Washington, D.C., February 20, 2024—As the two-day hearing of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange’s appeal against extradition from Britain to the United States opened in London on Tuesday, the Committee to Protect Journalists warned that extraditing Assange would set a dangerous precedent for media freedom.
“Assange’s lengthy legal battle could come to an end if the U.S. Justice Department halted its dogged attempts to extradite the Wikileaks founder and dropped all charges against him,” said CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg in New York. “Assange’s prosecution in the U.S. would have disastrous implications for press freedom both in the U.S. and globally.”
The group’s Information and Help Center is “a one-stop shop primarily aimed at legal practitioners defending individuals from extraditions to China,” but also contains information for use by government officials and journalists, according to its website.
Launched on Feb. 13, the resource center offers help in all six United Nations languages based on the group’s experience in countering extraditions and deportations to China, including appeals to district, appeal and Supreme court level, as well as input from academics specializing in the Chinese criminal justice system.
The group claims a 100% success rate in assisting to block extraditions and deportations in cases it has been directly involved in.
Uyghurs demand news about their relatives and express concern about the ratification of an extradition treaty between China and Turkey, during a demonstration in Istanbul, Feb. 26, 2021. (Yasin Akgul/AFP)
“This new help center is a potential game changer, as it makes incredibly detailed information about China, in particular as it relates specifically to extradition issues, available, for free, in a variety of languages, for all legal counsel as well as the targets themselves,” the group said in a statement launching the center.
Such information was previously only available to people with the means to hire specialized lawyers, it said.
It called on all jurisdictions to end extraditions to China, an issue which sparked a mass popular uprising in Hong Kong in 2019.
“Considering the state of the Chinese criminal justice system, extradition requests should fail when tested against international legal commitments,” Safeguard Defenders said. “Whenever they are approved, those very norms and institutions are weakened. To protect the Rule of Law, extraditions to China must end.”
It added: “It should be up to China to improve its commitment to legally binding minimum standards if it wants the benefits of extradition cooperation, not for the rest of the world to lower theirs.”
China’s extradition treaties
Ma Ju, a Chinese Muslim scholar living in the United States, said China has long made use of international legal mechanisms to pursue dissidents overseas.
“The former president of Interpol was previously the vice minister of public security,” Ma said. “During that period … China took advantage of certain agreements between international organizations to carry out their transnational repression.”
“They have kept a slightly lower profile in the past couple of years, but they haven’t slowed their pace,” he said.
State media reported recently that China now has 60 extradition treaties with foreign jurisdictions across Europe, Africa, Australia, and North and South America, some 40% of which were concluded after ruling Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping took power in 2012.
Since 2012, the country has successfully extradited more than 400 people, according to a China News Service report citing Ma Xinmin, Director of the Treaty and Law Department at the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
One of two activists (L), traveling with Chinese rights lawyer Lu Siwei (R) argues with police who were in the process of detaining Lu, near the Thanaleng dry port, south of Vientiane, Laos, July 28, 2023. Police later deported Lu to China. (Anonymous source via AP)
He welcomed the Safeguard Defenders help center, saying it was sorely needed.
“A lot of countries, including those in Europe and the United States, aren’t yet fully aware of the many facets of China’s transnational repression, or its use of extradition and other methods to target dissidents and ethnic or sexual minorities, any opponents,” Ma said.
“The agreements it has signed still serve the needs of the authoritarian and dictatorial Chinese government.”
Chinese rights attorney Lu Siwei was repatriated to China last September after being arrested in Laos en route to join his family in the United States, along with dozens of other Chinese nationals, activists and relatives said at the time.
U.S.-based rights lawyer Wu Shaoping said the effectiveness of the information center had yet to be tested in practice, but said it would be a “blessing” for anyone being persecuted by China while in another country.
“At least people will be able to provide them with more professional services to prevent them from being extradited by Beijing,” Wu said. “It gives many people threatened with extradition an extra layer of protection.”
Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Roseanne Gerin.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Jing Wei for RFA Mandarin.
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New York, February 16, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists urges Russian authorities to reconsider designating international freedom of expression group Article 19 as “undesirable” and cease using the country’s “undesirable” law to intimidate organizations that report on press freedom violations in the country.
On January 23, the Russian general prosecutor’s office outlawed Article 19 by designating it an undesirable organization, according to the register of “undesirable” organizations published by the Russian Ministry of Justice and a Thursday statement by Article 19.
The Ministry of Justice added Article 19 to its register on February 8, and local mediareported about thedesignation on February 12.
Organizations that receive the undesirable classification are banned from operating in Russia, and anyone who participates in them or works to organize their activities faces up to six years in prison and administrative fines. The designation also makes it a crime to distribute the outlet’s content or donate to it from inside or outside Russia.
“CPJ stands with Article 19 and condemns its designation as an ‘undesirable organization’—a decision which only underscores how much Russian authorities fear being held to account for their repeated and long-standing violations of press freedom,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. “Authorities should immediately repeal the legislation on undesirable organizations instead of using it to stifle information they deem uncomfortable.”
Founded in 1987, Article 19 defends freedom of speech and information around the world. It is named after Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that “everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression.”
“The new designation for Article 19 means that any Russian who dares to hold a relationship with us, through partnership or programme work, or access materials we produce through media and the internet, is considered a threat to national security,” the organization said in its statement.
