The Australian Embassy in Beijing revealed on August 31 the arrest without official cause of the famous economic news presenter, Cheng Lei , an Australian of Chinese origin working for the state audio-visual group China Global Television Network (CGTN). The Chinese authorities have since confirmed that the journalist has been placed, for more than two weeks already, under “residential surveillance in a designated place” (RSDL), a euphemism which refers to incommunicado detention in “black prisons” where the detainees are. deprived of their rights and at risk of being subjected to torture
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko warmly thanked the Russian channel RT (ex- Russia Today ) on Tuesday 1 September for its help. “Russian specialists” indeed came to replace employees of public television in Belarus, the day after their strike movement initiated on August 17
While 90% of those responsible for crimes against journalists around the world go unpunished, the hearings that are starting in Paris are an important step in the fight against this impunity
A Comando of Faes (Fuerzas de Acciones Especiales), the Venezuelan special action forces, broke into Friday August 21 at Frankie Torres, director of the local channel La Guacamaya TV which hosts the recording studio at his home, located in Cabimas, in the state of Zulia (north-west of the country)
The Kyrgyz State Committee for National Security, or GKNB, said it received assurances from their Uzbek partners that Abdullayev would not be ill-treated. The journalist reported being subjected to physical and torture after his arrest in September 2017
An arson attack on a car used by an RFE/RL investigative team has been captured on surveillance cameras. The attack came days after a journalist belonging to the same team claimed to have found possible evidence of surveillance equipment in his apartment. In January, the car of an RFE/RL journalist
Jimmy Lai , 71, the founder of the Hong Kong pro-democracy daily Apple Daily , was arrested at his home on the morning of August 10, 2020 on charges of “collusion with foreign powers”
Security forces thwarted the July 31 protests against corruption and poverty,arresting Chin’ono and an opposition leader. South Africa is sendingenvoys to Zimbabwe to investigate reports of escalating rightsabuses,which the government denies
Since the onset of the health crisis, which affected more than a million people and caused more than 21,000 deaths in Africa, RSF has already recorded more than a hundred press freedom attacks in connection with the coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic across the entire African continent. Zimbabwe alone has a quarter of the violations recorded, including a dozen arbitrary arrests , and ranks among the most repressive countries in this area
Qatari TV has rejected the accusations: but the whole affair is a sign of the conflict that has arisen between the government and journalists. Yet Reporter Sans Frontieres (RSF), the largest organization to defend press freedom, recently wrote that “after the surprise defeat of the party of ex-premier Najib Razak in May 2018, a breath of fresh air began to blow on the freedom of the press; the blacklisted journalists and mass media were able to resume their activity and the general environment in which the journalists operate has significantly eased; self-censorship has shrunk enormously and the country’s publications now present much more balanced views between the opposition and the majority”.