WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been freed from Belmarsh Prison in London, where he has been incarcerated for the past five years, after accepting a plea deal with U.S. prosecutors. After a decade-plus of legal challenges, Assange will plead guilty to a single felony count of illegally obtaining and disclosing national security material for publishing classified documents detailing U.S. war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan on WikiLeaks. The Australian publisher is expected to be sentenced to time served and allowed to return home, where he reportedly will seek a pardon. Assange’s brother Gabriel Shipton describes learning of his release as “an amazing moment.” He speaks to Democracy Now! about Assange’s case and what led up to the latest developments, as well as what he expects will happen next.
This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
New York, June 24, 2024— The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes reports that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will be freed from prison in a plea deal with the United States Justice Department.
“Julian Assange faced a prosecution that had grave implications for journalists and press freedom worldwide,” said CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg. “While we welcome the end of his detention, the U.S.’s pursuit of Assange has set a harmful legal precedent by opening the way for journalists to be tried under the Espionage Act if they receive classified material from whistleblowers. This should never have been the case.”
According to news reports, Assange is expected to plead guilty to an Espionage Act charge of conspiring to unlawfully obtain and disseminate classified national defense information.
Assange is expected to return to his native Australia once the plea deal is finalized in federal court in the Mariana Islands, a U.S. commonwealth in the Western Pacific.
Assange was indicted on 17 counts under the Espionage Act and one count under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act in relation to WikiLeaks publication of classified material, including the Iraq War logs. If convicted under these charges, he would have faced up to 175 years in prison.
CPJ has long opposed U.S. attempts to prosecute Assange and campaigned for his release jointly with other organizations.
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Dakar, June 20, 2024—Nigerien authorities must decriminalize defamation and ensure that the country’s cybercrime law does not unduly restrict the work of the media, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Thursday.
On June 7, Niger’s head of state Abdourahamane Tchiani, who overthrew the democratically elected president in July 2023, reintroduced prison sentences of one to three years and a fine of up to 5 million CFA francs (US$8,177) for defamation and insult via electronic means of communication, according to newsreports.
A jail term of two to five years and a fine of up to 5 million CFA francs (US$8,177) were also set for the dissemination of “data likely to disturb public order or undermine human dignity,” even if such information is true, according to CPJ’s review of a copy of the law.
“The changes to Niger’s cybercrime law are a blow to the media community and a very disappointing step backwards for freedom of expression,” said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator, Muthoki Mumo, in Nairobi. “It is not too late to change course by reforming the law to ensure that it cannot be used to stifle journalism.”
Previously, the crimes of defamation and insult were punishable with fines of up to 10 million CFA francs (US$16,312), while dissemination of data likely to disturb public order carried a penalty of six months to three years’ imprisonment.
On June 12, Niger’s Minister of Justice and Human Rights Alio Daouda said in a statement that the 2022 amendments were made “despite the opposition of the large majority of Nigeriens.” He said that decriminalization of the offenses had led to a “proliferation of defamatory and insulting remarks on social networks and the dissemination of data likely to disturb public order or undermine human dignity” despite authorities’ calls for restraint.
“Firm instructions have been given to the public prosecutors to prosecute without weakness or complacency” anyone who commits these offenses, he said.
CPJ and other press freedom groups have raised concerns about journalists’ safety in the country since the 2023 military coup.
This April, Idrissa Soumana Maïga, editor of the privately owned L’Enquêteur newspaper, was arrested and remains behind bars on charges of undermining national defense. If convicted, he could face between five and 10 years in prison.
SeveralNigerienjournalists were imprisoned or fined over their reporting prior to decriminalization in 2022.
CPJ’s calls to the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights to request comment went unanswered.
The House Ethics Committee announced this week that they were ramping up their investigation into Matt Gaetz over alleged illicit drug use and payments for sexual favors from young women. And now new reports say that at least one witness has confirmed that a payment she received from Gaetz was specifically for sex. Other witnesses […]
When Belete Kassa’s friend and news show co-host Belaye Manaye was arrested in November 2023 and taken to the remote Awash Arba military camp known as the “Guantanamo of the desert,” Belete feared that he might be next.
The two men co-founded the YouTube-based channel Ethio News in 2020, which had reportedextensively on a conflict that broke out between federal forces and the Fano militia in the populous Amhara region in April 2023, a risky move in a country with a history of stifling independent reporting.
Belay was swept up in a crackdown againstthe press after the government declared a state of emergency in August 2023 in response to the conflict.
After months in hiding, Belete decided to flee when he heard from a relative that the government had issued a warrant for his arrest. CPJ was unable to confirm whether such an order was issued.
“Freedom of expression in Ethiopia has not only died; it has been buried,” Belete said in his March 15 farewell post on Facebook. “Leaving behind a colleague in a desert detention facility, as well as one’s family and country, to seek asylum, is immensely painful.” (Belaye and others have been released this month after the state of emergency expired.)
Belete’s path into exile is one that has been trod by dozens of other Ethiopian journalists who have been forced toflee harassment and persecution in a country where the government has long maintained a firm grip on the media. Over the decades, CPJ has documented waves of repression and exile tied to reporting on events like protests after the 2005 parliamentary election and censorship of independent media and bloggers ahead of the 2015 vote.
