Indian journalists attacked on the ground and surveilled online
Demonstrators and police in India have attacked journalists covering protests across the country following the introduction of the Citizenship Amendment Act in December 2019. Some media workers have reported that they have been asked about their religious identity and others have been forced to delete pictures and videos from their phones. Journalists covering the protests…
#FreeAzimjon
Tweet your support! In #Kyrgyzstan, journalist Azimjon Askarov was sentenced to life in prison simply for doing his job–he should be freed immediately #FreeAzimjon More than nine years after sentencing Azimjon Askarov to life in prison, Kyrgyzstan continues to resist international calls for his immediate release. After the U.N. Human Rights Committee called on Kyrgyzstan…
Azimjon Askarov
#FreeThePress Azimjon Askarov Tweet: In #Kyrgyzstan, journalist Azimjon Askarov was sentenced to life in prison simply for doing his job–he should be freed immediately #freethepress Seven years after sentencing Azimjon Askarov to life in prison, Kyrgyzstan continues to resist international calls for his immediate release. After the U.N. Human Rights Committee called on Kyrgyzstan to…
Kyrgyzstan must free jailed journalist Azimjon Askarov, UN committee says
In a milestone decision announced today in Geneva, the U.N. Human Rights Committee called on Kyrgyzstan to immediately release Azimjon Askarov, a journalist sentenced to life in prison in September 2010. The U.N. body issued its decision after reviewing a complaint filed in November 2012 by Askarov’s lawyer, Nurbek Toktakunov, and a team of experts…
CPJ welcomes renewed probe into Askarov’s case
New York, April 30, 2014–The Committee to Protect Journalists commends today’s decision by Oktyabrsky District Court in Kyrgyzstan’s capital, Bishkek, to renew the investigation into the case of imprisoned journalist and rights defender Azimjon Askarov, who was imprisoned in 2010 in retaliation for his work exposing official wrongdoing.
Kyrgyz official urged to address Askarov case
Kyrgyzstan has endured a turbulent past and continues to face significant challenges, but its leaders are committed to a democratic future, Djoomart Otorbayev, the nation’s deputy prime minister, told human rights and press freedom advocates in New York this week. The country still grapples with the repercussions of the brutal June 2010 ethnic conflict that…
A litmus test for Kyrgyzstan’s anti-corruption campaign
Campaigners from local rights activists to U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay are urging Kyrgyz authorities to review the case of Azimjon Askarov, an investigative reporter and human rights activist serving a life sentence in Kyrgyzstan.
CPJ Impact
News from the Committee to Protect Journalists, June 2012East African journalists flee violence CPJ’s Journalists in Exile report, released on June 19 ahead of World Refugee Day, found that African reporters fleeing violence in their countries make up nearly half of the 463 journalists forced into exile over the past five years. More than a…
CPJ urges Kyrgyzstan to release Azimjon Askarov
Dear President Atambayev: The Committee to Protect Journalists is writing to bring to your attention a new report we have issued on Azimjon Askarov, an investigative journalist and human rights defender who was sentenced in September 2010 to life in prison. CPJ’s review of Askarov’s case, outlined in the attached report, has found that his probe and trial were marred by numerous procedural violations, including his torture in custody and the lack of any evidence implicating him in criminal activity.
CPJ calls for release of jailed reporters in Central Asia
World leaders must hold Central Asian regimes responsible for denying global access to information by throwing critical reporters behind bars, CPJ Eurasia researcher Muzaffar Suleymanov told the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe at a briefing Tuesday on political prisoners in Central Asia.