, Aïdara announced his resignation from D-Média and launched his own YouTube channel, where he broadcasts similar content. He is currently running to become a member of parliament in Senegal’s general elections in July, according to media reports.

Previously, on March 14, the CNRA had warned D-Média over the content of Aïdara’s program, according to a notice published on the regulator’s website. The CNRA claimed Aïdara had violated rules purportedly in place to promote objectivity by continuing to “promote himself and his political side and to denigrate the opposite side or citizens.”

In a March 31 interview with a local radio station, the executive director of the D-Média group, Moumy Seck Guèye, said the CNRA’s decision was “illegal” and that they would challenge the suspensions in court. “[Aïdara’s] political hat does not interest us,” Guèye added. “How many political journalists are there in the media? There is a double standard.”

Speaking to CPJ by phone, Ibrahima Bakhoum, CNRA’s communications officer, said, “When there is a recurrence [of an alleged violation], as in this case [with D-Média], we do not waste time.” The CNRA had warned journalists involved in politics that the press code and the Senegalese journalists’ charter prohibited conflicts of interest, said Bakhoum, adding, “One cannot be in politics and be in news production.”

CPJ called and sent text messages to Guèye for clarity on the organization’s plans to challenge the regulator’s decision, but she did not respond. CPJ contacted several Sen TV staff members for comment on the suspensions, but each of them said Guèye was the only person able to speak for the company on the issue.

CPJ’s calls and questions sent via messaging app to Aïdara went unanswered.

The regulator had previously imposed a 72-hour suspension on Sen TV and another privately owned television station, Walf TV, on March 4, 2021, according to local media reports. The suspensions related to the outlets broadcasting images of unrest following the arrest of the main opposition leader, Ousmane Sonko, according to the same sources.

In its decision to suspend Walf TV, the CNRA cited the station’s “repeatedly broadcasting images of violence.” CPJ was unable to review a copy of the regulator’s March 2021 decision to suspend Sen TV.

Both Sen TV and Walf TV managed to continue broadcasting via social media throughout that suspension period, according to CPJ’s review of their pages at the time.

In a recent phone interview, Moustapha Diop, director of Walf TV, told CPJ that the broadcaster only learned of the March 2021 suspension when its signal was cut, with the official notification not coming until the following day.

In response to CPJ’s emailed questions following the March 2021 suspensions, the CNRA requested an in-person meeting. CPJ responded that such a meeting was not possible, but the  regulator never responded to the questions.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

“When international journalists are expelled while local members of the press face the threat of arrest, the message is clear: Ethiopian authorities will not tolerate critical journalism or dissenting opinions,” said CPJ sub-Saharan Africa representative Muthoki Mumo. “Ethiopian officials should rescind the expulsion of Economist correspondent Tom Gardner and create an environment where both international and local press feel safe reporting even on the most sensitive of subjects.”

The Ethiopian Media Authority, a statutory regulator, issued a statement on Friday saying that it had revoked Gardner’s credentials because he “failed to live to [the] standards of conduct for journalists.” The authority indicated it was willing to grant a license to another correspondent from the publication. In a statement published on Monday, The Economist said that authorities subsequently gave Gardner “48 hours to leave the country,” alleging “unspecified” ethical breaches. In March, the authority issued a public warning to Gardner, accusing him of tweeting information that was not “properly sourced or supported by appropriate authorities.” In its statement, The Economist said Gardner’s reporting on Ethiopia “has been professional, unbiased and often courageous.”

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

On Wednesday, May 11, Abu Akleh, a prominent Palestinian-American correspondent for Al-Jazeera Arabic, was fatally shot in the head while she was covering an Israeli army operation in the West Bank town of Jenin, according to a report by Al-Jazeera , a video of the aftermath of the shooting posted on Twitter by Al-Jazeera, and multiple news outlets. She was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead shortly afterward, according to those sources. In the video, Abu Akleh is seen wearing a vest marked “Press.”

“We are shocked and strongly condemn the killing of the prominent Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in the West Bank while doing her job and while clearly identified as a journalist,” said CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Sherif Mansour in Washington, D.C. “We call for an immediate and thorough investigation into her killing. Journalists must be able to do their jobs safely and freely without being a target.”

A producer for Al-Jazeera, Ali al-Samoudi, was also shot and injured while working in the same area; he was treated in a local  hospital and is in stable condition, according to Al-Jazeera English.

In a statement, Qatari-based Al-Jazeera alleged that Israeli forces had targeted Abu Akleh.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett denied those allegations in a statement on Twitter. CNN reported that the Israeli Defense Forces said its forces had been operating in the area “to arrest suspects in terrorist activities,” and that both Palestinian suspects and Israeli forces were firing at the time. Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said in a tweet that Israel offered to conduct a joint investigation into her death with the Palestinians.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides in a Twitter post confirmed that Abu Akleh was an American citizen and called for a thorough investigation into the circumstances of her death.