But with the 2020 to 2022 civil war between rebels from the Tigray region and the federal government, followed by the Amhara conflict in 2023, CPJ has documented a rapid return to a harsh media environment, characterized by arbitrary detentions and the expulsion of international journalists.
A burned tank stands near the town of Adwa in Ethiopia’s Tigray region on March 18, 2021. (Photo: Reuters/Baz Ratner)
CPJ is aware of at least 54 Ethiopian journalists and media workers who have gone into exile since 2020, and has provided at least 30 of them with emergency assistance. Most of the journalists fled to neighboring African countries, while a few are in Europe and North America. In May and June 2024, CPJ spoke to some of these exiled journalists about their experiences. Most asked CPJ not to reveal how they escaped Ethiopia or their whereabouts and some spoke on condition of anonymity, citing fears for their safety or that of family left behind.
CPJ’s request for comment to government spokesperson Legesse Tulu via messaging app and an email to the office of the prime minister did not receive any response.
Under ‘house arrest’ due to death threats
Guyo Wariyo, a journalist with the satellite broadcaster Oromia Media Network wasdetained forseveral weeks in 2020 as the government sought to quell protests over the killing of ethnic Oromo singer Hachalu Hundessa. Authorities sought to link the musician’s assassination with Guyo’s interview with him the previous week, which included questions about the singer’s political opinions.
Following his release, Guyo wanted to get out of the country but leaving was not easy. Guyo said that the first three times he went to Addis Ababa’s Bole International Airport, National Intelligence and Security Service agents refused to let him board, saying his name was on a government list of individuals barred from leaving Ethiopia.
Guyo eventually left in late 2020. But, more than three years later, he still feels unsafe.
In exile, Guyo says he has received several death threats from individuals that he believes are affiliated with the Ethiopian government, via social media as well as local and international phone numbers. One of the callers even named the neighborhood where he lives.
“I can describe my situation as ‘house arrest,’” said Guyo, who rarely goes out or speaks to friends and family back home in case their conversations are monitored.
Ethiopians fleeing from the Tigray region register as refugees at the Hamdeyat refugee transit camp in Sudan, on December 1, 2020. (Photo: Reuters/Baz Ratner)
Journalists who spoke to CPJ said they fear transnational repression, citing the 2023 forcible return of The Voice of Amhara’s Gobeze Sisay from Djibouti to face terrorism charges. He remains in prison, awaiting trial and a potential death penalty.
“We know historically that Ethiopian intelligence have been active in East Africa and there is a history of fleeing people being attacked here in Kenya,” Nduko o’Matigere, Head of Africa Region at PEN International, the global writers’ association that advocates for freedom of expression, told CPJ.
Several of the journalists exiled in Africa told CPJ that they did not feel their host countries could protect them from Ethiopian security agents.
“The shadow of fear and threat is always present,” said one reporter, describing the brief period he lived in East Africa before resettling in the United States.
‘We became very scared’
Woldegiorgis Ghebrehiwet Teklay felt at risk in Kenya, after he fled there in December 2020 following the arrest of a colleague at the now-defunct Awlo Media Center.
As with Guyo, Woldegiorgis’s initial attempt to leave via Addis Ababa failed. Airport security personnel questioned him about his work and ethnicity and accused him of betraying his country with his journalism, before ordering him to return home, to wait for about a week amid investigations.
When Woldegiorgis finally reached the Kenyan capital, he partnered with other exiled Ethiopian journalists to set up Axumite Media. But between November 2021 and February 2022, Axumite was forced to slow down its operations, reducing the frequency of publication and visibility of its journalists as it was hit by financial and security concerns, especially after two men abducted an Ethiopian businessman from his car during Nairobi’s evening rush hour.
“It might be a coincidence but after that businessman was abducted on the street we became very scared,” said Woldegiorgis who moved to Germany the following year on a scholarship for at-risk academics and relaunched the outlet as Yabele Media.
‘An enemy of the state’
Tesfa-Alem Tekle was reporting for the Nairobi-based Nation Media Group when he had to flee in 2022, after being detained fornearly three months on suspicion of having links with Tigrayan rebels.
He kept contributing to the Nation Media Group’s The EastAfrican weekly newspaper in exile until 2023, when a death threat was slipped under his door.
“Stop disseminating in the media messages which humiliate and tarnish our country and our government’s image,” said the threat, written in Amharic, which CPJ reviewed. “If you continue being an enemy of the state, we warn you for the last time that a once-and-for-all action will be taken against you.”
Tesfa-Alem moved houses, reported the threat to the police, and hoped he would soon be offered safety in another country. But more than two years after going to exile, he remains in limbo, waiting to hear the outcome of his application for resettlement.
Last year, only 158,700 refugees worldwide were resettled in third countries, representing just a fraction of the need, according to the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR; that included 2,289 Ethiopians, said UNHCR global spokesperson Olga Sarrado Mur in an email to CPJ. The need is only growing: “UNHCR estimates that almost 3 million refugees will be in need of resettlement in 2025, including over 8,600 originating from Ethiopia,” Sarrado Mur said.
“Unfortunately, there are very limited resettlement places available worldwide, besides being a life-saving intervention for at-risk refugees,” said Sarrado Mur.
Without a stable source of income, Tesfa-Alem said he was living “in terrible conditions,” with months of overdue rent.
“Stress, lack of freedom of movement, and economic reasons: all these lead me to depression and even considering returning home to face the consequences,” he said, voicing a frustration shared by all of the journalists that spoke to CPJ about the complexities and delays they encountered navigating the asylum system.
