Harvard has decided that they will NOT be removing the Sackler name from several of their buildings, even after years of pressure from the families of victims of the opioid crisis. Other universities and museums didn’t hesitate to remove the Sackler name, but Harvard has decided that they simply don’t care. Mike Papantonio & Farron Cousins discuss more. Transcript: […]
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg pledged earlier this year that his platforms would do a better job protecting children. But it turns out that never happened, because both Facebook and Instagram have been allowing advertisements for illegal drugs to be placed on their platforms. Mike Papantonio & Farron Cousins discuss more. Transcript: *This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription […]
New York, August 23, 2024— The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned about a new law, to be enforced by the Taliban’s morality police, which bans journalists from publishing or broadcasting content that they believe violates Sharia law or insults Muslims.
“The Law for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice grants the Taliban’s notorious morality police extensive powers to further restrict Afghanistan’s already decimated media community,” said CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Beh Lih Yi. “This law marks yet another appalling blow to press freedom in Afghanistan, where the morality police has worsened a crackdown on journalists and fundamental human rights for the past three years.”
Article 17 details the restrictions on the media, including a ban on publishing or broadcasting images of living people and animals, which the Taliban regards as unIslamic. Other sections order women to cover their bodies and faces and travel with a male guardian, while men are not allowed to shave their beards. The punishment for breaking the law is up to three days in prison or a penalty “considered appropriate by the public prosecutor.”
In its annual report this month, Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice said, without providing details, that it had “successfully implemented 90% of reforms across audio, visual, and print media” and arrested 13,000 people for “immoral acts.” Several journalists were among those detained.
Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid did not respond to CPJ’s request for comment via messaging app.
America’s Lawyer E111: Meta is once again in trouble after it was revealed that they are allowing ads for illicit drugs on both Facebook and Instagram, and now lawmakers want answers about how this was allowed to happen. President Biden gave a moving speech to the Democratic Convention this week, but reports say that he […]
Lusaka, August 21, 2024—Zambian journalist Thomas Allan Zgambo is facing up to seven years in prisonfor his reporting on corruption and poor governance in the southern African nation. It is at least the third time that Zgambo has risked imprisonment for his online journalism, a growing threat for journalists in many African countries.
On August 6, Zgambo was arrested on allegations of publishing seditious material, which under Zambian law includes content advocating for the overthrow of the government or raising “disaffection” among the public, for his July 28 commentary on the Facebook page of the online news outlet Zambian Whistleblower, which called on the government to be transparent about any links between a property it had rented and President Hakainde Hichilema.
Zgambo told CPJ that the police detained him in a cell until August 8 in a bid to get him to reveal his sources. “That is why they held me there for two nights. They just wanted to punish me,” said the journalist, who is due back in court on August 22.
“President Hakainde Hichilema’s promises to ensure media freedom in Zambia ring hollow after a journalist who criticized him was arrested and charged with an offense that carries a lengthy prison term,” said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Muthoki Mumo, in Nairobi. “Zambian authorities must immediately drop all legal proceedings against Thomas Allan Zgambo. In addition, Zambia should scrap laws that criminalize the work of the press.”
In 2023, Zgambo became thefirst Zambian journalist to appear in the census in seven years. He was arrested on November 28 over his Zambian Whistleblowerreport that the Zambia National Service, an arm of the defense force, was importing “substandard” genetically modified maize from South Africa without informing consumers of any potential harm.
Zgambo was freed on bail on the morning of December 1, 2023, and is due back in court for a hearing on this case on August 27.
Zgambo is no stranger to the Zambian courts. He was first charged with sedition in 2013 after documents about the then-President Michael Sata were found in his home. Zgambo told CPJ that he was released on police bond but never received a date to appear in court. Satadied in 2014.
Zambia’s State House spokesperson Clayson Hamasaka referred CPJ’s request for comment to the police. Police spokesperson Rae Hamoonga did not respond to CPJ’s calls and text messages requesting comment.
More than 50 members of Congress in the last 18 months have been caught violating the STOCK Act – with three violators caught in just the last week. For years we’ve seen members of Congress violate the law, but not a single one of them has ever faced any real consequences. Mike Papantonio & Farron Cousins discuss more. Transcript: […]
Dakar, August 20, 2024—Cameroonian journalist Samuel Bondjock has had to appear in court more than 30 times in almost 30 months to face criminal defamation charges that could put him in jail — even though the country’s media regulator dismissed the complaint against him in 2022.