CPJ emailed the media and North America desks of the Israeli Defense Forces, but did not receive an immediate response.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

On the morning of May 5, Ramírez’s body was found near a dirt road in the northwestern city of Culiacán, wrapped in black plastic and with severe head wounds, according to news reports, a statement by the Sinaloa state prosecutor’s office, which is investigating the case, and prosecutor Sara Bruna Quiñónez Estrada, from that office, who spoke to CPJ in a phone interview.

Ramírez, 59, was a political columnist for the Culiacán newspaper El Debate, a co-founder of the news website Fuentes Fidedignas, and a contributor to national outlets including La Jornada and El Financiero, according to an obituary published by Fuentes Fidedignas.

Quiñónez told CPJ that her office had opened an investigation into the killing and did not rule out any possible motive, including Ramírez’s work as a journalist.

“The shocking death of Luis Enrique Ramírez extends Mexico’s gruesome streak of killings that have made 2022 already one of the nation’s deadliest on record for the press,” said Jan-Albert Hootsen, CPJ’s Mexico representative. “If Mexican authorities want to end this cycle of violence and impunity, they must immediately take credible steps to find Ramírez’s killers and bring them to justice.”

Quiñónez told CPJ that her office was investigating witness reports that a group of people had forced Ramírez into a white vehicle after he left his home at about 3 a.m. on May 5. She said that Ramírez seemingly died of wounds to his head, and did not appear to have been tortured.

In his most recent publications for El Debate, Ramírez covered state and local politics in Sinaloa and Culiacán, including Governor Rubén Rocha, the mayors of Culiacán and Mazatlán, as well as all major political parties in the state congress. As a columnist, he wrote critically about the politicians and parties he covered, including infighting in opposition party PAN and spats between officials.

Most of the articles published on Fuentes Fidedignas in the weeks before Ramírez’s death did not carry a byline, but included coverage of local politics, including press conferences and events held by public officials.

Quiñónez told CPJ that Ramírez had left the state in 2011 for several months due to unspecified threats, but was unable to provide further details, stating that she was not in office at the time and had no knowledge of the matter. She said her office was not aware of any recent threats against Ramírez’s life.

According to CPJ research, at least three journalists have been killed in Mexico this year in direct relation to their work. CPJ is investigating another four killings to determine whether they were related to the victims’ work as journalists.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

On May 1, police officers in the Icchra area of Lahore, the capital of Punjab province, assaulted and detained Hayat, a chief reporter for the privately owned daily newspaper Daily Business, according to a report by his outlet, video of the incident shared on social media, and the journalist, who spoke with CPJ by phone.

Police also detained Hayat’s wife and seven-year-old daughter, and released the family after about 45 minutes, according to those sources.

Hayat told CPJ that he believes the assault and detention were acts of retaliation for his work as a journalist, including his reporting on crime and alleged police malfeasance, which CPJ reviewed.

“Punjab police officers’ assault and detention of Jahangir Hayat, as well as their detention and harassment of his family, underscores the significant dangers that Pakistani journalists face for simply doing their jobs,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna. “Authorities must conduct an immediate and impartial investigation into this incident, hold the perpetrators accountable, and demonstrate that such attacks will not continue with impunity.”

Hayat and his family were walking to their motorcycle when the journalist noticed that speedometer of his motorcycle had broken; he approached a police van nearby for help because he thought it had been vandalized, he said.

Hayat told CPJ that he showed the officers his press card as a form of identification, and the officers then recognized him, cursed at him, and one officer, whom Hayat identified as the station house officer of the Icchra Police Station, said he would “get rid of his journalism.”

Icchra Police Deputy Superintendent Zakaria Yusuf then arrived at the scene and ordered the officers to detain the journalist, Hayat told CPJ, saying the officers hit him in the ribs with their pistols, grabbed his neck, and threw him into a police vehicle, and escorted his wife and daughter into the vehicle as well.

The officers held the family in that vehicle for about 45 minutes and then brought them to the Icchra Police Station, where authorities released them without charge after a group of journalists gathered at the station’s gate, Hayat said.

The journalist sustained injuries to his ribs and neck from the attack, for which he took painkillers, he said, adding that his daughter was traumatized from the incident.

On May 9, Hayat registered complaints with the offices of Lahore Capital City Police Officer Bilal Kamyana, Senior Superintendent of the Lahore Police Operations Mustansar Feroze, and Inspector-General of the Punjab Police Sardar Ali Khan, the journalist said, adding that no action had been taken against the officers involved in his detention and assault.

Kamyana and Khan did not respond to CPJ’s requests for comment sent via messaging app.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

On May 3, journalist Mones Nazarali turned himself in at the police headquarters in the city of Nieuw Nickerie, in Suriname’s Nickerie district, after being summoned by the police following a criminal complaint, according to news reports and Vishmohanie Thomas, president of the Association of Surinamese Journalists, who spoke with CPJ via messaging app and email. Police arrested Nazarali, who was taken before a public prosecutor and charged with several crimes, including defamation, slander, disturbing the public order, and insulting the police, which all carry prison sentences under the criminal code, according to the same sources.