‘No Ethiopian security services will knock on my door’
Most of the journalists who spoke to CPJ described great difficulties in returning to journalism. A lucky few have succeeded.
Yayesew Shimelis, founder of the YouTube channel Ethio Forum whose reporting was critical of the Ethiopian government, was arrested multiple times between 2019 and 2022.
In 2021, he was detained for 58 days, one of a dozen journalists and media workers held incommunicado at Awash Sebat, another remote military camp in Ethiopia’s Afar state. The following year, he was abducted by people who broke into his house, blindfolded him, and held him in an unknown location for 11 days.
“My only two options were living in my beloved country without working my beloved job; or leaving my beloved country and working my beloved job,” he told CPJ.
At Addis Ababa airport in 2023, he said he was interrogated for two hours about his destination and the purpose of his trip. He told officials he was attending a wedding and promised to be back in two weeks. When his flight took off, Yayesaw was overwhelmed with relief and sadness to be “suddenly losing my country.”
“I was crying, literally crying, when the plane took off,” he told CPJ. “People on the plane thought I was going to a funeral.”
In exile, Yayesew feels “free”. He continues to run Ethio Forum and even published a book about Prime Minister Abiy earlier this year.
“Now I am 100% sure that no Ethiopian security services will knock on my door the morning after I publish a critical report,” he said.
But for Belete, only three months on from his escape, such peace remains a distant dream.
He struggles to afford food and rent and worries who he can trust.
“When I left my country, although I was expecting challenges, I was not prepared for how tough it would be,” he told CPJ.
Belete says it’s difficult to report on Ethiopia from abroad and that sometimes he must choose between doing the work he loves and making a living.
“I find myself in a state of profound uncertainty about my future,” said Belete. “I am caught between the aspiration to pursue my journalism career and the necessity of leading an ordinary life to secure my livelihood”.
New York, June 18, 2024—A Serbian appeals court must not indulge a request from Belarusian authorities and should overturn a recent decision to extradite journalist Andrey Gnyot to Belarus, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday.
On May 31, the Higher Court in Belgrade ruled to extradite Gnyot to Belarus for tax evasion, according to media reports and Gnyot, who spoke to CPJ. The decision was made public and communicated to the journalist on June 13.
“They want to extradite me, not right now, but this is a very bad decision,” Gnyot told Belarusian independent news outlet Zerkalo. A tax evasion charge carries up to seven years of imprisonment, according to the Belarusian criminal code.
“The decision to extradite Belarusian journalist Andrey Gnyot to comply with a request from Aleksandr Lukashenko’s repressive regime is not only absurd and unfounded, it also deeply undermines the country’s aspirations to join the European Union,” said Carlos Martínez de la Serna, CPJ’s program director. “The Serbian appeals court should overturn the recent ruling to extradite journalist Andrey Gnyot. Belarusian authorities, on their end, should stop their attempts to instrumentalize Interpol to transnationally repress dissenting voices.”
Gnyot, a filmmaker, collaborated with a range of independent news outlets, including Radio Svaboda, during the 2020 protests demanding President Aleksandr Lukashenko’s resignation after the country’s election. In December 2021, the Belarusian authorities labeled the outlet an “extremist” group.
Serbian authorities arrested Gnyot in Belgrade, the capital, on October 30, 2023, based on an Interpol arrest warrant issued by the Belarusian Interpol bureau. He remained in a Belgrade prison until June 5, when he was transferred to house arrest, according to the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ), an advocacy and trade group operating from exile, and a report by Radio Svaboda, the Belarusian service of U.S. Congress-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL).
Gnyot told CPJ that he filed two appeals on June 17, one from himself and one from his lawyers. “I work on my defense every day because a lot of time was lost while I was in prison. So it is not possible for me to relax. Moreover, I even eat and sleep less because I don’t have time. But the end justifies the means — I am fighting to save my life,” he said.
“Everything I provided to the court was ignored,” he added. “We have a saying that ‘hope dies last,’ and of course I expect that the appellate court will correct this mistake, because to do so, you just need to study the evidence provided and not ignore it. It scares me to think that a judge making a decision would so easily send a man to his death.”
Belarusian authorities charged Gnyot with tax evasion for allegedly failing to pay around 300,000 euros (US$323,600) in taxes between 2012 and 2018, according to mediareports and a friend of Gnyot, who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal. Gnyot denies the tax evasion accusations, and his defense considers his persecution as politically motivated.
Gnyot is also one of the founders of SOS BY, an independent association of Belarusian sportspeople that influenced the cancellation of the 2021 Hockey World Cup in Belarus. The Belarusian authorities later designated SOS BY an “extremist” group.
If Gnyot is extradited to Belarus, he could potentially face additional charges for creating or participating in an extremist group, which carries up to 10 years in prison.
Gnyot’s health deteriorated significantly in prison, he said in a May 11 letter reviewed by CPJ. As of June 18, he still had not managed to get medical care while under house arrest, he told CPJ.
“Unfortunately, I have never received any medical help, and I can’t arrange it myself: one hour of freedom to leave my apartment to get to the doctor and get medical help is just physically not enough for me,” he said. “Psychologically I feel good, because I see a huge support and solidarity of people.”
