WAIT, WHAT?!
Zelenskyy on surveillance of journalists: Ukraine's Security Service will investigate
SUNDAY, 21 JANUARY 2024,
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stated that the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) will investigate the illegal surveillance of Ukrainian journalists and find those responsible.
Source: Zelenskyy in an interview for British TV programme Channel 4 News
Details: The interviewer asked Zelenskyy about the situation concerning independent journalists in Ukraine who have been "intimidated, some of them physically".
Quote: "A criminal case was opened right away – this is very important. I summoned the head of the Security Service of Ukraine and got the details from the Prosecutor General. Some people might say: ‘Well, there was some video recording of journalists, but nothing happened.’ I think something did happen. And we have to find all the answers. So the Security Service will investigate this and solve the case."
More details: The question about intimidation may have been referring to the situation around journalist Yurii Nikolov. But the President’s reply about the "video recording of journalists" indicates that he was talking about the illegal surveillance conducted against the team from the investigative journalism project Bihus.Info.
Background:
- On 16 January, a video was leaked online showing employees of the Bihus.Info investigative project apparently using drugs. The project's head, Denys Bihus, recorded a video message giving explanations and stated that everyone who works with Bihus.Info would take drug tests.
- Later, Bihus said that after talking to the people involved in the video, it transpired that members of the Bihus.Info editorial team had been under surveillance for about a year, and that fragments of intercepted conversations had been edited together from several episodes that took place months apart.
- The Security Service of Ukraine has reported that it is investigating the circumstances of the illegal bugging and filming of Bihus.Info staff. A criminal investigation has been opened under Article 359 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (illegal acquisition, sale or use of special technical devices for obtaining information).
- On 17 January, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a meeting with law enforcement officials, including Vasyl Maliuk, the head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU), to discuss the surveillance of the Bihus.Info journalists.
- Yurii Nikolov, an investigative journalist, has claimed that unknown people broke into his house on 14 January in an attempt to intimidate him. Anonymous Telegram channels have posted a video of some men knocking on his apartment door and threatening him.
- On 21 January, the Prosecutor’s Office stated that Kyiv's law enforcement agencies had identified the individuals who broke into Nikolov’s home in order to impede his work.
- Greece: SLAPP lawsuit against media and journalists must be dropped
Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
21 January 2024
Joint Statements
Athens, Greece, 27 January 2023. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis delivers a speech during a parliamentary debate on a vote of no confidence against the government, over a wiretap scandal in which top officials and journalists were targeted by state intelligence for months. ARIS MESSINIS/AFP via Getty Images
Ahead of the first court hearing, press freedom groups call on Grigoris Dimitriadis, the PM's nephew, to withdraw his groundless defamation suit against journalists and media.
This statement was originally published on cpj.org on 19 January 2024.
The undersigned international freedom of expression and media freedom organisations today renew our condemnation of a groundless defamation lawsuit filed against Greek journalists and media by Grigoris Dimitriadis, the nephew of the Prime Minister, and urge the plaintiff to urgently withdraw the lawsuit ahead of an upcoming hearing.
With the first hearing due at an Athens court of First Instance on 25 January, 2024 after a year-and-a-half delay, our organisations restate our shared characterisation of this lawsuit as a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) – a vexatious effort to muzzle investigative reporting on Dimitriadis’ links to the Greek spyware scandal.
The claim by Dimitriadis – who belongs to the powerful Mitsotakis family – was filed on 5 August 2022 against newspaper EFSYN and online investigative portal Reporters United and their reporters Nikolas Leontopoulos and Thodoris Chondrogiannos, plus freelance journalist Thanasis Koukakis. It demands compensation of €250,000 from EFSYN, €150,000 from Reporters United and its journalists. Dimitriadis also demanded that Koukakis, a journalist targeted with spyware, take down his sharing of Reporters United’s investigation on social media, which referred to Dimitriadis and the wiretapping scandal, and pay damages of €150,000. The total amount claimed is €550,000.
The defamation lawsuit was filed on the day Dimitriadis resigned from his position as the general secretary of Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, his uncle. The previous day, EFSYN and Reporters United made revelations about Dimitriadis’ connection to the surveillance scandal at a time when he oversaw the National Intelligence Agency. On June 3, another joint report had provided evidence Dimitriadis was connected to a network of businesspeople and companies linked directly or indirectly with businessman Felix Bitzios, former deputy administrator and shareholder of the spyware firm Intellexa, which at the time marketed the Predator spyware, which was revealed to have been used by unconfirmed actors to surveil multiple high-profile political and media figures.