The charges stem from a complaint filed by two high-ranking police officers, including the regional commander, after Nazarali broadcast a report for Actionnieuws Suriname, a news outlet that publishes on Facebook, from outside police headquarters alleging corruption and incompetence in the Nickerie police force, according to the sources.

Nazarali was released on May 5, but the investigation against him continues, according to news reports and Thomas.

“The criminal lawsuit filed by two police officers against journalist Mones Nazarali for reporting on allegations of misconduct by the police force seeks to intimate him and chill any sensitive reporting on the institution,” said CPJ Latin America and the Caribbean Program Coordinator Natalie Southwick, in New York. “The time for Suriname to scrap all of its criminal insult laws from the books is long overdue, and this incident underlines the urgency to do so.”

In his reporting, Nazarali referred to several allegations of police corruption and incompetence, alleging that authorities were targeting poor people instead of going after criminals and dangerous individuals, and that officers were “free shopping” at several supermarkets in the area, according to news reports.

CPJ reached out to the Suriname Police force using the email and phone number posted on its official website, but the call went unanswered, and upon sending the email, CPJ received an automated response saying, “Your message to info@politie.sr has been blocked.”

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

On Saturday, April 16, state security forces arrested al-Bahy, a correspondent for local independent news website Masrawy in the Monufia Governorate in Egypt’s Nile Delta region, from his home in the area, according to news reports and a local journalist and press freedom advocate who is following al-Bahy’s case. The journalist spoke to CPJ via messaging app on condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal.

On Sunday, the prosecutor’s office in Al-Sadat City in Monufia charged al-Bahy with inciting violence and ordered his pretrial detention for four days pending investigation, according to those sources.

Al-Bahy’s arrest stems from his coverage of an April 15 incident in Al-Sadat City, when police officers at the scene of a young man’s killing asked him to stop filming and to not write or publish anything about the case, according to news reports and the local journalist who spoke with CPJ. Al-Bahy complied with that request, but was arrested despite complying.

“It has become the norm that Egyptian authorities shut down journalistic investigations into political and human rights issues and imprison journalists covering them. However, shutting down an investigation into a seemingly non-political incident marks a clear attack against the journalism sector in Egypt as a whole,” said CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Sherif Mansour. “Egyptian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release journalist Ahmed al-Bahy, drop all charges against him, and ensure that journalists can cover issues of local interest freely and without fear of imprisonment.”

Al-Bahy covers social issues and human-interest stories in Monufia for Masrawry, and recently reported on the effects of the rise of gas prices on taxi drivers and the spread of foot-and-mouth disease among cattle, according to CPJ’s review of his work.

CPJ emailed the Egyptian Ministry of Interior, which oversees the police and prison system, for comment, but did not receive any response.

As of December 1, 2021, Egypt was the world’s third-worst jailer of journalists, with at least 25 journalists imprisoned in the country in retaliation for their work, according to CPJ’s most recent prison census.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

On the night of March 18, Abdisalan was riding in a car with freelance journalist Ali Mahdi Jibril and privately owned Saab TV reporter Shafic Mohamed Ibrahim in the capital, Hargeisa, when five men allegedly dragged them out of the car and beat Abdisalan and Ali, according to Ali, who spoke with CPJ via messaging app; media reports that quoted Abdisalan and Shafic; and separate statements by the Human Rights Center (HRC), an advocacy group, as well as the Somaliland Journalists Association and the Somali Journalists Syndicate, two press rights organization. Ali said that he and Abdisalan recognized the men as intelligence officers; the HRC statement said the attackers were members of the Somaliland Intelligence Agency. The men fired several shots during the attack, Ali and Shafic said.

The men focused their assault on Abdisalan, who they accused of writing critically about Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi on Facebook, warning the journalist to “leave our president alone,” according to Ali; Shafic, who also spoke to CPJ via messaging app; and the media reports.

Ali told CPJ that on the evening of April 3, intelligence officers in Hargeisa arrested Abdisalan shortly after he broke his fast for Ramadan at a local restaurant. Ali told CPJ he learned of the April 3 arrest after speaking to an eyewitness. Abdisalan remained detained at an undisclosed location, according to Ali and an April 9 joint statement from the Somali Journalists Syndicate and the Somali Media Association, both based in Mogadishu, which cited an unnamed local human rights defender. Abdisalan is believed to have been detained in retaliation for speaking out about the March 18 attack, according to these same sources and another journalist familiar with the case, who spoke to CPJ on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. CPJ was not able to independently verify the details of Abdisalan’s April 3 arrest at the restaurant, or his current whereabouts in detention.

“It is shocking that security agents in Hargeisa are shooting at and beating up journalists whose Facebook posts they do not like. Authorities should be spending their time investigating this attack, and ensuring justice, rather than throwing a journalist behind bars,” said CPJ sub-Saharan Africa representative Muthoki Mumo. “Authorities in Somaliland should unconditionally release Abdisalan Ahmed Awad and investigate the March 18 attack in which intelligence officers shot at three journalists.”