CPJ emailed the Higher Court and the Court of Appeal in Belgrade for comment on Gnyot’s case but did not receive any response.
Separately, on June 8, Serbian border police in Belgrade’s Nikola Tesla Airport banned Russian-Israeli freelance journalist Roman Perl from entering the country, according to mediareports.
“They never explained anything to me at the airport but just gave me a paper stating that my entry into Serbia would pose a security risk,” Perl, who works with Current Time TV, a project affiliated with RFE/RL and U.S. Congress-funded broadcaster Voice of America, told Serbian broadcaster N1TV.
The journalist believes the ban to be connected to his 2023 brief detention in Serbia, after a man he was interviewing for a documentary about Serbia and Russia’s war in Ukraine unfurled a Ukrainian flag near the Russian Embassy. Russian authorities labeled Perl a “foreign agent” in October 2021.
Belarus was the world’s third-worst jailer of journalists, with at least 28 journalists behind bars on December 1, 2023, when CPJ conducted its most recent prison census. Serbia had no journalists behind bars at the time, except for Gnyot, who was not included in the census due to a lack of information about his journalism.
CPJ, ICFJ and RSF introduced expert legal opinion arguing the Supreme Court of the Philippines should close cyber libel case
New York / Paris / Washington D.C., June 18, 2024 — In an effort to deter the legal persecution of trailblazing journalist and Nobel Laureate Maria Ressa and her former colleague Reynaldo Santos, and to protect the public’s right to be informed, three leading civil society organizations, have submitted an amicus curiae brief to the Supreme Court of the Philippines. The brief was filed on June 13 by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in partnership with Debevoise and Plimpton LLP. It argues that the criminal convictions of Ressa and Santos for “cyber libel” not only breach the international obligations of the Philippines but betray a press freedom legacy the court has reaffirmed for more than a century.
The charges in this case relate to a 2012 investigative story published by Ressa’s online news outlet, Rappler, about businessman Wilfredo Keng and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, who was seen using a car that allegedly belonged to Keng. After Keng filed a libel complaint against Ressa and Santos in 2017, the journalists were criminally charged and eventually convicted by a Manila trial court. In recent years, Ressa, her colleagues, and the online news outlet Rappler have faced a sustained campaign of legal persecution and online violence, with 23 individual cases opened by the government against them since 2018. Ressa and Santos face close to seven years in prison if their convictions for cyber libel, which are currently in the last stage of appeals before the Philippine Supreme Court, are upheld.
“Twelve years since the publication of an article that has been woven into a vicious campaign against Maria Ressa, Rappler and other members of the press, it is clearer than ever that this spurious case intended to silence independent, critical reporting simply does not stand. We urge the court to overturn the unjust convictions against Ressa and Santos. This weaponization of the law must come to an end,” said CPJ, ICFJ and RSF.
Citing international law and domestic precedent, the brief argues that this case and the Philippine government’s criminalization of defamation is misaligned with current best legal practices and incompatible with international law:
In short, journalists are unable to do their jobs under the Damocles’ sword of criminal liability. They have a duty to satisfy the public interest in being informed of public affairs, and must make daily and expeditious judgment calls about what information to report with an inherently limited set of facts. The prospect of facing criminal liability for allegedly misreporting facts—or worse yet, being punished for accurate reporting—will have a profound chilling effect, discouraging journalists from wading into the sensitive topics that often are the subjects of greatest public concern. This, in turn, undermines the public’s right of access to information and erodes freedom of expression more generally—costs that are hugely disproportionate to the interest the libel charges are ostensibly protecting.
The brief was principally authored by Natalie Reid, co-chair of the Public International Law Group at Debevoise in collaboration with Kristina Conti, an attorney at the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers in the Philippines-National Capital Region.
###
For further information or comment, please contact:
CPJ: Gypsy Guillén Kaiser, Advocacy and Communications Director – press@cpj.org
ICFJ: Julie Posetti, Deputy Vice President, Global Research – jposetti@icfj.org
New York, June 17, 2024—As a Russian court on Monday set the beginning of the trial of U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich for June 26, the Committee to Protect Journalists renewed its call to immediately release him and drop all charges against him.
“The start of Gershkovich’s trial comes after he has already spent more than 14 months behind bars for no other reason than his work as a journalist,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. “Russian authorities must immediately release Gershkovich, drop all charges against him, and stop prosecuting members of the press for their work.”
The investigation department of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) accused Gershkovich, a reporter with The Wall Street Journal, of acting on assignment for the CIA and collecting “secret information” on a Russian tank factory in the Sverdlovsk region, where he was arrested on espionage charges on March 29, 2023, according to a press release by the Sverdlovsk Regional Court, where Gershkovich’s trial will start behind closed doors on June 26.
It is not known how long Gershkovich’s trial will last, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.
Gershkovich, whose detention has been extended five times since his arrest, faces up to 20 years in prison, according to the Russian criminal code. He is the first American journalist to face such accusations by Russia since the end of the Cold War. Gershkovich, The Wall Street Journal, and the U.S. government have all denied the espionage allegations.
On June 13, the Russian prosecutor general’s office announced that Gershkovich’s indictment had been finalized and that the case against him was sent to court.
“Evan Gershkovich is facing a false and baseless charge. Russia’s latest move toward a sham trial is, while expected, deeply disappointing and still no less outrageous,” said Almar Latour, CEO of Dow Jones and publisher of The Wall Street Journal, and Emma Tucker, editor in chief of the publication, in a statement on June 13.
