The ruling was the result of a lawsuit filed against the outlet by Kyrgyz prosecutors in April, which alleged “negative” and “destructive” coverage of the government. 

“The Kyrgyz authorities must allow Aprel TV to continue its work unhindered and should not contest any appeal of the court’s Wednesday order to shutter the independent broadcaster and terminate its broadcasting and social media operations,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. “Kyrgyzstan’s international partners – particularly the European Union, whose parliament and member states are in the process of ratifying a new partnership agreement – must hold Kyrgyzstan to account for its spiraling press freedom abuses.” 

The judge accepted prosecutors’ arguments that the outlet’s reporting, which often included commentary and reports critical of the government, could “provoke calls for mass unrest with the aim of a subsequent seizure of power,” according to CPJ’s review of the verdict. 

Aprel TV’s editor-in-chief Dmitriy Lozhnikov told privately owned news website 24.kg that criticizing the government isn’t a crime, but one of the core functions of the press. CPJ was unable to immediately confirm whether the outlet would appeal.

Kyrgyzstan’s State Committee for National Security (SCNS) summoned 10 current and former Aprel TV staff for questioning on July 1 in connection with a separate, undisclosed criminal investigation. 

The journalists’ lawyer told Radio Azattyk, the local service of U.S. Congress-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), that investigators’ questions appeared to indicate that authorities will open a case on allegations of incitement of mass unrest or acts against the constitutional order.

CPJ’s email to the SCNS for comment on the criminal investigation did not immediately receive a reply.

Aprel TV is highly critical of the government, often adopting an irreverent tone as it broadcasts via oppositional broadcaster Next TV and reports to its 700,000 followers on several social media accounts.

Following President Sadyr Japarov’s ascent to power in 2020, Kyrgyz authorities have launched an unprecedented assault on the country’s previously vibrant media, shuttering leading outlets and jailing journalists on the grounds that their critical reporting could lead to social unrest.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

“Liberian authorities must hold to account those who attacked Smile FM, beat media technician Cyrus Gbeway, and prevented the station from broadcasting for two weeks,” said Angela Quintal, CPJ’s Africa regional director, from Durban. “The safety of journalists and the Liberian people’s access to information should be a top priority for authorities.”

The shutdown, which ended on May 19, came amid a dispute at Smile FM between two rival boards over leadership of the community radio station in Zwedru, the capital of eastern Grand Gedeh County.

Gbeway told CPJ that two of the men who forced their way into the station’s compound at dawn, smashed his phone, and evicted him were known associates of county superintendent Alex Chersia Grant. The president appoints 15 superintendents nationally, whose roles are administrative.

Grant told CPJ he was one of the station’s founders and rejected news reports that he ordered the raid. Grant said that he did know the two men identified by Gbewey but he did not know why they participated in the raid and declined to explain his relationship with them.

Solo Uriah Lewis, who was recently ousted as station manager, told CPJ that he called the police when he arrived at the radio station and saw it had been occupied.

Since the end of Liberia’s civil war in 2003, the media has grown significantly but is often reliant on financial support from government or politicians. CPJ has documented journalists being beaten, threatened, and harassed by politicians and security forces.

The Press Union of Liberia described the incident as “disturbing” and called on the police to ensure Smile FM could operate without interruption.

CPJ’s calls and text messages to request comment from national police spokesperson Cecelia Clarke did not receive any replies.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

“The forced shuttering of international award–winning investigative outlet Kloop is a shameful episode in the history of modern Kyrgyzstan — a country long viewed as a haven for press freedom in Central Asia — and is a clear indication that under President Japarov this reputation no longer holds,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. “Kyrgyz authorities should immediately reverse their repressive course against the media and allow Kloop and all other independent outlets to work freely.”

On Thursday, Kloop reported that the Supreme Court on July 16 had upheld a lower court’s refusal to hear its appeal against a February liquidation order. The decision, which Kloop learned of on August 22, marks the end of the outlet’s hopes of overturning that liquidation.

Kloop founder Rinat Tuhvatshin said the decision was “expected” but that the organization plans to keep publishing “the most penetrating investigations, the most balanced news, and the sharpest commentary.”