Abdisalan, who is also known by his nickname “Germany,” publishes original reporting, commentary, and shares news from other outlets on his Facebook page, where he has over 220,000 followers. In the days leading up to the March 18 attack, Abdisalan published several posts of his own and shared other outlets’ reports about President Muse Bihi’s recent visit to the United States and the implications of the visit amid Somaliland’s bid for international recognition of its self-declared sovereignty, according to CPJ’s review of this page.

He also published footage of people allegedly protesting the president’s visit and holding the flag of Somalia, of which Mogadishu is the capital and from which Somaliland broke away in 1991, and alleged that a woman seen in a picture with the president, said to be a U.S. government official, was in fact a hotel IT manager. Several reports have been published on the Facebook page since Abdisalan’s arrest; Ali told CPJ that the page had more than one administrator.  

Ali and Abdisalan were outspoken about the March 18 attack, including in media interviews, Facebook posts, and by speaking to local civil society and press rights groups.  

Ali, who worked as a reporter for a local broadcaster until about a month ago, publishes reporting and commentary on his Facebook page where he has over 76,000 followers, but he told CPJ that he does not believe any of his work precipitated the March 18 attack. However, he added that he is concerned for his safety since Abdisalan’s arrest.

On the night of March 18 in Hargeisa, Abdisalan was riding in a car with Ali and Shafic when two other vehicles ambushed them, according to Ali and those media reports and statements. Ali was driving and told CPJ that the assailants blocked their car from moving forward or backwards.

One shot fired by the assailants went into the vehicle the journalists were driving. Several of the five assailants were kicking and punching Abdisalan all over his body when a second shot went off.

One of the officers also hit Ali on the head with the butt of a pistol and when he ran away, one of the men shot at him. Ali said that the men left the scene of the attack shortly after he escaped. Both Ali and Abdisalan received treatment at a local hospital for minor injuries to their arms and heads.

CPJ’s emails and messages sent via Facebook and Twitter to the office of the Somaliland president, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Information were either unanswered or returned error messages. Phone calls to these ministries either rang without answer or did not connect.

An individual who identified himself as Ministry of Interior official Mohamed Ismail, and who said he was returning one of CPJ’s phone calls, said he would review queries sent via WhatsApp. When CPJ sent those queries on April 7, this individual said he would review the communication as soon as he was at home, but had not responded by publication time.

CPJ phone calls to Somaliland Police Commissioner General Mohamed Adan Saqadhi did not connect, and he did not respond to messages delivered to his WhatsApp. Calls to the head of intelligence Mohamed Salebaan Hasan were unanswered and he did not respond to messages from CPJ requesting comment. 

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

A special court in Obo Prison, in the central city of Mandalay, on Tuesday, April 5, sentenced Win Naing Oo, chief reporter with the local Channel Mandalay TV news station, to five years in prison under Section 52(a) of the Counter Terrorism Law, a provision that outlaws acts of organizing or participating in a terrorist group, knowingly concealing or harboring a terrorist group, or giving permission for a terrorist group to use a building or gather, according to a report by The Irrawaddy and data compiled by local rights group the Assistance Association of Political Prisoners.  

Win Naing Oo was arrested on August 31, 2021, in Mandalay, according to news reports and CPJ research. He was initially charged under Article 505(a) of the penal code, a broad provision that criminalizes “any attempt to cause fear, spread false news or agitate directly or indirectly a criminal offense against a government employee” or that “causes their hatred, disobedience, or disloyalty toward the military and the government.”

“Journalist Win Naing Oo should be released immediately and unconditionally, and allowed to continue his work of reporting the news without fear of reprisal,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “The military regime’s bid to equate journalism with terrorism marks a dark and preposterous turn in its brutal campaign to stifle Myanmar’s free press.”

The 505(a) charge was changed in mid-October to one of terrorism, according to a Myanmar Now report. A defense lawyer cited in The Irrawaddy report said Win Naing Oo has no plans to appeal his conviction, which found that he was involved with a local anti-military People’s Defense Force in Mandalay’s Sint Kaing Township.

Win Naing Oo’s arrest came in the wake of the military’s February 1, 2021, democracy-suspending coup and subsequent protests. The military junta cracked down on Myanmar’s independent media, detaining dozens of journalists. Myanmar is the world’s second-worst jailer of journalists, trailing only China, with at least 26 behind bars at the time of CPJ’s December 1, 2021, prison census.

CPJ messaged Channel Mandalay TV on Facebook for information on Win Naing Oo’s case, but did not receive any response. The Myanmar Ministry of Information did not immediately reply to CPJ’s emailed request for comment.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

One month ago, we spoke with Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, about what to expect for journalists as Russia invaded Ukraine. Now, after a month of fighting, Said speaks on how the situation has changed for journalists covering the war–and what CPJ has been doing to help them.

In a little more than a month of war in Ukraine–and in what remains a fluid situation–how have the risks to journalists shifted?

Russia’s war on Ukraine has been fatal for journalists–five journalists have been killed while on duty since the beginning of the full-scale war on February 24. We investigated several other journalists’ deaths but could not confirm that they were killed while on assignment (they were Ukrainian journalists who enlisted in the army when the invasion started and were killed as soldiers).

