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 journalists were identified as Bashdar Bazyani, Dana Salih, Sardasht HamaSalih, and Nabaz Shekhani.

Security forces closed the outlet’s office in Sulaymaniyah on March 1, saying it lacked a license, confiscated several computers, and ordered staff not to return to work, according to two sources who spoke to CPJ on condition of anonymity, citing fear of retaliation.

Three sources told CPJ that authorities released three of the journalists on bail on Sunday, March 2. Bazyani remained in custody as of Monday. 

“Authorities’ arrest of four journalists and the forced closure of Media21’s office is a direct attack on press freedom in Iraqi Kurdistan,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna in New York. “Authorities must immediately release journalist Bashdar Bazyani, drop charges against all four journalists, and allow the outlet to resume operations.” 

Two sources told CPJ that the arrests and shutdown are linked to a Media21 interview with the sister of a Kurdistan Regional Government official regarding a family dispute. The official filed a lawsuit after Bazyani messaged him about the interview ahead of publication.

Karwan Anwar, head of the Sulaymaniyah branch of the Kurdistan Journalists Syndicate, told CPJ that the journalists were charged with defamation under Article 433 of the penal code, which provides for an unspecified prison term and/or a fine. “Harsher penalties” can be imposed on media outlets. 

Media21, which launched on February 21, 2025, condemned the “unjust and illegal” arrests. “These individuals are key members of our investigative team and were arrested while carrying out their journalistic duties,” the statement said.

CPJ’s messages to the Kurdistan Regional Government official did not receive a reply. CPJ’s calls to Salam Abdulkhaliq, spokesperson for the Kurdistan Region Security Agency, were unanswered.

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

A non-profit organization that offered courses aimed at fostering independent thinking among Vietnamese citizens still has the attention of government investigators almost a year after it was forced to shut down. 

Authorities have summoned some 50 students and teachers for questioning in the 10 months since FreeHub Education Solutions Company Ltd., or FreeHub, was closed, according to Nguyen Ho Nhat Thanh, the company’s founder.

FreeHub opened in 2022 with the goal of giving learners the ability to think from multiple perspectives and make sound decisions in their personal lives. It offered courses – both online and in person – in philosophy, psychology, sociology, economics, history, culture and art. 

Even though the classes didn’t discuss Vietnamese politics, authorities still viewed FreeHub as a threat, Thanh told Radio Free Asia on Monday.

“It worried security agencies, who accused us of having toppling schemes,” he said. “The current regime is an ideological dictatorship. Therefore, different thinking flows are seen as threats.”

Vietnamese courts have sentenced numerous journalists, boggers and activists over the last decade in an ongoing campaign to crush dissent. 

Additionally, more than 60 people have been convicted and jailed for long terms for suspected links to a self-proclaimed government-in-exile that was founded in the U.S. in 1991. The Ministry of Public Security listed the group – known as the Provisional National Government of Vietnam – as a terrorist organization in 2018. 

Summoned for questioning

Thanh, also known as Paulo Thanh Nguyen, said he closed FreeHub in late 2023 in response to police harassment of its students in several locations.

In the announcement posted on his personal Facebook page, Thanh wrote that trouble with authorities began after FreeHub offered a course on community development. Since then, FreeHub’s Facebook page has been taken down and its service provider has blocked access to its website.

Security forces have continued to target students anyway, going to their homes or summoning them to government offices where they have been told to write personal reflections or reports, Thanh said, citing discussions with students.

Security officers forced them to hand over their cellphones and laptops and to provide passwords, he added. 

“Teachers have also been summoned,” Thanh said. “Security officers said the program was run by a reactionary organization, distorting many things and warning them they were not allowed to continue participating.”

RELATED STORIES

Vietnamese Authorities Raid a Civil Society Training Class

Vietnamese Authorities Beat Dissident Bloggers on Human Rights Day

The Ministry of Public Security seems to want to make FreeHub into a major case by linking it with overseas organizations already labeled as “hostile forces,” Thanh added. 

Police have only summoned FreeHub students and teachers so far. Thanh said he believes authorities are collecting evidence for his eventual arrest.

RFA called the Ministry of Public Security’s Security Investigation Agency to seek comment on Thanh’s accusations. The officer who answered the phone suggested that RFA’s reporter come to headquarters in person or send in a written request in order to receive a response.

Thanh previously organized human rights events like “Human Rights Coffee” – a space for activists to meet following anti-China protests in Hanoi in 2014. He has also conducted training programs for young activists in various cities and provinces.