Kyrgyz prosecutors applied to shutter Kloop, a local partner of the global investigative network Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), in August 2023 and blocked its website amid a series of corruption investigations into relatives of Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov and other top state officials.

Under Japarov, Kyrgyz authorities have launched an unprecedented crackdown on independent reporting in a country previously seen as a regional beacon for the free press.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

On Sunday, July 30, about 20 members of the Taliban provincial police raided the office of Hamisha Bahar Radio and TV in Jalalabad city, in eastern Nangarhar province, after receiving information about a journalism training workshop attended by both male and female journalists from the broadcaster, according to news reports and a journalist familiar with the situation, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app on condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal. On Tuesday, armed members of the Taliban provincial police then shuttered the broadcaster’s operations and sealed its office, according to those sources.

“The Taliban must allow the broadcaster Hamisha Bahar Radio and TV to resume operations promptly and ensure its employees, including female journalists, are allowed unfettered access to professional training,” said Beh Lih Yi, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “It is appalling that the Taliban cracked down on a media outlet because of women’s participation at a journalism training session. Denying women of their rights has become the hallmark of the Taliban regime.”

Hamisha Bahar Radio and TV has 35 employees, including nine women, according to the journalist who spoke with CPJ. Under the Taliban, women face severe restrictions on education and employment, which the United Nations says have increased in recent months.

CPJ contacted Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid for comment via messaging app but received no response.

In August 2022, CPJ published a special report about the media crisis in Afghanistan showing a rapid deterioration in press freedom characterized by censorship, arrests, assaults, and restrictions on women journalists since the Taliban retook control of the country in 2021.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Arlene Getz/CPJ Editorial Director.

“We are relieved by the reversal of Kyrgyz authorities’ decision to shutter Radio Azattyk, but they should never have tried to close it in the first place,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, in London. “Kyrgyz authorities must allow Radio Azattyk to work freely and stop putting pressure on it and other media outlets over content they dislike or don’t agree with.”

Radio Azattyk appealed an April 27 district court decision to shutter the broadcaster for publishing a September 2022 video report about border clashes with neighboring Tajikistan. In October, Kyrgyz authorities blocked Radio Azattyk’s websites over the video and ordered a freeze on the outlet’s bank account under money laundering laws. 

On Wednesday, July 12, 2023, the court confirmed a settlement between the broadcaster’s parent company Azattyk Media and Kyrgyzstan’s Ministry of Culture, Information, Sport, and Youth Policy. According to the ministry, that settlement resulted in the removal of the video from the outlet’s websites.

The ministry announced it would end the block on Radio Azattyk’s websites, and a spokesperson for the Kyrgyzstan President said “restrictions” on Azattyk Media would be lifted. 

Jeffrey Gedmin, acting president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, said that the decision — “a result of concerted advocacy and support from the international community” — would enable Radio Azattyk “to continue to reach its audiences with trusted reporting.”

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

“The shuttering of Radio Azattyk, one of Kyrgyzstan’s most popular and trusted sources of news, sends a deeply chilling message to the country’s independent media and raises profound questions about the direction in which Kyrgyz authorities wish to take their country,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, in New York. “Authorities should immediately overturn this decision and allow the outlet to work freely.”

The Lenin District Court in the capital, Bishkek, ruled on Thursday, April 27, to terminate the operations of Radio Azattyk over a September 16, 2022, video report about a border conflict between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, published on the outlet’s website, those reports said. In January, Kyrgyzstan’s Ministry of Culture, Information, Sport, and Youth Policy applied to the court to shut down the outlet, arguing that the video spread Tajik disinformation and violated a ban on “propaganda of war, violence, and cruelty, national or religious exclusiveness, and intolerance of other peoples and nations.”

RFE/RL President and CEO Jamie Fly said in a statement that the outlet will appeal the court’s “outrageous decision.”

Kyrgyz authorities have blocked Radio Azattyk’s websites since October over the same video, and issued a freeze on the outlet’s bank accounts under the country’s money laundering laws.