On April 11, 2023, the U.S. State Department designated Gershkovich as “wrongfully detained,” which unlocked a broad government effort to free him.
Russia was the world’s fourth-worst jailer of journalists, with at least 22 behind bars, including Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva, a U.S.-Russian journalist, when CPJ conducted its most recent annual prison census on December 1, 2023.
CPJ emailed the Sverdlovsk Regional Court and the Russian prosecutor general’s office but did not immediately receive any response.
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Taipei, June 14, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a Chinese court’s decision on Friday to sentence journalist Sophia Huang Xueqin to five years in prison on the charge of “inciting subversion of state power.”
The Intermediate People’s Court in the southern city of Guangzhou handed down the sentence to Huang, who is well known for her reporting on sexual abuse in China, after nearly 1,000 days in detention, Huang’s friends told CPJ on condition of anonymity, citing fear of retaliation. They said that Huang planned to appeal the verdict.
“The harsh and unjust sentencing of journalist Sophia Huang Xueqin shows how insecure the Chinese government is when it comes to factual reporting,” said Iris Hsu, CPJ’s China representative. “Chinese authorities must drop all charges against Huang and release her immediately.”
Police detained Huang and her friend labor activist Wang Jianbing on September 19, 2021, while they were on their way to the Guangzhou airport, according to newsreports and the duo’s friends told CPJ.
Wang also received a three-and-a-half-year jail sentence on Friday for inciting subversion, those sources said.
At the time of their arrest, Huang was on her way to Shenzhen and on to Britain, where she was due to start a master’s degree, those sources said.
Huang and Wang have been held incommunicado since their arrest.
According to the indictment, published on X, formerly Twitter, by the pair’s supporters when the trial started on September 22, 2023, the prosecution accused Huang of publishing distorted and inflammatory articles to attack the Chinese government, publicly attacking and smearing Chinese authorities while attending a foreign virtual media conference, participating in courses that contain subversive content, and organizing online courses that incited dissatisfaction in the country.
CPJ emailed the Guangzhou Public Security Bureau for comment but did not receive any reply.
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Stockholm, June 13, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists urges Kyrgyz authorities to immediately drop all charges against 11 current and former Temirov Live staff, ahead of an unprecedented trial due to open on Friday, and end the harassment of the independent press.
“Even as Kyrgyzstan continues its rapid descent into authoritarianism under President Sadyr Japarov, issuing prison sentences for 11 journalists would mark a terrible watershed in a country historically seen as Central Asia’s ‘island of democracy,’” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, in New York. “Kyrgyz authorities’ international reputation will be in tatters if the current and former staff of investigative outlet Temirov Live are convicted on evidently trumped-up charges.”
At a preliminary hearing on June 7, judges at the Lenin District Court, in the capital, Bishkek, rejected motions to dismiss the case against Temirov Live director Makhabat Tajibek kyzy, the investigative outlet’s current staff Aike Beishekeyeva, Akyl Orozbekov, Sapar Akunbekov, and Azamat Ishenbekov, and its former journalists Aktilek Kaparov, Tynystan Asypbekov, Joodar Buzumov, Saipidin Sultanaliev, Maksat Tajibek uulu, and Jumabek Turdaliev, and set the first session of the case for June 14, according to reports and Temirov Live founder Bolot Temirov, who spoke to CPJ from exile. The court also extended the pre-trial detention of Tajibek kyzy, Kaparov, Beishekeyeva, and Ishenbekov, those sources said.
The 11 current and former Temirov Live employees were arrested in January on charges of inciting mass unrest, which could see them jailed for up to eight years under Article 278 of Kyrgyzstan’s criminal code. Seven of the journalists were subsequently released into house arrest or under travel bans pending trial.
A local partner of global investigative network Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), Temirov Live is known for its anti-corruption investigations into senior government officials and has more than 280,000 subscribers on itsYouTubechannels. In November 2022, authorities deported Kyrgyzstan-born Temirov to Russia and banned him from entering the country for five years, after convicting the journalist of using forged documents to obtain a passport, in a case widely regarded as retaliation for his reporting.
Since Japarov came to power in 2020, Kyrgyz authorities have launched an unprecedented crackdown on independent reporting in a country previously seen as a regional haven for the free press.
In January, security services raided privately owned news website 24.kg and opened a criminal case citing “propaganda of war.” In February, a court shutteredKloop, another OCCRP investigative partner. In April, Japarov ratified a Russian-style “foreign agents” law that could be used to target media outlets and press freedom groups.
Berlin, June 13, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the decision by a Dutch court to convict three men for the assassination of veteran crime reporter Peter R. de Vries in 2021 and calls for full justice to be delivered.
“We welcome the Dutch court’s conviction of three perpetrators for the murder of crime reporter Peter de Vries in 2021,” Attila Mong, CPJ’s Europe representative in Berlin, said on Thursday. “While the verdict is an important step towards ending impunity in this case, Dutch authorities should keep up their efforts to ensure real justice is achieved by identifying those who ordered the murder and pursuing their prosecution.”
On June 12, a court in the capital Amsterdam sentenced three men for their involvement in the shooting of de Vries — shooter Delano G. and getaway driver Kamil E. were each given 28 years in prison, while the organizer of the attack, Krystian M., received a sentence of more than 26 years. Full names of suspects were not released to comply with Dutch privacy regulations.
