Tag Archives: writers/journalists

Ideology + Affiliation

China News | Writers & Dissidents

More than a dozen detained in Chinese witch-hunt for Xi-critical letter author
  • After a letter calling for President Xi Jinping’s resignation was published by Wujie News, Chinese security forces detained four members of the staff.
  • The secret detentions have expanded to suspected writers and their families, though all have denied writing the letter and knowledge of its origins.
  • After a period of silence, Wujie has returned to publishing, although only articles from the main state-run news agencies now appear.

Read more:
“China Said to Detain Several Over Letter Criticizing Xi” (The New York Times)
“China ‘detained 20 over Xi resignation letter’” (BBC)
“People ‘taken away’ as investigation into letter calling for Xi resignation widens” (The Washington Post)

(Image Credit: Damir Sagolj/Reuters, via The New York Times)

Ideology + Affiliation

Mexico News | Journalists

Sharp uptick in attacks on journalists in Mexico in 2015
  • There were 397 attacks against journalists reported in Mexico in 2015, a 22% increase over 2014 and the most violent year on record, according to a report by an international media advocacy group.
  • Most prevalent in Mexico city and the southern state of Veracruz, the attacks, which included seven murders, involved public officials 41.5% of the time.
  • The year was also a record for attacks on women journailsts, with 84 incidents having been reported.

Read more:
“A Mexican Journalist Is Attacked Every 22 Hours: Report” (teleSUR English)
“Mexico’s Media Faced a Record Number of Violent Attacks in 2015” (VICE News)
“Media group: Attacks on Mexico journalists up 22 pct in 2015” (AP via Yahoo! News)

(Image Credit: Reuters, via teleSUR English)

Ideology + Affiliation

Turkey News | Journalists

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Independent TV channel pulled from Turkish airwaves over alleged terrorism propaganda
  • IMC TV was pulled from the air in the middle of an interview with Can Dundar and Erdem Gul, two Turkish journalists recently freed after intense public outcry over their arrest.
  • State-owned Turksat, Turkey’s satellite provider, shuttered the channel at the request of an Ankara prosecutor leading an investigation over sympathy towards the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK).
  • The blackout occurs as the Turkish government continues to crack down on critical media, including IMC’s extensive coverage of the Kurdish conflict, opposition politicians, and environmental protests.

Read more:
“İMC TV goes off air after prosecutor sends Türksat suspension order” (Today’s Zaman)
“Turkey turns off independent TV channel on ‘terrorist’ charge” (Reuters)

(Image Credit: via Today’s Zaman)

Ideology + Affiliation

Uganda News | Journalists

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Journalists in Uganda experience harassment as elections near
  • Foreign and domestic journalists alike have reported harassment by Ugandan law enforcement and government officials while reporting on government-related stories.
  • Last Saturday, a BBC journalist was allegedly detained and ordered to delete footage of a decaying government hospital, though she and her team were eventually released.
  • Domestic journalists, particularly those in less urban areas, have been given official warning and had their licenses revoked over the last year, with the country set for elections on February 18 as President Yoweri Musaveni looks to extend his 30-year rule.

Read more:
“Pressure mounts on Ugandan journalists as election nears: campaigner” (Reuters)
“Journalists without degrees barred from covering Parliament” (The Daily Monitor)
“Parliament Withdraws Office Space from Journalists” (Uganda Radio Network)

(Image Credit: The Daily Monitor)

Ideology + Affiliation

Turkey News | Journalists

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Turkish journalists face espionage and pro-terrorism charges after publishing investigative report
  • Can Dundar and Erdem Gul face the possibility of life imprisonment without parole for publishing a report alleging Turkish officials sent weapons to aid opposition fighters in Syria.
  • Cumhuriyet, a secular opposition newspaper led by Dundar, published the report including photos and video of the alleged weapons delivery in May 2015.
  • PM Tayyep Erdogan confirmed that the photos showed trucks belonging to Turkey’s intelligence agency but insisted they were delivering aid to the embattled Turkmen minority in Syria.