In January, CPJ and six partner organizations sent a letter to Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov requesting a meeting over authorities’ escalating crackdown on press freedom, citing the application to shutter Radio Azattyk among other cases.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Erik Crouch.

On Thursday, March 30, authorities in the city of Faizabad, in Badakhshan province, shuttered the broadcaster’s operations and sealed its office, according to news reports and an employee of the radio station who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal.

The officers at the scene, from the Taliban’s Directorate of Information and Culture and Directorate of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, accused the outlet of illegally airing music during the holy month of Ramadan. The Taliban banned playing and listening to music when it retook power in August 2021.

The radio station employee who spoke to CPJ said she was not aware that any music had been aired, and believed that the decision was retaliation for the station’s programs focusing on women’s education and job opportunities in Badakhshan.

“The Taliban should immediately reverse its decision shuttering the Radio Sada e Banowan broadcaster and allow the outlet to reopen and work freely,” said CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Beh Lih Yi. “The Taliban have deprived Afghan women of everything from jobs to education. Shutting down a women-run radio station shows there is no reprieve for the Afghan media even during the holy month of Ramadan. The Taliban must correct its course and stop cracking down on journalism.”

Radio Sada e Banowan was established in 2014 and owned by Afghan female journalist Najla Shirzad. Local Taliban officials allowed the radio station to restart operations not long after the group retook power. It has six employees, according to the person who spoke to CPJ.

CPJ contacted Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid for comment via messaging app but did not receive any response.

In August 2022, CPJ published a special report about the media crisis in Afghanistan, showing a rapid deterioration in press freedom since the Taliban retook control of the country one year earlier, marked by censorship, arrests, assaults, and restrictions on women journalists.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Erik Crouch.

On Sunday, February 12, Prime Minister Hun Sen said in a statement on his official Facebook page authorities would revoke Voice of Democracy’s license on Monday morning, according to multiple news reports.

At 10 a.m. Monday, a group of 10 Ministry of Information officials, police officers, and other authorities delivered a letter to the outlet’s office in Phnom Penh, the capital, formally revoking its license, a Voice of Democracy representative who requested anonymity told CPJ.

The outlet will stop publishing news while pursuing all options to reinstate its license, Voice of Democracy associate editor Ananth Baliga told CPJ via email. CPJ emailed the Ministry of Information and the prime minister’s office for comment, but did not immediately receive any replies.

“Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen’s order to close the Voice of Democracy is unacceptable and should be immediately reversed,” said Shawn Crispin, CPJ’s senior Southeast Asia representative. “If Cambodia wants to maintain any pretense of democracy ahead of this year’s general elections, independent media must be allowed to report without fear of reprisal. This type of government harassment of the free press is all too familiar and must stop now.”

In his Facebook statement, Hun Sen said Voice of Democracy had intentionally slandered him and his son Hun Manet in a February 8 article about Cambodia’s official assistance to earthquake victims in Turkey.

The article alleged that Hun Manet, who serves concurrently as joint chief of staff and deputy commander of the country’s armed forces, overstepped his authority by signing a US$100,000 aid agreement on behalf of the prime minister.

The prime minister initially gave Voice of Democracy 72 hours to verify the story’s facts and issue an apology, but Hun Sen later said the news organization’s response was unacceptable and ordered its closure, those news reports and the Voice of Democracy representative said.

Voice of Democracy, which is run by the Cambodia Center for Independent Media nongovernmental organization, issued a second apology letter early Monday morning, but Hun Sen replied on Facebook saying he was standing by his closure order, the Voice of Democracy representative said.

 “The absence of independent media will only allow corruption to go unchecked and those in positions of power to run amok,” Ananth Baliga told CPJ.

Voice of Democracy is widely recognized as one of the few remaining independent news outlets in Cambodia, and has investigated corruption and human rights issues in the country.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Erik Crouch.

On January 25, Houthi forces raided and shuttered at least five radio stations in Sanaa, the capital, according to the Media Freedom Observatory nongovernmental organization, a statement from the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate trade group, and syndicate co-chair Nabil Alosaidi, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app.