His next appearance in the capital Yaounde is scheduled for August 27, but Bondjock has little hope there will be any resolution in what is seen as a classic example of a SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) — a vexatious type of lawsuit increasingly used against those who express critical opinions.
These suits frequently invoke criminal defamation laws to punish and censor journalists. In Cameroon, Bondjock — the publishing director of the privately owned online news siteDirect Info — is the country’s latest journalist to be accused of defaming influential figures such as football stars,writers, governmentofficials, lawmakers, pastors, and the politicallyconnected.
“Authorities must end the legal harassment and weaponization of Cameroon’s judicial system against Samuel Bondjock, especially as the country’s media regulator has already exonerated him,” said Angela Quintal, head of CPJ’s Africa program, in New York. “Cameroon should follow the examples of severalotherAfrican states to decriminalize defamation, in line with a 2010 resolution of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and must ensure that SLAPP lawsuits are not used to censor the press.”
In March 2022, Ahmadou Sardaouna, the managing director of the state-run Cameroon Real Estate Company (SIC), filed criminal complaints against Bondjock for “impugning his honor” in two articles published in December 2021 and February 2022, according to CPJ’s review of thecomplaints and newsreports.
Four months later, Sardaouna also lodged a complaint with Cameroon’s National Communication Council (NCC) for “unsubstantiated accusations likely to damage his image.” The media regulator ruled in Bondjock’s favor, saying his journalism had met “professional requirements of investigation and cross-checking,” according to a copy of its July 29, 2022, decision, reviewed by CPJ.
Bondjock told CPJ that he has little hope that his trial will begin this month because Sardaouna’s absence led to repeated postponements of previous hearings “The plaintiff is doing nothing but delaying tactics to prolong this trial in order to exhaust me financially, morally, and even professionally, by wasting my time. My lawyer defends me despite many unpaid fees,” he said.
Joseph Jules Nkana, Sardaouna’s lawyer, told CPJ that his client had not refused to attend previous hearings and that mediation was undertaken by “Bondjock’s colleagues.” However, the journalist had refused to meet to conclude an agreement, Nkana said.
François Mboke, president of the Cameroon network of press outlet owners, who initiated mediation in 2022 to stop the prosecution, told CPJ that it had not been successful.
Bondjock told CPJ there was no reason for him to try to seek an agreement with Sardaouna, as the NCC had ruled in his favor.
Under Cameroon’s penal code, defamation is punishable by a prison sentence of six days to six months and a fine of up to 2 million CFA francs (US$3,330).
In a joint 2023 submission to the U.N. Human Rights Council scrutinizing Cameroon’s human rights record, CPJ and other rights groups noted at least four cases of arrest and conviction for defamation between 2019 and 2022, including against Martinez Zogo, who was killed in 2023.
Other sub-Saharan countries that have criminalized defamation include Nigeria, Angola, Togo, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In June 2024, Nigerreinstated prison sentences for defamation and insult that had been replaced by fines two years earlier.
Denis Omgba Bomba, director of the media observatory at Cameroon’s Ministry of Communication, did not respond to CPJ’s request for comment on Bondjock’s case via messaging app.
Berlin, August 19, 2024 – The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a decision by Russian authorities to open a criminal case against Italian journalists Stefania Battistini and Simone Traini for alleged illegal border crossing from Ukraine into Russia.
“Trying to put Italian journalists Stefania Battistini and Simone Traini on trial seems to be a desperate attempt by Russian authorities to intimidate and silence international journalists covering the Russian-Ukraine war,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator, in New York. “Russian officials must stop their harassment of journalists and respect the essential role of the press in conflict zones.”
The decision to launch a criminal probe follows the two journalists’ reporting on a Ukrainian military offensive into Russian’s southern Kursk region that began August 6. Reporting from the town of Sudzha, Battistini, a correspondent for Italian public broadcaster RAI and Traini, RAI’s camera operator, were shown in a Ukrainian military vehicle as they spoke with residents and looked at damaged houses and cars. The report marked the first foreign media report from the affected area.
In remarks to the state broadcaster Rossiya-24, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova alleged that facts were “entirely rewritten” in Battistini and Traini’s reporting. “Turning everything upside down – black was called white, and white was called black,” Zakharova said and added that law enforcement agencies would further investigate the matter.
