‘Living in fear’: Exiled Afghan journalists face arrest, hunger in Pakistan

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Many exiled Afghan journalists are still in limbo more than 18 months after the Taliban seized power, forcing hundreds of thousands of Afghans to flee as the Taliban cracked down on the country’s previously vibrant independent media landscape.

Exiled journalists unable to move beyond neighboring Pakistan are in increasingly dire straits. Unable to find jobs without work authorization, their visas are running out as they struggle with the snail-paced process of resettlement to a third country.

CPJ spoke with six exiled Afghan journalists in Pakistan who are facing visa issues. Read more about their experiences in CPJ’s new in-depth article.

Also this week, CPJ published security insights and tips featuring journalists’ experiences reporting in the West Bank, the factors driving the increasing violence in the area, and how media workers can protect themselves.

Global press freedom updates

• CPJ to release report on the state of press freedom in the European Union
• CPJ joins call for Armenia to amend draft law allowing comprehensive wartime censorship
• In Belarus, Infa-Kurier newspaper stops publication following ‘extremist’ label
• Documentary filmmaker Shahida Tulaganova denied entry to Uzbekistan
• Journalist Victor Ticay arrested over coverage of Easter ceremony in Nicaragua
• Journalist Karol Noro?a leaves Ecuador after death threat
• CPJ calls on Maldives authorities to swiftly investigate threats against two journalists
• Bangladeshi journalist Ayub Meahzi attacked, thrown off building
• Jailed Vietnamese journalist Nguyen Lan Thang faces anti-state charges
• Sierra Leone journalist Alie Melvin Tokowa beaten while filming political dispute
• Congolese journalist Mills Tshibangu detained overnight in defamation case
• South African journalists attacked, threatened, harassed in separate incidents
• Lebanese authorities summon two journalists in separate cases

Spotlight

As journalists from around the world gather at the International Journalism Festival in Perugia, CPJ is delighted to join a diverse group of voices debating and exploring key challenges and solutions to press freedom and related issues. All of the panels will be livestreamed on IGF’s YouTube channel. Here are some key sessions that CPJ is participating in that we invite you to watch or attend.

• April 20: “Legal threats hampering media freedom,” marking the launch of Thomson Reuters Foundation and Columbia University’s Press Freedom Legal Trends Report, this session will feature a conversation between Joel Simon and Antonio Zappulla, followed by a panel discussion including CPJ President Jodie Ginsberg, Lina Attalah, Will Church, and Chile Eboe-Osuji.
• April 20: “Lawfare: Weaponisation of the law against journalists, and fighting back,” chaired by Jonathan Price, will feature CPJ’s President speaking with Matthew Caruana Galizia, Caoilfhionn Gallagher, and Maria Ressa on April 20.
• April 22: “Can governments save independent journalism? Will they? Should they?,” will feature panelists Ginsberg, Rasmus Nielsen, and Meera Selva.
• April 22: “Declining trust in media: A journalist safety issue,” moderated by CPJ’s Emergency Director Lucy Westcott, and includes Brian Stelter, Eduardo Suarez, and Elodie Vialle.
• April 22: “Press Freedom is Your Freedom,” a special evening featuring Sevgil Musaieva, editor-in-chief of Ukrainska Pravda and one of CPJ’s 2022 International Press Freedom Awardees, is organized by CPJ and Human Rights Watch.

What we are reading

• ‘Chilling effect’: Arrest of journalist makes covering Russia even tougher —?Michael M. Grynbaum, The New York Times
• Experts warn of new spyware threat targeting journalists and political figures – Stephanie Kirchgaessner, The Guardian
• The covert mission to solve a Mexican journalist’s murder — Melissa del Bosque, The New Yorker
• Free Evan, prosecute the hostage takers —?Joel Simon, Columbia Journalism Review
• Local journalists covering shootings share their pain on air — Azi Paybarah and Jayne Orenstein, The Washington Post

So far in 2023…

At least five journalists have been killed in relation to their work. Explore our database of attacks on the press and apply filters to examine trends.

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