The Houthi forces shut down the broadcasters Voice of Yemen, Grand FM, Al-Oula, Tufula FM, and Al-Diwan, allegedly for failing to renew their licenses, according to those sources. Alosaidi also said that Houthis had shuttered the Delta broadcaster, but CPJ could not immediately verify whether that outlet had been targeted.

Alosaidi said that the channels all remained closed as of Monday, January 31.

“Houthi raids on radio stations in Sanaa demonstrate how the militant group will leave no stone unturned in their harassment of the Yemeni press,” said CPJ Senior Middle East and North Africa Researcher Justin Shilad. “The Houthis must allow all radio stations to resume their work immediately and without preconditions, and must stop targeting Yemeni journalists once and for all.”

Alosaidi said that the Houthis, formally known as the Ansar Allah group, had previously demanded the outlets pay taxes and additional fees, and broadcast pro-Houthi propaganda. Those outlets normally air programming on news, culture, and entertainment.

In its statement, the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate said that the Houthis started regulating media outlets in 2017, despite lacking any legal basis to do so.

Previously, Houthi gunmen stormed the TV broadcaster Yemen Today in December 2017 and held at least 40 employees hostage for several days, as CPJ documented at the time. The group has repeatedly threatened journalists with execution, regularly detains members of the press, and has forced journalists to leave areas under their control.

CPJ emailed Houthi spokesperson Mohammad Abdulsalam for comment, but did not immediately receive any reply.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Erik Crouch.

This morning, law enforcement officers in Minsk, the capital, searched the editorial offices of the independent Belarusian news agency as well as the homes of six of its current and former employees, according to multiple news reports, reporting by the BelaPAN-affiliated news website Naviny.by, and BelaPAN correspondent Tanya Korovenkova, who spoke to CPJ in a phone interview.

Police detained five people, released two after they signed nondisclosure agreements, and are continuing to hold BelaPAN director and chief editor Iryna Leushyna, the agency’s former director Dzmitry Navazhilau, and accountant Katsyaryna Boeva at the Akrestsina Detention Facility in Minsk, according to Korovenkova and a report by Naviny.by, a sister news organization owned by BelaPAN’s parent company.

Korovenkova said that the three are technically being held under a 72-hour detention order, but she suspected their detentions would be extended.

Police also confiscated BelaPAN’s servers today, taking the agency’s website offline, according to those news reports and Korovenkova. BelaPAN is the country’s oldest independent news agency, according to reports.

“Belarusian authorities must release BelaPAN director Iryna Leushyna, former director Dzmitry Navazhilau, and accountant Katsyaryna Boeva immediately and unconditionally,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martínez de la Serna, in New York. “Authorities’ intensifying crackdown on the press shows that the Belarusian government will only be satisfied when there are no independent voices left in the country.”

Authorities began their searches of BelaPAN employees’ homes at about 7 a.m. today, Korovenkova told CPJ.

Officers from the Investigative Committee and the Interior Ministry’s Department for Combating Economic Crimes searched the homes of Leushyna, Navazhilau, and Boeva; BelaPAN correspondents Zakhar Shcharbakov and Iryna Turchina; and BelaPAN deputy chief editor and Naviny.by editor Aliaksandar Zaitsau, according to Korovenkova and multiple reports by Naviny.by.

Officers brought Leushyna to BelaPAN’s editorial office, which they also searched, according to Naviny.by and Korovenkova. They then questioned her at the headquarters of the Belarusian Investigative Committee in Minsk before sending her to the detention center, according to those sources.

Korovenkova said she did not know whether authorities confiscated anything from the editorial office or if it has been sealed, saying that BelaPAN’s staff have not visited the office today for fear of arrest. Naviny.by has since reported that the editorial office’s server was confiscated during the search.

Officers confiscated Shcharbakov’s laptop, cellphone, and flash drives during their raid, according to Naviny.by and Korovenkova. They took the journalist to the office of state telecommunications company Beltelecom, where they confiscated another BelaPAN server; they then questioned Shcharbakov at the Investigative Committee headquarters and released him after he signed a nondisclosure agreement, according to those sources.