After the lawsuit was filed, many of our organisations branded the lawsuit as a startling example of a SLAPP and an attempt to muzzle investigative reporting on a matter of significant public interest. This assessment was supported by the Coalition Against SLAPPs in Europe (CASE). One-and-a-half years on, the frivolous nature of this lawsuit remains, and recent revelations have only further supported the reporting. Rather than being targeted by financially and psychologically draining lawsuits, both Reporters United and EFSYN instead deserve credit for their watchdog reporting.
Our organisations met with journalists from Reporters United during a recent international press freedom mission to Athens in September 2023 to discuss the lawsuit and its impact further. Through the Media Freedom Rapid Response, our organisations are proud to have helped provide support to cover the legal fees of the targeted media outlets and journalists in this court case.
Concerningly, we note that on 24 November 2023, Dimitriadis filed a second lawsuit against many of the same plaintiffs: EFSYN, three executives from the newspaper, as well as three journalists from Reporters United and Thanasis Koukakis. This second lawsuit – totalling €3.3 million for all the defendants – also stems from their reporting on Dimitriadis’ alleged links to the spyware scandal. Another lawsuit was filed against Alter Ego Media, as well as other threats of legal action.
Our organisations stress an alarming pattern of legal efforts to smother journalistic reporting on Dimitriadis’ connections to the spyware scandal. Ahead of the first-instance hearing, we urge Mr. Dimitriadis to withdraw the lawsuit and retract demands for the removal of the article and financial compensation. If the claim is not withdrawn, we urge the court to dismiss the complaint and to recognise the vexatious nature of this lawsuit, the accuracy and public interest of the report, and the pattern of legal intimidation by Mr Dimitriadis against independent journalistic reporting. We ask the judge to carefully assess international freedom of expression standards when making any decision.
Our organisations will continue to monitor the situation closely and report further attacks on the freedom of the press in Greece to international organisations and the European Union. We will also continue to raise SLAPP cases as a matter of concern with the Greek government and its Task Force for journalists’ safety. As the European institutions move to formally approve the EU anti-SLAPP Directive and the Council of Europe anti-SLAPP recommendation, the Greek authorities should take all national measures to ensure that journalists are not silenced by these vexatious lawsuits, in line with European standards. Our organisations remain committed to defending free and independent journalism in Greece and hope for a positive outcome in this case.
Signed
ARTICLE 19 Europe (A19)
Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF)
European Federation of Journalists (EFJ)
Free Press Unlimited (FPU)
International Press Institute (IPI)
OBC Transeuropa (OBCT)
Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO)
Israel surges to 6th place on list of nations
with jailed journalists in 2023
By A.L. Lee
Al Jazeera's bureau chief in Gaza, Wael Al-Dahdouh prays during the funeral of his son Hamza Wael Dahdouh, a journalist with the Al Jazeera television network, who was killed in a reported Israeli air strike in Rafah in the Gaza Strip on Jan. 7. Photo by Ibrahim Al-Khatib/UPI | License Photo
Jan. 19 (UPI) -- Israel has emerged as one of the world's leading jailers of journalists amid the Israel-Hamas war, sharing sixth place with Iran on a list of the most restrictive states on press freedoms, according to a global analysis by a non-profit dedicated to preserving media access.
The 2023 prison census report, published Thursday by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, identified China, Myanmar, Belarus, Russia, and Vietnam as the top five places where journalists are currently incarcerated.
Israel's inclusion in the annual report is not new, but the data indicated a significant increase in arrests of Palestinian journalists in recent months, with its highest ranking to date.
Overall, Israel has detained more than 20 journalists since the war began, but those
Most in Israeli custody are being held in administrative detention, allowing authorities to keep them jailed without formal charges based on mere suspicion that they would commit a future crime.
The legal proceedings are often closed off from public view, making it harder to assess the validity of charges and whether there is due process.
The report breaks down a tally for each nation where hundreds of journalists are languishing in prison for nothing more than doing their jobs, including 44 in China, 43 in Myanmar, and 28 in Belarus, which accounted for 35.8% of incarcerated journalists.
According to the report, the Israeli government is currently holding 17 journalists, a number that was on par with Iran's oppressive regime.
Notably, Iran's position represented a sharp decline from its standing in 2022, when protests gripped the country following the death of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old Kurdish woman who died in Iranian police custody after her arrest for not wearing her hijab properly.
Of the 17 journalists currently jailed in Iran, eight are women, including two female journalists who reported on Amini's death in September 2022, according to the report.
In December, CPJ estimated 320 journalists were imprisoned worldwide, marking the second-highest number jailed since record-keeping began in 1992.
The CPJ investigation reveals that 168 of those currently jailed face bogus charges related to fake news and anti-state activities, including terrorism, as government figures increasingly retaliate against critical media coverage.
In 66 ongoing cases, detained journalists are kept in the dark about the charges they face while being forced to endure harsh conditions as authorities extend pre-trial detention, impeding the efforts of defense attorneys, the report said.