Translated by Anna Vu. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Vietnamese.

A non-profit organization that offered courses aimed at fostering independent thinking among Vietnamese citizens still has the attention of government investigators almost a year after it was forced to shut down.

Authorities have summoned some 50 students and teachers for questioning in the 10 months since FreeHub Education Solutions Company Ltd., or FreeHub, was closed, according to Nguyen Ho Nhat Thanh, the company’s founder.

FreeHub opened in 2022 with the goal of giving learners the ability to think from multiple perspectives and make sound decisions in their personal lives. It offered courses – both online and in person – in philosophy, psychology, sociology, economics, history, culture and art.

Even though the classes didn’t discuss Vietnamese politics, authorities still viewed FreeHub as a threat, Thanh told Radio Free Asia on Monday.

“It worried security agencies, who accused us of having toppling schemes,” he said. “The current regime is an ideological dictatorship. Therefore, different thinking flows are seen as threats.”

Vietnamese courts have sentenced numerous journalists, boggers and activists over the last decade in an ongoing campaign to crush dissent.

Additionally, more than 60 people have been convicted and jailed for long terms for suspected links to a self-proclaimed government-in-exile that was founded in the U.S. in 1991. The Ministry of Public Security listed the group – known as the Provisional National Government of Vietnam – as a terrorist organization in 2018.

Summoned for questioning

Thanh, also known as Paulo Thanh Nguyen, said he closed FreeHub in late 2023 in response to police harassment of its students in several locations.

In the announcement posted on his personal Facebook page, Thanh wrote that trouble with authorities began after FreeHub offered a course on community development. Since then, FreeHub’s Facebook page has been taken down and its service provider has blocked access to its website.

Security forces have continued to target students anyway, going to their homes or summoning them to government offices where they have been told to write personal reflections or reports, Thanh said, citing discussions with students.

Security officers forced them to hand over their cellphones and laptops and to provide passwords, he added.

“Teachers have also been summoned,” Thanh said. “Security officers said the program was run by a reactionary organization, distorting many things and warning them they were not allowed to continue participating.”

RELATED STORIES

Vietnamese Authorities Raid a Civil Society Training Class

Vietnamese Authorities Beat Dissident Bloggers on Human Rights Day

The Ministry of Public Security seems to want to make FreeHub into a major case by linking it with overseas organizations already labeled as “hostile forces,” Thanh added.

Police have only summoned FreeHub students and teachers so far. Thanh said he believes authorities are collecting evidence for his eventual arrest.

RFA called the Ministry of Public Security’s Security Investigation Agency to seek comment on Thanh’s accusations. The officer who answered the phone suggested that RFA’s reporter come to headquarters in person or send in a written request in order to receive a response.

Thanh previously organized human rights events like "Human Rights Coffee" – a space for activists to meet following anti-China protests in Hanoi in 2014. He has also conducted training programs for young activists in various cities and provinces.

Translated by Anna Vu. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Vietnamese.

“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.

Until very recently, similar scenes played out at seven other such offices across Thailand. But on July 7, the government shut those offices, leaving hundreds of thousands of Myanmar workers fretting about how to get hold of the vital paperwork.

“After the other centers closed, about 900 people would come to the center per day,” said one job broker in Samut Sakhon, who helps migrants get the documents, declining to be identified for fear of reprisals. 

Thailand is home to about two million people from Myanmar toiling in jobs in agriculture, hospitality, fishing, manufacturing and other sectors, but labor advocates say that many live undocumented after arriving through the porous border. 

Thousands have fled for their lives after protesting against a 2021 military coup and again in early 2024 when the military began conscripting  young people into their army, and the closure of the CI offices has sent shockwaves through the community. 

RELATED STORIES

Migrant workers risk missing out on Thai minimum wage rises

Thai police detain 26,000 migrant workers from Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia

Myanmar’s junta halts passport conversion as Thailand mulls worker amnesty

Htoo Chit, executive director of the Foundation for Education and Development, estimates that more than 200,000 Myanmar nationals still need to apply for a CI, saying that some have not been able to afford the fees and may need more time.

Workers caught without documentation can be sent to prison, hit with heavy fines and deported, under Thai law. 

“It’s really dangerous for the migrant workers,” said Htoo.

The government has said that workers have had sufficient time to apply for the proper paperwork since the offices opened in October. The Department of Employment did not respond to multiple requests for comment from Radio Free Asia.