Officers also confiscated Turchina’s computer, cellphone, flash drives, recorder, and notebooks, according to Naviny.by and Korovenkova. Investigative Committee officers questioned her at their headquarters as a witness in a criminal public order case concerning other BelaPAN staffers for around two hours before releasing her, also after signing a nondisclosure agreement, those sources said.

Officers confiscated Zaitsau’s cellphone, tablet, and a hard drive; they did not detain him, but made him sign an agreement to attend questioning at a future date without explaining whether he was a suspect in an ongoing criminal investigation, according to Korovenkova and Naviny.by.

This afternoon, the Investigative Committee of Belarus announced on Telegram that Leushyna, Boeva, and Nozhilov had been arrested on suspicion of organizing or participating in gross violations of public order under Article 342, Part 1, of the country’s criminal code. If convicted, they could face up to four years in prison under that law.

The statement also accused BelaPAN employees of evading an unspecified amount in taxes. Depending on the sum involved, tax evasion can be punishable by up to 12 years in prison, according to the criminal code.

CPJ emailed the Belarusian Investigative Committee and the Ministry of Internal Affairs for comment, but did not receive any replies.

In a statement published this evening on Naviny.by, BelaPAN stated that several of its staffers are in safety outside of Belarus and plan to continue the agency’s work.

In recent months, Belarusian authorities have launched a wave of raids and arrests against the country’s independent press, and have repeatedly accused outlets of tax evasion and public order violations in retaliation for their coverage of anti-government protests, as CPJ has documented.

Authorities previously raided BelaPAN’s offices in January in connection with investigations into former deputy director Andrei Aliaksandrau, according to news reports; Aliaksandrau was charged with treason in June, as CPJ documented.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

On August 16, the Ministry of Communications ordered the privately owned news channel off the air, according to news reports and a statement by the ministry. The channel is no longer broadcasting in the country or online as of today, according to local journalist and press freedom advocate Mustapha Bendjama, who spoke with CPJ via messaging app.

In its statement, the ministry said the decision was based on a request from the Audiovisual Regulatory Authority, the country’s media regulator, which claimed that Lina TV had not obtained the necessary accreditation to operate in the country.

“Algerian authorities are once again using their vague and bureaucratic broadcasting authorization procedures as a means to restrict media outlets in the country,” said CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa program coordinator, Sherif Mansour. “Authorities must immediately allow Lina TV to resume broadcasting, and should refrain from capriciously enforcing licensing regulations to drive broadcasters off the air.”

Since it first launched on October 1, 2020, Lina TV has broadcast a variety of general interest programs including news coverage and political and cultural talk programs, according to news reports and CPJ’s review of its programming. The station largely did not cover the anti-government protests that have taken place in Algeria since February 2019, according to Bendjama and CPJ’s review of its output.

Prior to the ban, Lina TV uploaded multiple news clips per day to its YouTube channel; its last upload was an August 17 weather report. 

CPJ emailed Lina TV for comment but did not immediately receive any response.

News outlets in Algeria are subject to difficult and bureaucratic broadcasting authorization and press accreditation procedures, according Bendjama and CPJ research. Many local outlets operate without authorizations or accreditations due to the difficulty of obtaining them, Bendjama said.

The ministry’s statement did not specify whether Lina TV had been warned about its alleged violation prior to the shutdown order.

Previously, on July 31, Algeria’s Ministry of Communications withdrew the press accreditation of Saudi news channel Al-Arabiya for allegedly spreading misinformation, as CPJ documented at the time.

CPJ emailed the Algerian Ministry of Communication and the Audiovisual Regulatory Authority for comment, but did not receive any replies.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

At about 11 a.m. on August 13, riot police officers raided the independent newspaper’s office in Managua, the capital, according to news reports and La Prensa’s digital editor-in-chief, Dora Luz Romero, who spoke with CPJ in a phone interview.

Employees were forced to leave the office during the raid and have not been allowed to reenter the building as of today, according to those sources.

At about 3 a.m. on August 14, police detained La Prensa publisher Juan Lorenzo Holmann after authorities summoned him to the offices of the El Chipote detention center “just to sign some papers,” according to a report by independent news website Confidencial and a police statement, which said Holmann is under investigation for alleged customs fraud and money laundering.