We have reported on many incidents of journalists, foreign and local, who have been wounded–some very seriously, requiring multiple surgeries.

The risk of being taken hostage also proves to be a concern. We have already seen many cases of journalists whom Russian forces took hostage. Most have been released but some have not. In one such case, a female journalist, Iryna Dubchenko, was taken hostage in her town of Rozivka, but then forcefully transported to Donetsk, the area in Ukraine’s east that has been controlled by Russia-backed separatists since 2014. That’s a very serious situation because in the past, we worked on a case of a Ukrainian journalist who spent 2.5 years at hands of separatists, and he told CPJ he was tortured and forced to confess to crimes, such as espionage, that he did not commit. We are very concerned about Dubchenko’s plight.

CPJ Executive Director Robert Mahoney referred to the media landscape in Russia as an “information dark age.” What is happening to Russian journalists?

Yes, Russian authorities’ repressive policies have pushed the country into the “information dark age,” as Rob stated. The flagship independent media outlets, such as Ekho of Moscow, Rain TV and Novaya Gazeta have been either closed or suspended their work. Others had their websites blocked in Russia, because the Kremlin decided to put a tight lid on the reporting of the war, banning the use of words like “war” and “invasion.” The authorities adopted new legislation that can penalize any independent reporting on the war with a prison sentence of up to 15 years. Independent Russian journalists have been fleeing Russia in droves. Now, not a day goes by without us receiving a plea for help from Russian journalists in exile.

What is CPJ doing to help?

Since the start of the war, we’ve been helping a range of journalists. First of all, there are Ukrainian journalists still working in Ukraine. They need to stay alive and safe. Many of the requests we receive from local journalists are about the need for personal protective equipment (PPE), specifically for bulletproof vests and helmets.

CPJ is also providing safety information for journalists who are traveling to Ukraine to cover the war – providing them with CPJ resources in multiple languages and answering specific safety questions as they arise.

Then there are the journalists who fled Ukraine. There are Ukrainian journalists among them, but also other groups. For example, since the media crackdown which followed the contested August 2020 presidential elections in Belarus, many journalists have been jailed, but dozens initially fled Belarus and found refuge in Ukraine. When the war broke, they found themselves having to flee once more.

Although all of them are fleeing from the war and destruction, for some non-Ukrainian citizens, going to European countries, or accessing services may be a bigger challenge because of the passports they hold. And of course, we are helping Russian journalists who fled Russia in recent weeks.

For journalists fleeing both countries, we have been responding to requests to help them as they relocate to safety.

Finally, there are journalists of shuttered independent media outlets who remain in Russia. They need help with staying afloat until they find a new job – a challenge likely to grow in the immediate future.

Manuel Duran, journalist who fled El Salvador years ago, granted asylum

Following years of legal battles facing deportation, journalist Manuel Duran Ortega was granted asylum in the United States.

Duran fled to the U.S. in 2006 after receiving death threats for his work as a television reporter in El Salvador, and a year later received a deportation order from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Duran founded the Spanish-language news site Memphis Noticias, and over the years had reported critically on both ICE and the police department in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was based.

Then, in April 2018, he was arrested in Memphis while reporting on a protest against immigration detention despite wearing business attire and a press badge. At the time of his arrest, Kristi Graunke, from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which represented Duran throughout his detention, told CPJ that the legal rights group believed the arrest and subsequent detention were retaliatory for his critical reporting.

Yet even after winning a stay of deportation, Duran remained in custody in Louisiana.

For years, CPJ has provided support to Duran, filing amicus briefs and sending letters of support on his behalf.

“His battle was a long one,” his lawyers told CPJ, “from an immigration judge, to the Board of Immigration Appeals, to the Eleventh Circuit and then back to the Board of Immigration Appeals and a new immigration judge. Along the way, this coalition of amici news organizations stepped in, without fail, to support Manuel by way of extensive and repeated amicus briefing on a wide array of issues. Today, that support, your support, paid off in a way that defies description.”

“This victory is dedicated to all the journalists being persecuted in this moment,” Duran said in a statement provided by SPLC, “because no journalist should have to fear to do their job.”

Must-reads

Earlier this month, CPJ joined 57 other civil society groups in calling for the U.S. Congress to reauthorize and strengthen the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, which could be used to apply sanctions on human rights abusers, including those responsible for “the grim horrors unleashed on the civilian population” in Ukraine.

CPJ’s former executive director, Ann Cooper, who was also NPR’s Moscow bureau chief in the early 90s, takes a close look at Vladimir Putin’s 22-year fight against media freedom in Russia–all the way back to a quarter-century old CPJ report which showed “ominous signs that independent journalism faces a bleak future under the Putin regime.”

CPJ spoke with 4 journalists covering the war in Ukraine about the physical and emotional toll their work can take. “I had so many different internal reactions,” says Oleksandr Ratushnyak, a Ukrainian freelance photographer, “…panic, fear, danger, [the need for] security and protection, pain, anger, love. War exacerbates many feelings.”