The report also highlighted a growing trend among authoritarian regimes who were taking more extreme measures to silence dissent beyond their borders -- as demonstrated by arrest warrants from Moscow for Russian journalists living abroad, and Ethiopia's extradition of an exiled journalist on terrorism charges after he was arrested in Djibouti.
China has a history of suppressing journalists, making it hard to pinpoint the exact number of imprisoned due to censorship, the report notes.
In recent years, Beijing's crackdown on the media has intensified, the report said.
In 2021, for the first time, journalists from Hong Kong were jailed amid the annual prison census by CPJ following Beijing's passage of a strict national security law amid angry pro-democracy protests.
Beijing is increasingly using anti-state charges to detain journalists on charges of espionage, separatism, or undermining the government. A significant number of those facing charges are ethnic minorities from Xinjiang known as the Uighurs, including 19 journalists detained in 2023.
The report cites many other oppressive measures being used to tamp down dissent, including cruelty and retaliation, exposure to physical and sexual abuse, denial of medical treatment and basic necessities, and travel restrictions.
The report also cited imprisoned journalists in Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Burundi, Cuba, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Iraq, Madagascar, Morocco, Nicaragua, Nigeria, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, and Zambia.
By A.L. Lee
Al Jazeera's bureau chief in Gaza, Wael Al-Dahdouh prays during the funeral of his son Hamza Wael Dahdouh, a journalist with the Al Jazeera television network, who was killed in a reported Israeli air strike in Rafah in the Gaza Strip on Jan. 7. Photo by Ibrahim Al-Khatib/UPI | License Photo
Jan. 19 (UPI) -- Israel has emerged as one of the world's leading jailers of journalists amid the Israel-Hamas war, sharing sixth place with Iran on a list of the most restrictive states on press freedoms, according to a global analysis by a non-profit dedicated to preserving media access.
The 2023 prison census report, published Thursday by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, identified China, Myanmar, Belarus, Russia, and Vietnam as the top five places where journalists are currently incarcerated.
Israel's inclusion in the annual report is not new, but the data indicated a significant increase in arrests of Palestinian journalists in recent months, with its highest ranking to date.
Overall, Israel has detained more than 20 journalists since the war began, but those
Most in Israeli custody are being held in administrative detention, allowing authorities to keep them jailed without formal charges based on mere suspicion that they would commit a future crime.
The legal proceedings are often closed off from public view, making it harder to assess the validity of charges and whether there is due process.
The report breaks down a tally for each nation where hundreds of journalists are languishing in prison for nothing more than doing their jobs, including 44 in China, 43 in Myanmar, and 28 in Belarus, which accounted for 35.8% of incarcerated journalists.
According to the report, the Israeli government is currently holding 17 journalists, a number that was on par with Iran's oppressive regime.
Notably, Iran's position represented a sharp decline from its standing in 2022, when protests gripped the country following the death of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old Kurdish woman who died in Iranian police custody after her arrest for not wearing her hijab properly.
Of the 17 journalists currently jailed in Iran, eight are women, including two female journalists who reported on Amini's death in September 2022, according to the report.
In December, CPJ estimated 320 journalists were imprisoned worldwide, marking the second-highest number jailed since record-keeping began in 1992.
The CPJ investigation reveals that 168 of those currently jailed face bogus charges related to fake news and anti-state activities, including terrorism, as government figures increasingly retaliate against critical media coverage.
In 66 ongoing cases, detained journalists are kept in the dark about the charges they face while being forced to endure harsh conditions as authorities extend pre-trial detention, impeding the efforts of defense attorneys, the report said.
The report also highlighted a growing trend among authoritarian regimes who were taking more extreme measures to silence dissent beyond their borders -- as demonstrated by arrest warrants from Moscow for Russian journalists living abroad, and Ethiopia's extradition of an exiled journalist on terrorism charges after he was arrested in Djibouti.
China has a history of suppressing journalists, making it hard to pinpoint the exact number of imprisoned due to censorship, the report notes.
In recent years, Beijing's crackdown on the media has intensified, the report said.
In 2021, for the first time, journalists from Hong Kong were jailed amid the annual prison census by CPJ following Beijing's passage of a strict national security law amid angry pro-democracy protests.
Beijing is increasingly using anti-state charges to detain journalists on charges of espionage, separatism, or undermining the government. A significant number of those facing charges are ethnic minorities from Xinjiang known as the Uighurs, including 19 journalists detained in 2023.
The report cites many other oppressive measures being used to tamp down dissent, including cruelty and retaliation, exposure to physical and sexual abuse, denial of medical treatment and basic necessities, and travel restrictions.
The report also cited imprisoned journalists in Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Burundi, Cuba, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Iraq, Madagascar, Morocco, Nicaragua, Nigeria, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, and Zambia.
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