Washington D.C., February 16, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists expressed concern on Friday about Israeli governmentplans to make it illegal to publish leaked details from security cabinet meetings without approval from the military censor, saying this restriction would severely damage press freedom.
“We urge Israel to drop this plan and ensure that the media can report freely. The Israeli government must not hide information about its conduct in the Israel-Gaza war,” said CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Sherif Mansour. “We need press freedom in time of war and in time of peace. It is our firewall for democracy and our antidote to the fog of war. Censorship must end both in Israel and Gaza.”
CPJ has documented numerous cases of censorship, threats, and intimidation against Israeli and Palestinian journalists since the start of the war.
Israeli forces have killed an unprecedented number of journalists since October 7, refused to give any guarantees to international news organizations regarding the safety of their employees in Gaza, and only allow foreign media to enter Gaza on escorted military tours provided they agree to submit pre-publication coverage for military approval. In January, the Israeli Supreme Court rejected a petition by the Foreign Press Association for military authorities to allow foreign journalists to report inside Gaza.
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Abuja, February 2, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes Thursday’s release on bail of Nigerian journalist Saint Mienpamo Onitsha and calls for authorities to drop all charges against him and reform the country’s laws to ensure journalism is not criminalized.
“Saint Mienpamo Onitsha was detained for nearly four months simply for doing his job, which should never be considered a crime,” said CPJ Africa Head Angela Quintal in New York. “While we welcome Thursday’s release of Onitsha, we repeat our call for Nigerian authorities to swiftly drop all charges against him and reform the country’s laws to ensure journalists do not continue to be jailed for their reporting.”
In October 2023, police arrested Ontisha, founder of the privately owned online broadcaster NAIJA Live TV, and charged him with cyberstalking under section 24 of Nigeria’s Cybercrimes Act and defamation under the criminal code. The charge sheet cited a September report about tensions in the southern Niger Delta region.
On December 4, a court in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, heard Onitsha’s bail application and on January 25 the court granted him bail with a condition that he provides two sureties—persons willing to take responsibility for any court decisions made if Onitsha fails to meet bail obligations—with a bond of 10 million naira (US$8,372), according to copies of the court ruling, reviewed by CPJ, and Onitsha’s lawyer, Anande Terungwa, who spoke by phone with CPJ.
The court also ordered the residence of the sureties must be verified by the court registrar and that the sureties must submit documents proving they own a landed property in Abuja, as well as their recent passport photographs, according to those same sources.
Onitsha’s next court date is March 19. If convicted, he faces a 25 million naira (US$20,930) fine and/or up to 10 years in jail on the cyberstalking charges—as well as potential imprisonment for two years for charges of defamation and the publication of defamatory matter under the Criminal Code Act, according to Terungwa and a copy of the charge sheet reviewed by CPJ.
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Onitsha appeared in CPJ’s 2023 prison census, which documented at least 67 journalists jailed across Africa as of December 1.
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Istanbul, January 25, 2024 – The Committee to Protect Journalists on Thursday called on Turkish authorities to ensure justice in the case of journalist Sinan Aygül, who was hospitalized by an assault last year.
The 1st Tatvan Court of First Instance in the eastern province of Bitlis found Aygül, chief editor of the privately owned local news website Bitlis News and chair of the local trade group Bitlis Journalists Society, guilty of “insulting” two men who attacked him in June 2023 and sentenced the journalist to two months and five days in prison on Wednesday. The 2nd Tatvan Court of Serious Crimes imposed suspended sentences on the two on Thursday, according to local news reports. The attackers, Yücel Baysal and Engin Kaplan, both bodyguards for Tatvan Mayor Mehmet Emin Geylani of the ruling Justice and Development Party, were released from jail pending trial in September. The mayor has denied involvement in the attack.
“Yesterday, a court in Turkey sentenced journalist Sinan Aygül to prison time for allegedly insulting the men who assaulted and hospitalized him last year. Today, another court let these two men walk free with suspended sentences. This is beyond impunity; this is criminalizing the victim,” said Özgür Öğret, CPJ’s Turkey representative, on Thursday. “Turkish authorities should stop impunity for physical attacks on journalists and ensure justice is done for Aygül, who is the real victim here.”
According to the local news reports, Baysali, who beat the journalist in an attack recorded on camera, and Kaplan, who blocked people trying to stop the beating, were both found guilty of “intentional injury” and each sentenced to 17 months and 15 days in prison. Kaplan was also found guilty of “threatening [someone] with a gun” on two counts and was sentenced to 20 months for each. Under Turkish law, the execution of all the sentences were suspended and will be dropped unless the defendants commit other crimes in the next five years.
Aygül told CPJ by phone after Thursday’s hearing that he was shocked and concerned about the outcome. “This verdict is a threat to our security of life. I’m speaking openly: we have no security of life because the killers now know that they won’t be punished when we are killed,” he said.
Aygül’s lawyers plan to file separate appeals against his conviction and the sentences imposed on his attackers, but they are not hopeful that the appeals will succeed, he told CPJ.
CPJ emailed the Bitlis chief prosecutor’s office but didn’t receive any reply.
CPJ was unable to contact the legal representatives for Baysal and Kaplan.
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