CPJ in the news

“Ethiopia urged to uphold press freedom and release reporter,” ABC News

“For journalists, Ukraine is a WhatsApp war,” Columbia Journalism Review

“Rights watchdog condemns Taliban for detaining journalists,” Arab News

“Russia’s Novaya Gazeta Suspends Publication After Warnings,” VOA News

“Rival Networks Aided Fox News After Ukraine Tragedy, Highlighting War-Zone Collaboration,” The Wall Street Journal

“Russian Journalist Flees Country Amid Pressure From Officials,” RFE/RL

“ICE Is Creating A New Policy For Subpoenaing Reporters After Trying To Force BuzzFeed News To Turn Over Information,” BuzzFeed News

“For Iranian journalist Mohammad Mosaed, exile was a last resort, but silence is not an option,” The Globe and Mail

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

On March 25, Russian forces shelled a civilian convoy in the northern region of Chernihiv, injuring Andriy Tsaplienko, a reporter with the Ukrainian TV broadcaster 1+1, according to media reports and a statement by his outlet.

The following day, Oleksandr Navrotskyi, a camera operator for the Ukrainian broadcaster Channel 24, was injured in a Russian shelling attack on the village of Lukyanovka, in the Kyiv region, according to media reports and the journalists’ colleagues, who spoke with CPJ.

Also on March 26, Russian forces detained journalist Iryna Dubchenko in the southeast city of Rozivka, and took her to the Russia-backed separatist-controlled city of Donetsk, according to media reports and posts on social media shared by the journalist’s friends.

“Russia-backed forces must release journalist Iryna Dubchenko immediately, and Russia must ensure that members of the Ukrainian press are not targeted in the war,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, in New York. “Journalists are civilians under international humanitarian law, and Russian and Ukrainian authorities should ensure their protection in conflict areas.”

Andriy Tsaplienko injured in shelling

On March 25, Russian forces in Chernihiv shelled a convoy of evacuating civilians and injured Tsaplienko, who was filming the evacuation, according to news reports, an Instagram post by Tsaplienko’s colleague Dmitry Komarov, and a statement by his outlet.

Tsaplienko sustained a minor injury to his thigh and was treated at a local hospital, according to those sources.

Komarov wrote in his post that, because of the humanitarian nature of the evacuation, the convoy was “a place where shelling is not allowed by all the written and unwritten rules.”

Journalists with the Turkish broadcaster TRT World were also present during the shelling and were not injured, according to those reports. Tsaplienko has covered the war in Ukraine and has extensively covered wars throughout the world, according to reports.

Oleksandr Navrotskyi injured in shelling

On March 26, Russian forces shelled the village of Lukyanovka, injuring Navrotskyi, according to media reports, a statement by his employer, and Channel 24 executive producer Bohdan Tugushi, who spoke to CPJ in a phone interview.

Navrotskyi was filming while being escorted by Ukrainian military when he was struck in the knee by shrapnel produced by a Russian rocket strike, according to those sources.

Tugushi told CPJ that, as of Tuesday, Navrotskyi had undergone three operations.

“Doctors say they cannot affirm whether he will be able to walk again, because the knee injury is very serious,” Tugushi told CPJ, adding that the doctors said he needed to undergo at least two more operations.

Tugushi told CPJ that Navrotskyi had worked for Channel 24 for seven years, and had experience covering war. Volodymyr Sydko, a reporter for the Ukrainian TV broadcaster NTN, told CPJ via messaging app that he had been working with Navrotskyi on documentary film projects covering Russia’s invasion since 2014.

Iryna Dubchenko detained by Russian forces

On March 26, Russian forces detained Dubchenko and took her to Donetsk, according to media reports, a report by the Ukrainian National Union of Journalists, and social media posts by the journalist’s sister Oleksandra Dubchenko and 1+1 correspondent Yakiv Noskov, who first reported her detention.

On March 28, the Ukrainian military commandant’s office in Rozivka told Dubchenko’s family that the journalist had disappeared two days before and was taken to Donetsk, according to those sources.

When Russian soldiers searched her home on March 26, they said they “knew everything about [Dubchenko’s] journalistic activities,” her sister told the journalists’ union. Dubchenko has worked for Ukrainian outlets including the news website Depo.Zaporizhzhia, newspaper Subota, and the UNIAN news agency, according to those media reports. Her sister said she had worked throughout the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Oleksandra Dubchenko told CPJ via messaging app that her sister called her on March 26, saying that Russian forces tried to search her house and told here to stay home. 

During the search, Russian forces accused Dubchenko of hiding a wounded Ukrainian soldier at her home and took her to Donetsk for an “investigative action,” according to her sister’s video and Noskov’s post.

CPJ was not able to independently verify the reason Dubchenko was detained.

Prior to her detention, Dubchenko told her sister on March 26 that Russian forces had occupied Rozivka and that a local resident had told those forces that Dubchenko had been involved in volunteer work and journalism, Oleksandra Dubchenko said in that video. Oleksandra said she then lost contact with her sister.