Three other unidentified men were convicted of complicity in the murder, receiving sentences ranging from 10 to 14 years.
It was unclear at the time of publication whether the convicted men would appeal the verdict.
De Vries was gunned down on July 6, 2021, outside a television studio in Amsterdam, where he had just finished appearing on a talk show, and died nine days later in the hospital. Authorities believe he was targeted for his role as an adviser and spokesperson for a witness in the trial of a drug kingpin rather than for his reporting. The witness’s brother and lawyer were both murdered.
CPJ’s emails requesting comment from the Dutch Public Prosecution Service and the de Vries family did not receive any replies.
New York, June 11, 2024 – The Committee to Protect Journalists expressed alarm on Tuesday that Pakistan’s east Punjab province hastily enacted a defamation law that is likely to greatly restrict press freedom, and the country’s Supreme Court issued notices to 34 media outlets in connection with their programming.
On Saturday, June 8, acting Punjab governor and speaker of the provincial assembly Malik Ahmad Khan, a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party member, approved a defamation lawpassed on May 20 despite concerns from journalists, human rights organizations, and opposition lawmakers, according to newsreports.
The law, which is being challengedby journalists and press bodies in the Lahore High Court, replaces Punjab’s Defamation Ordinance, 2002 and loosely defines “defamation” and “broadcasting” to include social media platforms.
Separately, on June 5, Pakistan’s Supreme Court issued show-cause notices to 34 news channels, asking them to explain, within two weeks, why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against them for airing press conferences by two parliamentarians who criticized the judiciary, according to multiplenewsreports.
The court issued the order while hearing a contempt case against the two parliamentarians, who questioned senior judges alleging the ISI– Pakistan’s premier intelligence agency– was interfering in judicial matters.
“Pakistan’s Punjab government must swiftly repeal the recently enacted defamation law and ensure that any such legislation does not impinge on press freedom,” said CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Beh Lih Yi. “The media must also be allowed to broadcast key political speeches and developments without interference or fear of reprisal.”
Under Punjab’s new defamation law, claimants may initiate legal action “without proof of actual damage or loss.” Penalties range from three million rupees (US $10,792) to punitive damages 10 times that amount. Tribunals may also order defendants to tender an unconditional apology or issue a directive to suspend or block the social media account or website where the alleged defamatory content was disseminated.
The law also mandates special tribunals, whose members will be appointed by the Punjab government in consultation with the chief justice of the Lahore High Court to adjudicate offenses within 180 days.
According to Farieha Aziz, a freelance journalist and co-founder of the digital rights organization Bolo Bhi, the appointment procedure represented a conflict of interest because those who select tribunal members can also be complainants.
The law further authorizes the tribunal to pass a preliminary decree against a defendant if they do not obtain a leave to defend, or permission to defend themselves against the accusations, at the outset of trial. Moreover, the law bars commenting on pending proceedings, which Aziz called a “gag order.”
“If a public official has brought a case under the law, it is in public interest to know,” Aziz said.
Defamation claims filed by a “constitutional office” holder such as the prime minister, Supreme Court and Lahore High Court judges, and army chiefs, will be tried through a separate procedure, raising concerns surrounding violations of constitutional rights.
Pakistan’s political environment remains volatile after February elections– widely described as flawed– led to the formation of a coalition government of the PML-N and the Pakistan People’s Party, with the former taking power in Punjab.
Punjab governor Sardar Saleem Haider, a PPP member who was abroad when the defamation law was enacted, earlier stated on June 5 that the provincial government would address the concerns of journalists and other stakeholders, suggesting the legislation would be sent back to the assembly for further consultation.
Punjab information minister Azma Zahid Bokhari did not immediately respond to CPJ’s request for comment.
Washington, D.C., June 11, 2024—A county judge’s order to Mississippi Today newspaper to turn over privileged documents in relation to a defamation lawsuit by the state’s former governor, Phil Bryant, against the nonprofit and three of its employees is a threat to press freedom, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday.
Mississippi Today appealed on June 6 to Mississippi Supreme Court to overturn the May 20 order in a precedent-setting case for the First Amendment protection reporters’ privilege in the southern state.
“We are outraged by former Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant’s attempt to discredit Mississippi Today’s Pulitzer-prize winning reporting that revealed his corrupt practices,” said CPJ U.S., Canada and Caribbean Program Coordinator Katherine Jacobsen. “It is dangerous and deeply disturbing that Bryant’s team is seeking to compel Mississippi Today to turn over troves of its privileged documents, including reporting materials.”
The defamation lawsuit relates to the outlet’s 2022 Pulitzer Prize-winning “The Backchannel” investigation into a $77 million welfare scandal that revealed how Bryant used his office to benefit his family and friends.
Bryant sued Mississippi Today and its CEO Mary Margaret White in July 2023, arguing that the series defamed him, and added editor-in-chief Adam Ganucheau and reporter Anna Wolfe as defendants in May 2024, according to an editor’s note on the outlet’s website.
In last month’s ruling, the judge gave Mississippi Today a deadline of June 6 to turn over its internal documents, which could include source material, the news platform Semafor reported.