Fewer options

For many migrant workers, the alternatives to obtaining the CI are daunting. They can risk returning to Myanmar – which has been in turmoil since the 2021 coup – to try to get a passport but they run the risk of being refused or of being drafted into the army. Or they can approach the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok to ask for a passport, a prospect that terrifies those who fled for political reasons.

“It will be more difficult. I have many friends who are trying to get a CI, but they won’t get it if the offices are closed,” said one man living on the border who asked to remain anonymous to protect his status to stay in Thailand. 

The man said he applied and received his CI in 2023 near Bangkok, but his friends may not be so lucky, adding that more than 15 people from his circle of friends won’t be able to make a similar trip hundreds of kilometers south to Samut Sakhon for fear of arrest and the cost of travel. 

“They’re trying to think how to do it but they don’t really know. They’re  living here with police cards,” he said, referring to an unofficial system by which migrants pay a monthly fee to local police to avoid arrest. “The police are always asking for documents and they arrest our people who don’t have them so it will be hard.”

But labor advocates argue this ignores the complex realities faced by migrant workers.

Brahm Press, director of the Migrant Assistance Program in Thailand, said the CI was a vital first step for people trying to set themselves up in Thailand, especially for those in fear of persecution by the Myanmar junta.

“The problem is that when documents expire, people who are in Thailand and don’t want to return and don’t want the government to know where they are, they're the ones who are going to have the problem,” Press said  “The CI is kind of the starting point for re-entering the system.”

The Foundation for Education and Development’s Htoo shares similar concerns.

“Who’s going to provide it? If you didn't have a CI or you didn’t want to work with the Myanmar government, where are you going to get this kind of certificate?” he said.

Edited by Taejun Kang.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Kiana Duncan for RFA.

Residents living in the central northern province, which borders China, will have to wear masks and children will be confined to their homes, as schools and daycare centers have been temporarily shuttered. Sources said they were not sure if the lockdown applied outside of Ryanggang province.

“In early March, children showing symptoms of coronavirus died one after another in Paegam county,” a resident of the province, who requested anonymity for safety reasons, told RFA Korean. “The provincial party committee took emergency quarantine measures through the quarantine center.” 

According to the resident, quarantine workers that went house-to-house informed residents that three children in Paegam county died along with two more in nearby Kapsan county after exhibiting coronavirus-like symptoms. Another Ryanggang resident confirmed how the news was spread. 

‘Fever cases’

Residents, however, say they believe the situation could be much worse than reported, the first resident said.

For the first two-and-a-half years of the pandemic, North Korea claimed outwardly to be completely “virus free,” but in April 2022, Pyongyang admitted the virus had spread to all areas of the country and declared a state of “maximum emergency” the following month. 

During the entirety of the emergency, the government kept an official tally of “fever cases,” but its official total on global COVID-19 case tracking websites remained at or near zero. Experts said it was likely that cases could not be confirmed due to a lack of reliable testing capacity. 

Prior to the emergency, when patients in North Korean hospitals with COVID symptoms died, the hospital would quickly cremate the bodies so that they could not be tested for the disease, then attributed the deaths to other causes.

Though authorities acknowledge that five children have died, residents think that the response points to many more casualties, as daycare centers, kindergartens and schools will be closed for a 10-day period, and everyone will be required to wear masks or face punishment, the resident said.

He said that the quarantine center in the city of Hyesan ordered all children to be kept at home as much as possible because they are at greater risk than adults.

“Some are complaining about how children are supposed to be kept indoors when the adults have to do whatever it takes to make a living and find food,” the resident said. “On the other hand, some others agree that the temporary school closure is the best option in the absence of medicine.”

The quarantine center also promoted personal hygiene practices when it went house-to-house, the second Ryanggang resident told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely. 

“The quarantine workers warned of the seriousness of the situation and they also shared the news that several children infected with the coronavirus had died in Paegam and Kapsan counties,” she said. “There are many patients around me who are coughing and suffering from high fevers, similar to coronavirus symptoms.”

The second resident said things were just as bad now as they were during the pandemic. 

At that time, the border with China was closed and trade had been suspended, so there were shortages of everything. Additionally, lockdowns at home meant that people could not go out to earn money to support themselves.

“There is no money now, just like during the big outbreak,” she said. “And even if you have money it is difficult to get medicine.”

Translated by Claire S. Lee. Edited by Eugene Whong.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Kim Jieun for RFA Korean.

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.

Five homeschoolers pick fist-size garlic cloves, green jalapeños, strawberries, squash and kale on a breezy Thursday morning in late June. They’re volunteering at a local food garden where bright orange marigolds attract bees from a local keeper’s hive.