After the Russian Foreign Ministry summoned Italy’s ambassador on August 16 over the border crossing, Battistini and Traini left Russia on August 18 to temporarily return to Italy, according to reports and their employer RAI who said the reason was “exclusively to guarantee safety and personal protection” of the two journalists.
CPJ sent emails to Battistini, and Russia’s Foreign Ministry requesting comment but has not received a response.
Editor’s note: The date of this Ukrainian military offensive has been updated.
A federal judge recently ruled that Google was operating an illegal monopoly by forcing its search engine on internet users. But that’s just the first part of the case – the courts will now have to decide what punishment to hand down. Mike Papantonio & Farron Cousins discuss more. Transcript: *This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software […]
America’s Lawyer E110: Donald Trump’s campaign was recently hacked, and now cyber security experts are warning that even more hacks could happen before the election. A federal judge recently ruled that Google was operating an illegal monopoly – and the punishment could include breaking up the tech giant into smaller pieces. And the Democratic convention […]
New Delhi, August 15, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the Indian government to ensure proper consultation with media publishers before enacting a broadcast regulation bill that journalists fear will give authorities sweeping powers to control online content.
“India’s planned broadcast bill could have a chilling effect on press freedom,” CPJ’s Asia Program Coordinator Beh Lih Yi said on Thursday. “We are extremely concerned by the opacity surrounding the proposed law and its enactment process, and urge the Indian authorities to be transparent to ensure the bill is not tantamount to online censorship.”
They would also have to set up internal vetting committees at their own expense to approve content before it is posted online. Failure to comply could result in imprisonment and fines.
The provisions in the bill came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party lost support in a national election earlier this year – a development that supporters blamed partly on social media influencers for boosting the opposition’s chances.
Following criticism, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said on X, formerly Twitter, that a fresh draft bill will be published and it would extend the deadline for stakeholder comments until October 15, 2024.
The ministry did not respond to CPJ’s emailed requests for comment.
Bangkok, August 15, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the sentencing of Nguyen Chi Tuyen, one of Vietnam’s best-known civil society activists and YouTubers, to five years in prison for his news reporting and calls for his immediate and unconditional release.
A court in the capital Hanoi ruled that Nguyen, who has been in detention since he was arrested at home in February, had violated Article 117 of the penal code, a broad provision that prohibits making, storing, or disseminating information against the state. Tuyen’s lawyer, Nguyen Ha Luan, said he would consider appealing the conviction.
“Nguyen Chi Tuyen’s sentencing is the latest outrage against Vietnam’s free press and should be promptly reversed,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “Vietnam’s unrelenting campaign to silence journalists must stop now.”
Tuyen, also known as Anh Chi, uses social media to report and comment on political and social issues. His AC Media YouTube channel, which focuses on the Ukraine war, has some 57,000 followers, while his Anh Chi Rau Den YouTube channel has 98,000 subscribers, according to CPJ’s review.
Vietnam was the fifth worst jailer of journalists worldwide, with at least 19 reporters behind bars on December 1, 2023, in CPJ’s latest annual global prison census.
Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security did not immediately respond to CPJ’s email requesting comment on Thang’s conviction.
For 11 years, Johnson & Johnson has been playing out what’s called the ghoul defense in the legal business. That’s where you delay paying people money, that they should be paid for the injury and suffering that you’ve caused them, and you wait until they die. Mike Papantonio is joined by attorney Andy Birchfield to […]
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the decision by Hong Kong’s top court to uphold the conviction of publisher Jimmy Lai and six pro-democracy campaigners on charges of participating in an unauthorized assembly in 2019. CPJ is also dismayed by the participation of David Neuberger, a former head of Britain’s Supreme Court who also chairs an advisory panel to the Media Freedom Coalition (MFC), as part of a panel of five Court of Final Appeal judges that delivered the ruling.
Former UK Supreme Court head David Neuberger was part of a panel of five Court of Final Appeal judges that delivered the ruling dismissing Jimmy Lai’s appeal on August 12, 2024. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)
“It is impossible to reconcile Lord Neuberger’s judicial authority as part of a system that is politicized and repressive with his role overseeing a panel that advises governments to defend and promote media freedom. The Media Freedom Coalition should immediately review his role as chair of the High Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom,” said CPJ Advocacy and Communications Director Gypsy Guillen Kaiser.