Read more:
“Turkish court to seek life without parole for prominent journalists” (Reuters)
“Detained Turkish reporters defiant over espionage claim” (BBC)

(Image Credit: Murad Sezer/Reuters)

Ideology + Affiliation, Nationality + Migration

Egypt News | Foreign Intellectuals

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Italian student found dead in Cairo after writing article critical of government
  • Giulio Regeni, a 28-year-old graduate student at the University of Cambridge, was found dead alongside a road outside Cairo with cigarette burns and other signs of torture on his body.
  • Regeni had been conducting research on Egyptian labor rights and had written an article criticizing the Egyptian government’s anti-union stance and lack of press freedom for Il Manifesto, a left-wing newspaper in Rome,.
  • Italy summoned its Egyptian ambassador to discuss the situation, requesting a joint investigation to determine the cause of the student’s murder, which Egyptian authorities have ruled an accident.

Read more:
“Italian student Giulio Regeni found dead in Cairo ‘with signs of torture’” (The Guardian)
“Italian student Giulio Regeni’s body found in Egypt” (BBC)
“Italian student killed in Egypt criticized Cairo govt. in articles” (Reuters)

(Image Credit: Twitter photo, via The Guardian)

Nationality + Migration

Iran News | Iranian-Americans

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Iranian government releases five Americans as U.S. sanctions lifted
  • Four of the released, including Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian, were dual Iranian-American citizens released as part of a U.S.-Iran prisoner exchange.
  • A fifth American, student Matthew Trevithick, was released separately.
  • The exchange comes as the U.S. lifts its sanctions as a part of its agreement with Iran to halt its nuclear development program.

Read more:
“Iran Frees 4 Americans, Including Jason Rezaian, in Prisoner Swap” (The New York Times)
“Iran frees Post reporter Jason Rezaian, 4 other Americans, officials say” (The Washington Post)
“Iran separately releases fifth American: U.S. official” (Reuters)

(Image Credit: Zoeann Murphy/The Washington Post, via The New York Times)

Ideology + Affiliation, Nationality + Migration

China News | Foreign Journalists

French journalist denied credentials, expelled from China following controversial article
  • China’s foreign ministry refused to renew the press credentials of Ursula Gauthier, a reporter for the French magazine L’Obs, following a controversial article crticizing China’s anti-terrorism policies in Xinjiang.
  • Chinese officials accused her of sympathizing with terrorists and demanded a public apology from her, which lead to the credential revocation when she refused.
  • Although China’s domestic press is heavily regulated, foreign press have typically had considerably more freedom to report on controversial topics, with the last foreign reporter expelled in 2012.

Read more:
“Plane carrying expelled French reporter leaves China” (France 24)
“French journalist forced to leave China after article on troubled Xinjiang” (Reuters)
“French media denounce expulsion of straight talking China correspondent” (RFI)

(Image Credit: Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)

Ideology + Affiliation

Bangladesh News | Secularist Writers

Secular Bangladeshi book publisher murdered, three others attacked in separate incidents in Dhaka
  • Faisal Abedin Deepan, a publisher affiliated with the Jagriti Prokashoni publishing house, was hacked to death in the Bangladeshi capital.
  • Publisher Ahmed Rahim Tutul was attacked at his home along with writers Ranadipam Basu and Tareq Rahim in a separate incident.
  • Both publishers had published work by Bangladeshi-American blogger Avijit Roy, who was murdered earlier in the year in a spate of attacks on secular bloggers.

Read more:
“Avijit’s publisher Dipan slaughtered” (Dhaka Tribune)
“Avijit Roy’s publisher, 2 bloggers hacked in Dhaka” (Dhaka Tribune)
“Secular publisher hacked to death in Bangladesh” (The Guardian)

(Image Credit: Zakir Hossain Chowdhury/Zuma Press/Corbis, via the Guardian)

Ideology + Affiliation

Morocco News | Dissident Intellectuals

Moroccan professor faces charges for government criticism as hunger strike ends
  • Maati Monjib, a writer and professor of political history and African studies, is charged with receiving foreign funds with the intent of undermining Moroccan institutions and national security.
  • Monjib ended his hunger strike after the government lifted the travel ban placed on him, though he has indicated that he will resume should government harassment continue.
  • Monjib faces up to five years in prison for his work with the Ibn Rochd (Averroes) Institute and the Moroccan Association of Investigative Journalism (AMJI), which received funding from Netherlands-based human rights organizations.

