Reporters Without Borders (RSF)

An October mission comprising IFEX members and other rights groups found that Malta was failing in its obligations to safeguard freedom of expression and called for a public inquiry into Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder

The investigation should determine the circumstances surrounding Saudi Arabia’s role in the enforced disappearance and possible killing of Khashoggi, urge the Committee to Protect Journalists, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and Reporters Without Borders.

After two years in jail, Vietnamese blogger Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh was released by the government and immediately exiled to the United States.

Charged with criminal defamation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, journalist Sylvanie Kiaku remains behind bars as she is unable to raise the US$1000 bail.

Following a four-year hate campaign directed at investigative reporter Jessikka Aro, two pro-Kremlin activists were handed prison terms by a Finnish court and ordered to pay 90,000 euros in damages.

The alarming number of deaths is a reminder of the urgent need to provide journalists with more protection. RSF is calling for the creation of a Special Representative of the United Nations secretary-general.

Khashoggi’s disappearance has come amid a particularly harsh and opaque crackdown on Saudi journalists and bloggers.

The public inquiry must be completely independent of the Maltese police, government and politicians, and it should be conducted by a panel of respected international judges with no political or government links.