On March 29, the Ukrainian military administration of the Zaporizhzhia region, which includes Rozivka, confirmed the journalist’s abduction and said that “response measures are being taken.” CPJ emailed the Zaporizhzhia military administration for comment but did not receive any response.

CPJ is also investigating Russian forces’ alleged abduction of journalist Konstantin Ovsyannikov in the southeast city of Prymorsk on March 26. Multiple civil society groups in the area posted on social media that Ovsyannikov had been detained; those groups and unidentified people posted later that day saying he had been released.

Ovsyannikov recently covered Ukrainians’ protests against the Russian occupation in Prymorsk, according to reports.

CPJ emailed Russian and Ukrainian Ministries of Defense, as well as the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic for comment but did not receive any replies.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

After Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Ukrainian journalists covered the war in the face of missile and rocket attacks and their Russian counterparts faced harsh crackdowns on their reporting of the conflict.

CPJ has compiled a weekly timeline of the war’s impact on journalists and independent media outlets in the region. For CPJ’s full coverage, including safety advice for journalists, click here.

February 28 – March 7, 2022

Journalists attacked, injured, killed while working in Ukraine

• RFE/RL Ukrainian Service journalist Maryan Kushnir,  who was embedded with the Ukrainian troops, suffered a concussion during a Russian attack on Ukrainian forces in the town of Baryshivka, east of Kyiv, early March 11.

• On March 6, Russian troops shot at and robbed freelance Swiss journalist Guillaume Briquet near the village of Vodyano-Lorino, in southern Ukraine’s Nikolaev region, according to media reports, a photo the journalist posted on Facebook, and an interview he gave to French TV station BFM TV.

• Ukrainian camera operator Yevhenii Sakun was killed in the Russian shelling of Kyiv’s television tower on March 1.

• On February 28, Russian soldiers fired on a team from the British broadcaster Sky News near the village of Stoyanka, in the Kyiv region. The soldiers shot chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay in the lower back, as well as camera operator Richie Mockler, who was hit twice in his body armor; Ramsay was recuperating from his injuries and his life was not in danger.

• For more details on these and other attacks, see CPJ’s news alerts here and here.

Russia tightens restrictions on journalists, news outlets

• Russia’s State Duma, the lower house of parliament, on March 10 approved the creation of a unified registry of individuals labeled as “foreign agents.” Previously, the Ministry of Justice kept two “foreign agent” registers: one for public associations and the other for mass media groups. The new legislation would create a third registry that could include current and former employees of foreign media outlets, their funders, and employees of domestic groups that receive foreign funding. The bill will be enacted if approved by the upper house of parliament and signed into law by the president.

• On March 4, President Vladimir Putin signed into law a bill imposing prison sentences of up to 15 years for spreading “fake” news about the Ukraine war.   The new law prompted several international news outlets to temporarily suspend work in Russia or pull their news staff from the country, including the BBC, CNN, Bloomberg, German public broadcasters ARD and ZDF, Italian state broadcaster RAI, Spanish news agency EFE, and The New York Times. Some later resumed operations.

• According to a 17-newsroom survey conducted by Russian independent journalism project Agentstvo,  published March 7, at least 150 journalists left Russia after the beginning of the war in Ukraine.

Russian authorities detain journalists covering anti-war protests

• More than 5,000 people were detained on March 6 at Russian anti-war protests, including at least 14 journalists, according to news reports and CPJ coverage. Numerous journalists were detained, and some were charged, at protests the previous weekend, as CPJ documented.

Russia blocks news websites and social media

• Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor blocked more than 20 news websites on March 6, including regional and Ukrainian sites. This was in addition to numerous Russian and foreign-based sites, as well as Twitter and Facebook, that were blocked the previous week, as CPJ documented.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

Ilham Aliyev
President of Azerbaijan

Sent via email: office@pa.gov.az

Dear President Aliyev,

We at the Committee to Protect Journalists, an independent non-governmental organization advocating for press freedom worldwide, write to share our concerns about growing threats to press freedom and the safety of journalists in Azerbaijan, and urge you to take immediate steps to reverse this trend.

On February 8, you ratified the law “On Media,” which dramatically increases the grounds on which news outlets can be shuttered and blocked and establishes a restrictive state-maintained registry of recognized media, among other measures. The law is riddled with ambiguities and onerous requirements, and appears deliberately calculated to target the last remaining bastions of free media covering the country. We call on you to recognize the widespread opposition to the law among the independent media community in Azerbaijan and take measures to repeal it and ensure that it is never used against members of the press.

We are also concerned about the plight of journalists Polad Aslanov and Afgan Sadygov, who are currently imprisoned in direct retaliation for their journalism.