Read more:
“Moroccan intellectual suspends hunger strike, faces charges: lawyer” (Reuters)
“Maroc : l’historien et militant Maâti Monjib cesse sa grève de la faim” (Jeune Afrique, AFP)
“Maroc: Maati Monjib dénonce le harcèlement des autorités” (RFI)

(Image Credit: Stringer/Reuters)

Ideology + Affiliation, Nationality + Migration

Iran News | American Journalist

Washington Post reporter convicted of espionage in Iran
  • Iranian-American reporter Jason Rezaian faces up to 20 years in prison after the ruling, though the Post and Rezaian’s legal counsel are now working to appeal the verdict.
  • Iranian state media alleged that Rezaian had come to Iran to expose Iranian businesses and individuals who were circumventing U.S. sanctions.
  • Rezain was detained by Iranian authorities in July 2014, held without charge for months, and subjected to a legal process criticized by supporters and human rights groups as opaque and inhumane.

Read more:
“Iran says Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian convicted” (AP)
“Washington Post’s Jason Rezaian Convicted In Iran” (BuzzFeed News)
“What you need to know about the Jason Rezaian trial” (Washington Post)

(Image Credit: Twitter photo, via BuzzFeed News)

Ideology + Affiliation

Turkey News | Journalists

Turkish journalist attacked outside home
  • Ahmet Hakan, a prominent government critic and journalist affiliated with secular media organizations Hürriyet and CNN Turk, was followed home by four men and beaten.
  • The event followed an attack on Hurriyet offices by nearly 100 government sympathizers last month after being accused of supporting the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), with whom the government is locked in conflict.
  • The anti-journalist climate in Turkey has led Reporters Without Borders to rank the country 149th out of 180 countries for press freedom.

Read more:
“Anti-government Turkish journalist injured in Istanbul attack” (AFP, via Yahoo! News)
“Attack on Hürriyet columnist condemned after latest blow to press freedom in Turkey” (Hürriyet News Daily)
“Document shows gov’t ignored attacked journalist Hakan’s security request” (Hürriyet News Daily)
“Hürriyet attacked again after gov’t fails to condemn first attack” (Today’s Zaman)

(Image Credit: Bulent Kilic/AFP, via Yahoo! News)

Ideology + Affiliation, Nationality + Migration

Egypt News | Mexicans & Journalists

Egypt muzzles journalists during investigation of killing of Mexican tourists
  • Eight Mexican tourists and their Egyptian guides were killed by Egyptian security forces after allegedly being mistaken for insurgents.
  • International and domestic journalists have been banned from covering the investigation into the incident, leading to criticisms of a lack of transparency.
  • Human rights organizations have condemned Egypt’s military operations in the Western Sahara and Sinai Peninsula, arguing that civilian deaths have been endemic.

“Usually when there is such a ban on publication it has do with very tough cases where one could find evidence or embarrassing information about the involvement of some government high officials or military strongmen.”

Read the full story at the New York Times.

(Image Credit: Mohamed El-Shahed/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images, via The New York Times)

Ideology + Affiliation

Kazakhstan News | Journalists

Three-month suspension of independent magazine in Kazakhstan raises press freedom alarms
  • Adam (Person) magazine, known for its critique of President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s administration, was handed a three-month suspension by the government for publishing only in Russian when it claimed to publish in both the Russian and Kazakh languages.
  • Press freedom watchdogs claim such bureaucratic tactics are frequently used to shutter independent journalism, with Kazakhstan sitting at 160th among the 177 countries ranked by Reporters Without Borders.
  • The suspension follows a libel conviction likely to bankrupt an independent journalist for reporting on alleged corruption in the city of Almaty’s construction industry.

“In Kazakhstan the closure of any media outlet is a matter decided by political bodies. … Of course this is connected to politics.”

Read the full story at EurasiaNet.

Ideology + Affiliation

Turkey News | Journalists

VICE reporters face terrorism charges in Turkey
  • Four journalists affiliated with VICE News –two British, one locally based, and one unknown–were detained by Turkish anti-terrorism forces for covering the conflict between the government and the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK).
  • The journalists had their equipment seized after they filming clashes between police and PKK supporters.
  • Because Turkey considers the PKK a terrorist organization, the government has obstructed the work of journalists attempting to contact or cover the group.

“It is completely proper that that journalists should cover this important story. … The decision to detain the journalists was wrong, while the allegation of assisting Islamic state is unsubstantiated, outrageous and bizarre.”

Read the full story at BuzzFeed News.

(Image Credit: Ilyas Akengin/AFP/ Getty Images)