The 1-acre garden has yielded about 10,000 pounds of produce for six food pantries since it began harvesting in April 2022. Texan by Nature, which manages the garden and was founded by former First Lady Laura Bush, estimates it has served approximately 2,000 people per month in Limestone, Freestone and Leon counties.

Located in Freestone County about 60 miles east of Waco, NRG Dewey Prairie Garden is a part of a massive effort to restore a 35,000-acre lignite coal mine, which stretches mainly into the town of Jewett and used to fuel NRG’s Limestone Electric Generating Station, a 1,688-megawatt power plant. An NRG spokesperson said the coal plant began running on cleaner-burning coal from Wyoming in 2016.

That’s when the company halted mining locally after more than three decades.

Debbie Glaze, a lead gardener for Texan by Nature, says it’s hard to imagine the garden was once a coal mine. The company has set aside 9 more acres to expand the garden, which was started as a pilot project.

“You wouldn’t think that this could happen,” Glaze said. “I think it is amazing that the ground is actually growing all these vegetables after all that mine digging.”

The Jewett mine’s manager, Michael Altavilla, said he hopes the garden can show how the industry can work with local communities for everybody’s benefit.

“The mining industry has always been seen like we’re the bad guys, we’re destroying the Earth,” Altavilla said. “We want to take people out and show them this form of reclamation, a second purpose, not only mining the coal for energy, but utilizing the ground afterward.”

Company set aside $112 million to restore mine

Lignite was first mined in Texas during the 1850s and was produced primarily from underground mines, but declined in the early 1950s as the oil and gas industry grew in the state. Around the same time, companies began surface mining — which includes strip mining and open-pit mining — to provide fuel for power plants and the concrete industry.

The new mines harvested lignite coal, a form of soft coal that often lies close to the surface. Lignite mining led to bulldozing forests, burying streams, destroying wildlife habitat and leaving the ground contaminated with arsenic, lead and other toxins considered unsafe for human exposure after the mines closed.

In 1975, the Texas Legislature authorized the Texas Railroad Commission, which oversees Texas’ oil and gas industry, to regulate surface coal mining. In 1977, the federal government created a fund to help pay for cleaning up old mines and required companies to restore the land to its prior condition after closing a mine.

As part of the federal law, a new agency, the Surface Mining and Reclamation Division, was given responsibility to enforce all the new regulations. The Railroad Commission began requiring companies mining coal in Texas to get a state permit and post a bond for each mining site they operate in the state to pay for restoration later.

But the agency has been criticized for allowing companies to do the bare minimum in cleaning up contaminated soil and water at mining sites and failing to enforce the law, according to a 2019 investigation by The Texas Tribune and Grist.

NRG has bonds totaling $112 million to restore the Jewett mine, a process that began in 1986, a year after mining began. Companies commonly do reclamation work even as they’re still mining a site. The reclamation process can take eight to 12 years.

So far, the company says it has replanted 3,500 acres with native grasses, is creating 700 acres of wetlands and has fully reclaimed 5,590 acres at the Jewett mine.

Moving dirt and replanting old mine pits

About 8 miles from the garden at another end of the mine site, Joe Harris, a 56-year-old Jewett mine reclamation specialist, wears a reflective vest and a hardhat as he prepares to jump into his pickup truck to snap progress photos of the restoration work.

Harris drives up and down the slopes around mining pits to where the dragline, a massive excavator with a bucket, is working. There’s a clear divide in the ground, from the orange-brown dirt at the surface to the gray deposits down in the pits where coal was extracted. The 300-foot-tall excavator, with a bucket the size of a two-car garage, has the first and most crucial step in returning the land to its original form — refilling those holes.

Mark Payne, who’s been working at the mine for 37 years and operating the dragline for 17 years, wears denim on denim and black sunglasses as he operates the machine from an air-conditioned control room inside the machine’s body. Using levers that look like something from an old arcade game, Payne moves about 150 tons of dirt at a time as country music plays on the radio.

“We’ve been in this part of the mine trying to fill the hole in for almost a year. It takes quite a long while,” Payne said.

Once the pit is filled with soil, the company is required to plant grasses and vegetation similar to what’s growing nearby.

“During the springtime, we plant bermuda grass, in the summer millet and in the fall they plant rye grass,” Harris said.

Once the seeding is done, the company enters a five-year monitoring period during which the soil and water is regularly tested to check for toxic materials.

Inspectors from the Railroad Commission’s Surface Mining and Reclamation Division make monthly visits to mine sites to review test results and check that the company is following reclamation regulations.