Lai, the 76-year-old founder of the now-shuttered pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, has been behind bars since 2020. On August 12, Hong Kong’s top court rejected his appeal against a conviction for taking part in unauthorized anti-government protests. Lai, whose trial on national security charges was adjourned again last month to late November, faces possible life imprisonment if convicted. He was honored by CPJ and the organization continues to advocate for his immediate, unconditional release.
The MFC is a group of 50 countries that pledge to promote press freedom at home and abroad. CPJ is a longstanding member of the MFC’s consultative network of nongovernmental organizations.
CPJ believes the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute, which serves as the secretariat for the MFC’s panel of media freedom experts, should also review Neuberger’s role.
The Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against TikTok, alleging that the social media app is illegally collecting children’s data. If they were actually concerned about data theft, they’d be suing EVERY social media website. Mike Papantonio & Farron Cousins discuss more. Transcript: *This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos. Mike […]
Taipei, August 13, 2024—Mongolian authorities should not contest the appeal filed by Zarig news site founder and editor-in-chief Unurtsetseg Naran challenging her conviction on multiple charges, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Tuesday.
“The Mongolian government must halt its escalating use of lawfare against journalists and protect their rights to report,” said CPJ’s Asia Program Coordinator Beh Lih Yi. “Unurtsetseg Naran’s reporting serves the public interest by exposing government corruption and wrongdoings. She should not be punished for it.”
Unurtsetseg, who was arrested in December 2023 and released to house arrest in February, was sentenced on July 19 to four years and nine months in prison during a closed-door trial on charges of spreading false information, tax evasion, money laundering, disclosure of personal information, and acquisition of state secrets.
In a July 24 opinion piece in The Guardian, Unurtsetseg denied the charges and said she didn’t expect a free trial in Mongolia. Unurtsetseg is well-known in Mongolia for uncovering corruption scandals, sexual abuses in Buddhist boarding schools, and violence in the military.
In 2019 and 2020, Unurtsetseg faced 16 defamation suits brought by politicians mentioned in her reporting. Despite winning most cases, she was still fined approximately US$800.
The Mongolian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Justice did not immediately respond to CPJ’s email requesting comment.
Last week, the Defense Department announced that they had reached a plea deal with the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. Two days later, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced that the deals had been revoked. This came after tremendous public backlash from the families of victims, politicians, and first responders. Mike Papantonio & Farron Cousins discuss more. Transcript: *This transcript […]
Chiang Mai, August 9, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes a Philippine court decision reversing a 2018 regulator’s order to shut down the independent news site Rappler, which was co-founded in 2012 by Nobel laureate Maria Ressa and reported critically on former President Rodrigo Duterte.
“The Court of Appeal’s decision to void a 2018 government agency shutdown order against Rappler is long overdue and rightly restores the publication’s legal standing as a locally controlled media company,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “Philippine authorities should leverage this verdict to drop all pending cases against Rappler and its co-founder Maria Ressa and stop using spurious legal means to harass the media.”
The country’s corporate regulator, the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission, ruled in 2018 that Rappler had violated a constitutional ban on foreign control of local media companies by issuing Philippine Depositary Receipts (PDR) — a financial instrument — to the U.S.-based Omidyar Network, a philanthropic organization which had invested in the news site, and canceled its certificate of incorporation.
A minor glitch in a software update last week caused chaos for the banking industry, airlines, and hundreds of millions of people across the globe. Plus, according to AT&T, the company recently suffered a massive data breach that exposed call and text message data for almost all of their customers. Mike Papantonio & Farron Cousins discuss more. Transcript: *This […]
Washington, D.C., August 7, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists urges the New York Police Department explain its reasons for arresting a New York City videographer on hate crime charges after he reported on pro-Palestinian protesters who smeared red paint on the homes of two Brooklyn Museum officials, including the director who is Jewish.
“We are concerned that New York City authorities arrested independent videographer Samuel Seligson on hate crime charges, and we urge law enforcement to explain their reasons,” said CPJ U.S., Canada, and Caribbean Program Coordinator Katherine Jacobsen. “Journalists play an important role in documenting protests and they should be allowed to gather news without fear of arrest or retaliation.”