“The raid on Nicaragua’s lone remaining print newspaper demonstrates once again the little regard that President Daniel Ortega has for allowing the free flow of information within the country,” said CPJ Latin America and Caribbean Program Coordinator Natalie Southwick, in New York. “Authorities must immediately release Juan Lorenzo Holmann, stop interfering with La Prensa’s work, and allow journalists to report freely without fear of retaliation.”

Romero told CPJ that the raid occurred one day after La Prensa‘s board of directors announced they were pausing the paper’s print edition because customs authorities had repeatedly withheld imported supplies, including newsprint.

Previously, in September 2019, La Prensa reported that customs authorities had been withholding imported newsprint and ink supplies, as CPJ documented at the time. Those restrictions were lifted in February 2020, allowing the newspaper to continue printing, according to news reports.

During the raid, officers refused to allow La Prensa employees to use their cellphones but allowed media workers from state-sponsored outlets, including Viva Nicaragua Canal 13 and Channel 4, to document the police operation, according to a report by La Prensa.

State-sponsored media outlets later published reports accusing La Prensa staff of lying about the paper shortage. During a televised address following the raid, President Daniel Ortega accused the newspaper of laundering money and also said, “The Prosecutor’s Office and the Police arrived there and found quantities of paper. When you lie in this way, when you slander the State, that is a crime.”

Romero told CPJ, “Those reels [of paper] that the pro-government media say are sufficient to print the newspaper are reels of glossy paper, that does not work to print a newspaper. Newsprint is different.”

CPJ wrote Canal 13 and Canal 4 via email but did not immediately receive a response.

CPJ also emailed the Nicaraguan Customs Authority and the public relations department of the police for comment but did not receive a response.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

Yesterday, the Media Department of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, the Kurdish-led de facto regional government, revoked the outlet’s license and ordered closed its offices in the cities of Qamishli and Kobane, according to statements by the autonomous administration and Kurdistan 24, as well as reports by the Metro Center for Journalists’ Rights and Advocacy and the Syrian Kurdish Journalists’ Network, two press rights groups.

Authorities allege that Kurdistan 24, which is headquartered in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil and is supportive of Iraqi Kurdistan’s ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party, spread hate and incited violence in its broadcasts, but did not cite any specific coverage, according to those sources.

Also yesterday, Asayish security forces in the cities of Qamishli and Kobane, both under the control of the autonomous administration, ordered Kurdistan 24 to close its offices and cease working from each city, according to the Metro Center statement and Kurdistan 24’s Washington bureau chief, Rahim Rashidi, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app.

Rashidi said that the broadcaster plans to appeal both the license revocation and the office closures.

“The decision by local authorities in northeastern Syria to revoke the license of Kurdistan 24 and shutter its offices amounts to censorship and is a harsh restriction on those reporting the news from the region,” said CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa representative, Ignacio Miguel Delgado. “If the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria wants to be taken as a legitimate authority, officials should immediately reverse this decision and learn to tolerate criticism and diverse viewpoints in the media.”

The administration’s statement accuses Kurdistan 24 of violating Articles 2 and 11 of the regional government’s media law, which pertain to hate speech and incitement. Neither the statement nor the law itself specify how long an outlet’s license can be suspended for those violations.

CPJ emailed the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria for comment, but did not receive any reply.

Rashidi told CPJ that authorities “haven’t provided us with any details or any reasons for the closure of our office.”

He said that Kurdistan 24 had covered events in the region “independently and without taking any sides,” and added, “some government officials have even congratulated us on our coverage, so we are surprised that they shut us down. We don’t understand why. This is a violation of press freedom.”

Kurdistan 24 has continued broadcasting from Iraqi Kurdistan, but has ceased airing programming from northeastern Syria, Rashidi said.

Previously, in 2015, authorities in northeastern Syria revoked the license of the Iraqi Kurdish broadcaster Rudaw for allegedly inciting violence and sparking internal discord, as CPJ documented at the time.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.