Reporters Without Borders (RSF)

RSF is deeply saddened to learn that an explosive device killed French journalist Stephan Villeneuve and Iraqi Kurdish journalist Bakhtiar Haddad while they were covering Iraqi counter-terrorist operations in Mosul.

Ten years after radio journalist Serge Maheshe’s murder in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the real perpetrators and instigators have yet to be arrested.

RSF is appalled to learn that the Ferghana website can no longer be accessed in Kyrgyzstan as a result of court-ordered blocking, which it condemns as an unwarranted act of censorship unworthy of Kyrgyz democracy.

“Although this verdict constitutes a first step in rendering justice for the murdered [Syrian journalist Naji Jerf], we condemn the failure [of Turkey] to involve the family in the trial,” said RSF.

The Huthi and allied forces should immediately and unconditionally release ten Yemeni journalists detained arbitrarily without charge or trial, said nine NGOs, on the second anniversary of their detention.

Are the authorities trying to hide what is going on in the Rif? According to the information so far gathered by RSF, two journalists have been arrested and three have gone into hiding in the past few days, while an Algerian journalist has been deported.

After an Azerbaijani journalist was spirited away from Georgia, rights groups say the country must back up its previous statements on enforced disappearances.

As President Trump visited Saudi Arabia, repression hit new highs throughout the Middle East. But, though the level of repression to stamp out dissent may be new, the excuse was a very familiar one.