The area that includes the garden was monitored for years, and the bond money was released back to the company in 2013, close to 10 years before the garden began harvesting produce. Recent soil reports submitted to the state show the soil is fertile with no toxic-forming materials present.

At another portion of the mine where seeding has already happened, enormous stretches of grasslands are marked by white PVC pipes that have defining stripes: A green stripe means it is under evaluation, while red stripes mean the site has been fully reclaimed.

Harris said the best part of working at the Jewett mine for the past three decades is seeing the land being restored after being here when it was initially scraped to harvest the coal.

“I’ve seen the mining, the clearing, to everything,” Harris said. “I take a lot of pride in this. We want it to look like it was never mined before so when I bring my grandchildren and great-grandchildren, I can say, ‘Look, there was once a mine here.’”

Garden feeds local families

About 16 miles from the mine, garden volunteers deliver zucchini, kale and other produce to a food pantry in Buffalo, a town of about 1,700 where residents have few grocery store options.

Amy Windham, a 37-year-old pantry client and single mother of three, says she always tries to be the first one here because she wants first dibs on the fresh-picked produce.

“Moving up here from Houston, it was such a culture shock because down [in Houston] there is a grocery store on every corner and here it’s only Brookshire [Brothers],” she said. “So that’s the one thing I appreciate about this pantry. The produce is better, you can tell.”

She grabs a cart, and Richard Dahlgrem, 80, a pantry volunteer, helps her pick out groceries. There’s a limit on how much each customer can take depending on the size of their household, but everything is free.

Dahlgrem said it’s nice to see resources from the old mine being poured back to help the community, especially those who are struggling to feed their families.

“What was brought in today is a good indication of what can come from people purposely doing something to help somebody,” he said.

Disclosure: NRG has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline At a shuttered Texas coal mine, a 1-acre garden is helping feed 2,000 people per month on Jul 29, 2023.

This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Alejandra Martinez, The Texas Tribune.

“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.

Xie Fang, wife of former Jifeng Bookstore founder Yu Miao said in a statement posted to social media, dated January 2023, that she returned to Shanghai from the United States on Jan. 12, 2022, to take care of her sick mother.

"After the lifting of the zero-COVID policy, I was scheduled to return to the United States ... so that I could catch up with the start of my twin daughters’ senior year of high school, my son’s graduate school, and my husband’s college start,” she wrote.

"But I was stopped by border inspection guards at (Shanghai’s) Pudong Airport, who said I had ... endangered national security or some such thing," Xie wrote in a statement circulating on various social media platforms and reposted by the U.S.-based China Digital Times.

The case highlights how Chinese authorities have tried to use exit bans to compel people to cooperate with official investigations. 

In fact, Xie’s travel ban came as the U.S. State Department updated its China travel advisory to warn of this exact thing. It said American citizens need to "be more cautious" about going there and that Chinese authorities can put pressure on family members of the restricted person to go back to China.

"In most cases, U.S. citizens only become aware of an exit ban when they attempt to depart the PRC, and there is no reliable mechanism or legal process to find out how long the ban might continue or to contest it in a court of law," it warned.

"Relatives, including minor children, of those under investigation in the PRC may become subject to an exit ban,” it said.

Ran afoul

Yu, Xie and their children left the country after the Shanghai authorities effectively shut down his Jifeng Bookstore in 2018.

The store likely ran afoul of the ruling Chinese Communist Party with its regular hosting of political seminars, and had specialized in high-quality academic books on politics, philosophy, law and history.

Yu said at the time that local authorities had interfered with the store's negotiations for new premises after it was forced out of its home at the end of its lease, according to a Jul. 16, 2017, Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post.

Since she was blocked, police have talked to Xie many times, she said, asking if her husband had published any articles under his pseudonym in the United States and what articles he had uploaded. She said had "actively cooperated" with police in forwarding their questions to Yu, and Yu's reply to the police.

Xie said police were now demanding that Yu return to China, before she would be allowed to leave to take care of her teenage daughters.

"I am innocent, and I will get my freedom to leave the country back, as long as my husband returns to China for investigation," her statement said.

Xie said complying with the request could put the couple's three children in jeopardy, with no legal guardian to take care of them until Xie's return -- if the authorities even allowed that to happen as promised.

"I implore your department to restore my freedom as soon as possible so that I can be reunited with my family," she wrote.