The Associated Press reported that a police complaint described Seligson as a participant in the June 12 crime for travelling with the protesters, but cited an unnamed law enforcement official as saying that Seligson, a regular reporter on New York City protests who has sold footage to major media outlets, was not directly involved in the property damage.
Four homes were vandalized and a banner was hung across the entry of museum director Anne Pasternak’s apartment accusing her of being a “white-supremacist Zionist.”
Seligson was previously arrested in May while documenting another pro-Palestinian demonstration in Brooklyn and charged with disorderly conduct, obstruction of government administration, and resisting arrest. That case has been closed, AP reported.
In an op-ed published on Monday, President Biden called for sweeping reforms for the Supreme Court, including term limits and a code of ethics. The Court definitely needs to be fixed, but it’ll take more than an op-ed to make that happen. Mike Papantonio & Farron Cousins discuss more. Transcript: *This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription […]
America’s Lawyer E108: President Biden is calling for massive reforms to the United States Supreme Court – reforms that are long overdue but face a tremendous uphill climb before they can become reality. A corporate front group has started creating anti-tax propaganda for teachers to use in their classrooms. Their goal is to teach children […]
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Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, July 29, 2024 — The Committee to Protect Journalists urges Iraqi Kurdish authorities to release Syrian journalist Sleman Ahmed after the Duhok criminal court sentenced him to three years in prison on espionage charges on Monday.
“CPJ is alarmed by the sentencing of Syrian journalist Sleman Ahmed, who has been detained for nine months,” said Yeganeh Rezaian, CPJ’s interim MENA program coordinator, in Washington, D.C. “We urge Iraqi Kurdistan authorities to release him without further delay and stop persecuting journalists for their work.”
Authorities charged Ahmed with espionage on behalf of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), according to Ramazan Tartisi, one of Ahmed’s lawyers, who spoke to CPJ. Tartisi and Luqman Ahmed, another member of the legal team who has no relation to the journalist, told CPJ that the journalist denied the charges and plans to appeal.
The separatist PKK is designated a terrorist organization by several countries and institutions, includingthe U.S., Turkey, and the European Union. Iraq officiallybanned the group last week.
Ahmed is the Arabic editor for the local news website RojNews, based in Sulaymaniyah, a city in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region. RojNews is pro-PKK and regularly reports on the organization’s activities.
The charges were “merely a means to retaliate against the journalist,” Luqman Ahmed told CPJ, saying that the court had no evidence for the conviction and the legal process was “very unfair,” adding that the lawyers were only allowed to attend the trial after pressure from the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq and foreign consulates.
Iraqi Kurdish authorities arrested Ahmed on October 25, 2023, when he re-entered Kurdistan after a family visit in Syria. The Security Directorate (Asayish), responsible for border security in Duhok Governorate, accused him of conducting “secret and illegal” work for the PKK.
CPJ’s call to Duhok Asayish Director Zeravan Baroshky for comment did not receive any reply.
São Paulo, July 29, 2024—Marking the second anniversary of Guatemalan journalist José Rubén Zamora’s detention, the Committee to Protect Journalists renews its calls for President Bernardo Arévalo’s administration to free Zamora without further delay.
“For two years now, José Rubén Zamora has been behind bars in horrific conditions, despite a court order for a retrial,” said Cristina Zahar, CPJ’s Latin America program coordinator. “This disgraceful travesty of justice suggests a breakdown in the country’s rule of law and punitive retaliation against independent journalists. Zamora must be freed immediately.”
Zamora, 67, remains in pretrial isolation in conditions at Mariscal Zavala military jail in Guatemala City that his lawyers say amount to torture. Their urgent appeal to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment said that this included deprivation of light and water, aggressive and humiliating treatment, unsanitary conditions, and limited access to medical care.
The U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has declared his imprisonment to be in violation of international law, and a February report by TrialWatch concluded that there were breaches of both international and regional fair-trial standards, and that Zamora’s prosecution and conviction are likely retaliation for his journalism.
Zamora, president of the now defunct elPeriódico newspaper, received a six-year prison sentence on money laundering charges in June 2023. An appeals court overturned his conviction in October 2023, but numerous delays have prevented the start of the court-ordered retrial.
On May 15, 2024, a Guatemalan court ordered that the journalist be released to house arrest to await trial. However, authorities kept him in jail, as bail applications remained pending in two other cases. On June 26, an appeals court revoked the lower court’s order for his conditional release.