In his editor’s note, Ganucheau wrote that Bryant had “attempted to use this lawsuit to as a vehicle to go back in time and obtain unconditional access to all of our internal documents, including notes and interviews with sources regarding ‘The Backchannel’ — despite never raising questions about the original investigation and long missing deadlines to challenge it in court.”
Defamation, whose purpose is to protect an individual’s reputation from false statements, is being weaponized globally to shield powerful individuals from criticism. Legal attacks on journalists — often dubbed lawfare — are often effective in compromising their safety, silencing public interest reporting, and eroding trust in the press.
Judge Aileen Cannon has officially been on the documents case for a year, and legal experts are saying that they are shocked she still has a job. These experts have been so repulsed by the behavior of Judge Cannon that they now believe she’s no longer fit to serve on the bench at all. And […]
June 10, 2024, New Delhi—The Committee to Protect Journalists on Monday called on Delhi Police to drop its retaliatory investigation into three journalists from The Caravan magazine and instead prosecute those who assaulted them during the 2020 Delhi riots.
Shahid Tantray, Prabhjit Singh, and an unnamed female colleague, who were attacked almost four years ago, discovered this month that the police had also opened an investigation into them on suspicion of promoting communal enmity and outraging the modesty of a woman, The Caravan reported.
On August 11, 2020, a mob attacked the journalists in northeast Delhi while they were reporting on the Delhi riots, the capital’s worst communal violence in decades, in which more than 50 people died, mostly Muslims. For about 90 minutes, the attackers slapped and kicked the journalists, used communal slurs, made death threats, and sexually harassed the woman, until they were rescued by the police, The Caravan said. The journalists filed complaints later that day, it said.
But The Caravan has since found out that the police first lodged a First Information Report (FIR) — a document opening an investigation — against the journalists on August 14 based on a complaint by an unnamed woman. An hour later on August 14, the police then registered the three journalists’ FIR, based on their complaints filed three days earlier.
“The police has informed us that our FIR is being considered a ‘counter FIR,’” The Caravan said, adding that it had not been given a certified copy of the FIR against its staff because of its “sensitive nature.”
“The Delhi Police’s actions against The Caravan journalists, based on a secret document that has not even been shared with them, are deeply troubling. This is a clear attempt to retaliate against journalists who were themselves the victims of a violent mob. The opacity surrounding the entire process is unacceptable,” said Kunal Majumder, CPJ’s India representative. “The Delhi Police must ensure a genuine, unbiased investigation into the attack on these journalists, instead of targeting them for doing their work by reporting on terrible sectarian bloodshed. Transparency and justice are paramount to uphold press freedom and democratic values in India.”
The journalists did not find out about the case against them until June 3 when the police sent a notice to Singh’s former residence asking him to help with an investigation into the three journalists, which he did, according to multiplenews reports.
“The allegations in the FIR are absolutely false and fabricated,” The Caravan said, adding that it had not been informed of any police action to follow up on its journalists’ complaint.
Joy Tirkey, Deputy Commissioner of Police for Northeast Delhi, did not respond to CPJ’s email requesting comment.
The Department of Labor and OSHA are conducting an investigation into the death of a 16-year old at a poultry processing plant. Also, as lawmakers in Washington ban TikTok in the United States, angry constituents are lobbing death threats at them. Mike Papantonio & Farron Cousins discuss more. Transcript: *This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so […]
Berlin, June 10, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists joined seven international press freedom organizations in urging Slovak members of parliament on Monday to reject the proposed public service broadcasting bill scheduled for parliamentary review next week.
The statement says that despite modifications, the bill still allows the government to politicize the public broadcaster, which would fatally compromise its independence. Therefore, it is contrary to the European Media Freedom Act’s provisions on the independence of public media.
Referring to the recent shooting of Prime Minister Robert Fico in the background of a polarized society, the statement says that the “need for pluralistic and independent public media, that can facilitate debate across the political spectrum in a time of crisis, has never been greater.”
New reports have revealed that the company that operated the vessel that struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore have a history of punishing whistleblowers who point out safety violations by the company. Then, the state of Florida has passed a major new law that limits social media use for children, banning popular apps […]
Parents in Connecticut are absolutely irate after an elementary school teacher was spared a jail sentence, even after the former teacher was accused of sexually assaulting students. Also, President Biden is taking on the issue of corporate price gouging, and consumers desperately need some relief. Mike Papantonio & Farron Cousins discuss more. Transcript: *This transcript was generated by […]
The website of the Columbia Law Review was taken down by its board of directors on Monday after student editors refused a request from the board to halt the publication of an academic article written by Palestinian human rights lawyer Rabea Eghbariah titled “Toward Nakba as a Legal Concept.” The article argues for the Nakba to be developed as a unique legal framework, related to but distinct from other processes defined under modern international law, including apartheid and genocide. This is not the first time that Eghbariah’s legal scholarship has been censored by an Ivy League institution. The Harvard Law Review last year refused to publish a similar, shorter article it had solicited from Eghbariah even after it was initially accepted, fully edited and fact-checked. Eghbariah calls the abrupt rejection of his work “offensive,” “unprofessional” and “discriminatory,” and says “it is really unfortunate to see how this is playing out and the extent to which the board of directors is willing to go to shut down and silence Palestinian scholarship. … What are they afraid of? Of Palestinians narrating their own reality, speaking their own truth?”