Taken hostage

U.S.-based activist Zhou Fengsuo, who founded the rights group Humanitarian China, said via his Twitter account that he is worried about the travel ban on Xie, saying she is being taken "hostage."

"I'm concerned about the fact that the Shanghai police have Yu Miao’s wife Xie Fang hostage in an attempt to coerce Yu Miao, who is in the United States, to return to China," Zhou wrote.

"The acclaimed Jifeng Bookstore was forced to close in 2018, and Yu and his family came to the United States," he tweeted.

He later told RFA: "It is of course unacceptable that they have abducted his wife, who had nothing to do with Yu Miao's activities, and are now demanding Yu Miao ... go back to China."

“Act of state terrorism”

U.S.-based human rights lawyer Wu Shaoping said Yu had likely done nothing to endanger national security.

"This incident tells us that the Chinese Communist Party's monitoring of its nationals overseas is highly secretive, all-pervasive and very widespread," Wu said. "They use monitoring and the spy network to implement long-arm controls over their people overseas."

"This means that Chinese people daren't even exercise their rights when they're outside China," he said. "It's an act of state terrorism, and it's very typical” of the regime.

A number of countries have recently ordered China to shut down unauthorized police stations operating within their boundaries after a report by Spain-based rights group Safeguard Defenders said one of their main tasks is to persuade overseas dissidents to go back to China.

“Hell on earth”

Meanwhile, Thai police have released on bail a UN-recognized political refugee whom they detained after he staged a lone protest against Chinese President Xi Jinping as he attended the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Bangkok.

Li Nanfei described his two-and-a-half months in detention as "hell on earth."

"I was in a cell less than 100 meters square, with more than 100 people lying and standing," he said. "At peak times, there could be up to 160 people, all sleeping in shifts."

"The bunks are only about 40-50 centimeters wide, and the cell bosses beat you up for being a bit too wide, or the police would instruct the prisoners to beat you, or they'd even beat you themselves," Li said.

Li, who has been stranded in Thailand for several years, was arrested after holding up a placard on a Bangkok street that read: "His Majesty President Xi, put an end to dictatorship in China! Give the people back their freedom!"

Li fled China after being charged with "subversion of state power" in 2013 after he tried to set up a political party, a notion that is anathema to Beijing.

He has no travel documents, and hasn't been offered resettlement in a third country.

"I can't do anything because I don't have a passport: I even have to ask a Thai person if I want to apply for a SIM card," he said. "I have no bank account, and ... I can't work ... or buy a property. I have to ask a Thai person just to rent somewhere."

He said he has little choice but to stay where he is, trying to evade forcible repatriation to China if Thai police decide they want to comply with a request from Beijing.

"Relatively speaking, there's still some fresh air to breathe," he said. "I could try to get to Malaysia or the Philippines in a sailboat, where I might have a chance at freedom, but of course I could die on the way."

He said his former fellow rights activist and good friend Zhang Haitao is currently serving a 19-year jail term at Xinjiang's Shaya Prison for "incitement to subvert state power" and spying.

"My case was much more serious than his, as I was a suspected mastermind,” Li said, “so they're not going to let up on me.”

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Gao Feng and Kai Di for RFA Mandarin.

“With the closure of the Russian Journalists’ and Media Workers’ Union, Russia has annihilated one of the last institutions protecting press freedom and defending journalists in the country. Russia has sent a clear signal of its intention to permanently ban independent journalism,” said Carlos Martínez de la Serna, CPJ’s program director, in New York. “Authorities must immediately reverse their decision, stop harassing the union members, and allow journalists and their defenders to work freely in the country.”

The prosecutor’s office alleged that the union violated trade association legislation because some members did not pay dues, and that members have been “repeatedly” prosecuted for participating in protests, including in support of journalist Ivan Safronov, who was sentenced to 22 years in jail this month, the reports said. The office also said the union collected funds in support of media outlets labeled as foreign agents, and “systematically” distributed forbidden content, reports said. 

The union plans to appeal the decision, board member Andrei Jvirblis told CPJ via messaging app. CPJ called the press service of the Moscow prosecutor’s office but no one picked up the phone.  

Founded after a 2016 attack on local and foreign journalists in Russia’s North Caucasus, the union has some 600 active members and defends labor rights, provides assistance to journalists, and supports press freedom in Russia. The union’s activities have been suspended since July, when prosecutors accused it of publishing “materials containing misleading information” about Russia’s war in Ukraine, as CPJ documented. The union was also fined 500,000 rubles (US$8,150) in August for allegedly discrediting the Russian army over publications on the union’s website related to the war, media reported

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