Kampala, July 26, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Somali authorities to immediately release journalist AliNur Salaad who was remanded in custody for 45 days on allegations of “immorality, false reporting, and insulting the armed forces.”
“Somali authorities must immediately free journalist AliNur Salaad, drop all legal proceedings against him, and allow journalists to report and comment freely on public affairs,” said Angela Quintal, head of CPJ’s Africa program, in New York. “Somalia must end its practice of harassing and arbitrarily detaining journalists.”
On July 22, police officers arrested Salaad, founder and CEO of the privately owned Dawan Media, and detained him at Waberi District police station in the capital Mogadishu, according to mediareports and the Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS) rights group.
Those sources linked Salaad’s detention to a social media video, which has since been deleted, in which the journalist allegedly suggested that Somali security forces were vulnerable to attacks by the militant group Al-Shabaab because of their consumption of the narcotic khat.
The Banadir Regional Police said Hassan had been arrested on allegations of “immorality, false reporting, and insulting the armed forces,” according to a statement published by the state-run Somali National Television.
On July 23, Salaad was charged without a lawyer present before the Banadir Regional Court, which has jurisdiction over Mogadishu, and remanded for 45 days in custody pending investigations, SJS said on X, formerly Twitter.
Attorney General Sulayman Mohamed Mohamoud and Deputy Information Minister Abdirahman Yusuf Omar Al Adala did not respond to CPJ’s requests for comment via messaging app.
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Berlin, July 25, 2024—Russian authorities have targeted more than a dozen exiled journalists over the last month as part of their escalating campaign of transnational repression of independent voices.
Authorities sought the arrest one exiled journalist and added two to their wanted list of suspects sought on criminal charges. More than 95,000 people are named on the the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ online database and risk arrest if they enter Russia.
In addition, five were prosecuted for working with “undesirable organizations,” which are banned from operating in Russia. Anyone who participates in or works to organize the activities of such outlets faces up to six years in prison. It is also a crime to distribute the organizations’ content or donate to them.
Another three journalists were added to the “foreign agents” register, which legally requires them to regularly submit detailed reports of their activities and expenses to authorities and to list their status as “foreign agents” on any published content. Two journalists were fined for failing to comply with this law.
Arrested in absentia
On June 26, a Moscow court ordered ex-state TV host Farida Kurbangaleeva’s arrest in absentia on charges of justifying terrorism and spreading “fake” information about the Russian army after she interviewed a soldier of a pro-Ukrainian Russian paramilitary group on her YouTube channel. A person arrested in absentia would be immediately held in pre-trial detention if they traveled to Russia or if they traveled to a country that could extradite them to Russia.
On June 20, the Prague-based journalist was also added to the government’s wanted list and on June 28, she was designated a foreign agent.
Wanted list
On July 17, the Ministry of Internal Affairs added Andrei Zakharov, an investigative journalist and host of The Insider Live YouTube channel, to its wanted list on unspecified charges. Zakharov is facing criminal charges for failing to list his status as a foreign agent in two Telegramposts in March. Zakharov was labeled a foreign agent in 2021, after which he fled Russia.
On July 18, the Ministry of Internal Affairs added Svetlana Prokopyeva, a journalist with the U.S. Congress-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Sever.Realii website, to its wanted list on unspecified charges under the Criminal Code. In 2023, Prokopyeva was fined for “discrediting” the army for an interview with a historian about the war in Ukraine. Prokopyeva, a CPJ 2020 International Press Freedom Awardee, left Russia in 2022.
Prosecuted for ‘undesirable’ activities
On June 27, a Moscow court fined Asya Zolnikova, a journalist with the Latvia-based independent news site Meduza, 12,000 rubles (US$136) for “participating in an undesirable organization.” At least four other journalists with Meduza, which was labeled as undesirable in 2023, have faced similar charges this year.
Four exiled journalists were prosecuted for “participating in an undesirable organization” for working with Latvia-based investigative outlet The Insider, which was banned in 2022:
On June 27, journalist Vladimir Romensky was fined 7,500 rubles (US$85) by a Moscow court.
On July 2, a Moscow court registered a case against The Insider’s founder and editor-in-chief Roman Dobrokhotov.