This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
America’s Lawyer E100: Universities across the country have joined forces with Big Pharma to make sure that you can’t afford your prescription drugs – we’ll explain how that’s happening. A new study has found that the chemicals in vaping liquid are causing an enormous amount of health problems that could result in permanent damage to […]
Miami, June 3, 2024– The Committee to Protect Journalists urges Haiti’s Superior Council of the Judiciary, the country’s judiciary oversight body, to provide judge Jean Michelet Séide with the necessary resources and protections to conclude his investigation into the October 2022 murder of radio journalist Garry Tesse.
Last month, the council appointed Séide to take over the case from judge Robert Jourdain, who requested to be removed due to threats he received. Séide has requested protection from the council due to the sensitivity of several cases he is handling, including the Tesse murder, according to local news site Van Béf Info.
Despite the appointment of a new judge, the case remains in the hands of local prosecutor Ronald Richemond, who is accused by a key witness of involvement in the murder.
Under Haitian law the judge has exclusive control over the investigation, including collecting evidence and summoning witnesses to testify. But it’s the prosecutor who handles the trial phase.
Several weeks before Tesse was found dead in the southern city of Les Cayes, the journalist had gone on his show on Radio Le Bon FM to accuse Richemond, a political appointee, of plotting to have him killed.
“Haiti’s Superior Council of the Judiciary must guarantee that judge Jean Michelet Séide can investigate the circumstances around Tesse’s murder without fear for his own safety,” said CPJ U.S., Canada, and Caribbean program coordinator Katherine Jacobsen in Washington, D.C. “A transparent and fair investigation into Tesse’s killing would be an important step in ending impunity in this and other cases, and help bolster the rule of law in Haiti at a critical time.”
Jacobsen added that CPJ “welcomes the appointment of a new Prime Minister, Garry Conille, and encourages him to review the handling of the case by the Ministry of Justice.”
Richemond has not responded to CPJ’s repeated requests for comment in relation to the case. The prosecutor issued a video statement on Facebook three days after Tesse’s body was found in which he rejected the accusations of his involvement in the killing.
The killing of the 39-year-old journalist sparked outrage and street protests. But the investigation into his death has languished, leading his family and friends to accuse the local government of a cover-up. His brother, Vano Tesse, told CPJ that the family is waiting to meet with the new judge and is hopeful that Richemond will be replaced. “We believe that justice will prevail,” he said.
Haiti has slid into virtual lawlessness and gang rule following the assassination of the country’s president Jovenel Moïse in 2021. The case exemplifies a long-running problem in Haiti’s justice system, which has a low conviction rate as investigations are impeded by a toxic mix of corruption, political influence, cumbersome bureaucracy and fear of reprisals against the judiciary. At least six Haitian journalists have been murdered in direct reprisal for their work since Moïse’s assassination. CPJ has also documented half a dozen kidnappings of journalists in recent months.
Haiti was ranked as the world’s third-worst nation in CPJ’s 2023 Global Impunity Index, which ranks the countries where killers of journalists are most likely to go unpunished.
The state of Minnesota has officially made book bans illegal after Democratic Governor Tim Walz signed a bill that prohibits the banning of books from public libraries based on content, opinions, or subject matter. This ban on book bans comes as Republican-controlled states continue to remove books from school and public libraries because they disagree […]
Lusaka, May 31, 2024—Lesotho authorities should withdraw statements equating media interviews with outlawed music groups to criminal offenses and provide guarantees that journalists will not face arrest for doing their jobs, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday.
During a May 21 press briefing, deputy police commissioner and then-acting head of the police force Mahlape Morai said it was a criminal offense for journalists to publish interviews with Famo music groups, according to a recording of the press briefing reviewed by CPJ, newsreports and astatement by the Lesotho chapter of regional press freedom group Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA).
The announcement was in response to the Minister of Local Government, Chieftainship, Home Affairs, and Police, Lebona Fabian Lephema, declaring 12 Famo music groups “unlawful” and banning them on May 10, according to mediareports and a copy of the government notice reviewed by CPJ.
Famo music groups are known for their popular accordion-based style of music, but the groups have also been accused of acting like rival gangs and engaging in criminal activities, including murder.
Morai clarified during the May 21 press briefing that media outlets may interview members of the group, but “sharing that interview with the nation” would be promoting “something illegal” and “committing a crime.”
Speaking to CPJ via messaging app, Morai denied saying the media should not cover the Famo groups, and said she only spoke out against promoting them. “In my own words, I said whatever you do, make sure you do not encourage or promote the illegal activities that are done by the Famo,” Morai told CPJ.
“Giving voice to diverse viewpoints is essential to the media’s professional duty, and Lesotho police have no business dictating who journalists may or may not interview,” said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Muthoki Mumo, in Nairobi. “Lesotho authorities must retract statements equating interviewing the outlawed Famo music groups to a crime and desist from any attempts to censor the press.”
CPJ was unable to confirm which section of the law Morai would enforce. Under Lesotho’s 1984 Internal Security Act — which empowers the home affairs minister to outlaw groups accused of subversive activity and outline penalties for supporting such groups — those convicted of soliciting financial or other support for these groups could face between five and 20 years imprisonment and fines up to 100,000 maloti (US$5,340).
Police Commissioner Borotho Matsoso, who was appointed on May 23, told CPJ on May 28 that he was not in a position to give an interview and requested that he be reached the following week. Lephema did not respond to CPJ’s repeated calls and messages with questions about the case.