Aslanov, chief editor of the independent news websites Xeberman and Press-az, has been imprisoned since June 2019 on retaliatory charges of treason. In November 2020, he was sentenced to 16 years in prison on these charges. Aslanov suffers from a pre-existing chronic heart condition and his health has further deteriorated during his incarceration. Despite prolonged serious dental problems, rheumatism, and other ailments, prison authorities have repeatedly either denied him medical care or provided him with care that is inadequate. Aslanov has undertaken four separate hunger strikes to protest his unjust sentence and mistreatment by prison authorities, despite already suffering from low weight. During his most recent hunger strike this January, his weight dropped to just 40 kilograms (88 pounds) and doctors warned him that he risked incurring permanent physical damage.

The Supreme Court hearing for Aslanov’s appeal is set for February 24. This date marks a good opportunity for Azerbaijani authorities to correct the injustice and finally drop the charges against Aslanov immediately and unconditionally.

Sadygov, chief editor of independent news website Azel.tv, has been imprisoned since May 2020 on charges of extortion. Following his sentencing to seven years in prison later that year, Sadygov began a 241-day hunger strike, which he ended only when the Supreme Court reduced his sentence to four years last July. During the hunger strike, Sadygov developed serious problems with his kidneys and lungs and lost 47 kilograms (104 pounds), at one point briefly falling into a coma. For the past seven months, Sadygov has undergone treatment in a penitentiary service hospital for lung problems contracted during the strike.

As president, you have immense power to direct the course of press freedom and human rights in Azerbaijan. We call on you to repeal the “On Media” law and ensure that Azerbaijani authorities release Aslanov and Sadygov, and allow them and all other journalists in Azerbaijan to work freely and safely. 

We appreciate your consideration of this matter to ensure press freedom and journalists’ safety in the country and look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Robert Mahoney
Executive Director
Committee to Protect Journalists

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that the attack was discovered on January 20, and affected the paper, along with its parent company Dow Jones; the New York Post; News Corp’s operations in the United Kingdom; and the conglomerate’s headquarters in the United States.

A vice president at Mandiant, the cybersecurity firm hired by News Corp to investigate the attack, said the attack has “a China nexus” and that the hackers were “likely involved in espionage activities to collect intelligence to benefit China’s interests,” The Wall Street Journal reported. According to the Journal, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., said that China was firmly opposed to cyberattacks “in all forms.”

“We are greatly concerned by the recent hacking of News Corp and its publications, which compromise journalists’ ability to protect their unreported source material,” said CPJ U.S. and Canada Program Coordinator Katherine Jacobsen. “We urge Chinese authorities to conduct a thorough investigation into the origins of this hack so that it can lend credence to its denials that is behind years of cyberattacks on media outlets.”   

“We are committed to protecting our journalists and sources. We will not be deterred from our purpose—to provide uniquely trusted journalism and analysis,” said Almar Latour, chief executive of Dow Jones and publisher of The Wall Street Journal, according to the Journal article, citing a News Corp staff memo.

CPJ has documented China’s history of employing cyberattacks against journalists and outlets as a way to deter and curtail critical coverage.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.

The Criminal Procedure and Evidence (Controlled Investigation) Bill was published in the government gazette on January 12, according to a press release by local media groups condemning the bill and media reports. Spencer Mogapi, a newspaper editor and chair of the Botswana Editors Forum, which collaborated on the press release, told CPJ by phone on Friday, January 28, that the bill could be expedited through parliament and signed into law by President Mokgweetsi Masisi this week. CPJ reviewed a copy of the bill shared by Tefo Phatshwane, the director of the Botswana chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA).

The bill would grant investigators the power to intercept communications without a warrant for up to 14 days if authorized by the head of an investigatory authority to probe offenses or prevent them from being committed, according to CPJ’s review of the bill. CPJ has documented the arrest and prosecution of journalists in Botswana, and local police’s use of digital forensics tools in 2019 and 2020 to extract thousands of files from journalists’ devices, including communications and contacts, in efforts to identify sources of their reporting.

Companies that facilitate communication could see their directors imprisoned for up to 10 years if they fail to install hardware or software to enable interception; anyone that does not provide decryption keys so authorities can access encrypted information could be jailed for up to six years.

“Botswana’s parliament should scrap the controlled investigation bill, which threatens journalists’ ability to communicate privately with sources,” said Angela Quintal, CPJ’s Africa program coordinator. “Authorities should implement laws that protect journalists’ privacy and safety, not expose them to surveillance without oversight.”

Jovial Rantao, chairperson of regional press association The African Editors Forum, described the bill in a statement as the “worst piece of legislation to have emerged in Botswana, the Southern African region and the rest of the continent in recent history.” The Southern Africa Editors’ Forum expressed similar alarm over the bill.

Reached by phone and messaging app on Friday, Batlhalefi Leagajang, Masisi’s press secretary, told CPJ the bill was “not under the ambit of the presidency” and the president would allow the parliamentary process to proceed before acting.

Botswana government spokesperson John-Thomas Dipowe acknowledged CPJ’s emailed questions about the bill on Friday, January 28, but did not respond before publication.

According to social media posts related to the bill on January 27, Botswana’s minister of defence, justice and security, Kagiso Thomas Mmusi, said there was a need to have a law that could plug legal and security gaps relating to issues of money laundering and financing of terrorism.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.