On July 15, journalist and editor Timur Olevskiy was fined 10,000 rubles (US$114) by a Moscow court.
On July 18, a case was registered against journalist Marfa Smirnova.
Designated foreign agents
Between June 28 and July 5, the Ministry of Justice added at least three more exiled journalists to its foreign agents register:
Two journalists were fined by a court in the western region of Pskov for failing to comply with the foreign agent legislation:
On July 1, Denis Kamalyagin, the exiled editor-in-chief of independent newspaper Pskovskaya Guberniya, and the legal entity the journalist created to comply with the law, were fined 330,000 rubles (US$3,785).
On July 19, the legal entity created by journalist Lyudmila Savitskaya was fined 300,000 rubles (US$3,441). Savitskaya was labeled a foreign agent in 2020 and left Russia after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
On a July afternoon in the Thai coastal town of Samut Sakhon southwest of Bangkok, hundreds of Myanmar migrants queued in the rain outside a government office, the last place in Thailand where they can get a Certificate of Identity, or CI, which allows them to live and work legally in the kingdom.
Until very recently, similar scenes played out at seven other such offices across Thailand. But on July 7, the government shut those offices, leaving hundreds of thousands of Myanmar workers fretting about how to get hold of the vital paperwork.
“After the other centers closed, about 900 people would come to the center per day,” said one job broker in Samut Sakhon, who helps migrants get the documents, declining to be identified for fear of reprisals.
Thailand is home to about two million people from Myanmar toiling in jobs in agriculture, hospitality, fishing, manufacturing and other sectors, but labor advocates say that many live undocumented after arriving through the porous border.
Thousands have fled for their lives after protesting against a 2021 military coup and again in early 2024 when the military began conscripting young people into their army, and the closure of the CI offices has sent shockwaves through the community.
Htoo Chit, executive director of the Foundation for Education and Development, estimates that more than 200,000 Myanmar nationals still need to apply for a CI, saying that some have not been able to afford the fees and may need more time.
Workers caught without documentation can be sent to prison, hit with heavy fines and deported, under Thai law.
“It’s really dangerous for the migrant workers,” said Htoo.
The government has said that workers have had sufficient time to apply for the proper paperwork since the offices opened in October. The Department of Employment did not respond to multiple requests for comment from Radio Free Asia.
Fewer options
For many migrant workers, the alternatives to obtaining the CI are daunting. They can risk returning to Myanmar – which has been in turmoil since the 2021 coup – to try to get a passport but they run the risk of being refused or of being drafted into the army. Or they can approach the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok to ask for a passport, a prospect that terrifies those who fled for political reasons.
“It will be more difficult. I have many friends who are trying to get a CI, but they won’t get it if the offices are closed,” said one man living on the border who asked to remain anonymous to protect his status to stay in Thailand.
The man said he applied and received his CI in 2023 near Bangkok, but his friends may not be so lucky, adding that more than 15 people from his circle of friends won’t be able to make a similar trip hundreds of kilometers south to Samut Sakhon for fear of arrest and the cost of travel.
“They’re trying to think how to do it but they don’t really know. They’re living here with police cards,” he said, referring to an unofficial system by which migrants pay a monthly fee to local police to avoid arrest. “The police are always asking for documents and they arrest our people who don’t have them so it will be hard.”
People cross the Thailand-Myanmar Friendship Bridge as a stream of people queued at a border crossing to flee Myanmar early on Friday, a day after the strategically vital town of Myawaddy adjoining Thailand fell to anti-junta resistance that has been growing in strength, in Mae Sot, Thailand, April 12, 2024. (Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters)
But labor advocates argue this ignores the complex realities faced by migrant workers.
Brahm Press, director of the Migrant Assistance Program in Thailand, said the CI was a vital first step for people trying to set themselves up in Thailand, especially for those in fear of persecution by the Myanmar junta.
“The problem is that when documents expire, people who are in Thailand and don’t want to return and don’t want the government to know where they are, they’re the ones who are going to have the problem,” Press said “The CI is kind of the starting point for re-entering the system.”
The Foundation for Education and Development’s Htoo shares similar concerns.
“Who’s going to provide it? If you didn’t have a CI or you didn’t want to work with the Myanmar government, where are you going to get this kind of certificate?” he said.
Edited by Taejun Kang.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Kiana Duncan for RFA.
