The International Press Institute (IPI) today joined observers around the world in condemning the two-year prison sentence handed to two journalists who republished the cover of satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo featuring an image of the Prophet Muhammad. An Istanbul court convicted daily Cumhuriyet journalists Ceyda Karan and Hikmet Çetinkaya of “openly encouraging hate and […]

The German government today gave the green light for prosecutors to open a criminal investigation into popular satirist Jan Böhmermann over a vulgar poem ridiculing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in granting a request by the Turkish government, underscored that Germany viewed the deteriorating situation of press freedom in Turkey with […]

Turkey’s government must do more to end a series of murders of Syrian journalists who have fled to the country, the International Press Institute (IPI) said today after a fourth journalist was killed in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group. Halab Today TV presenter Mohammed Zahir al-Sherqat died on Tuesday from injuries he […]

German politicians of all stripes are suddenly calling for the abolition of a seldom-used provision in Germany’s Criminal Code that punishes insulting foreign heads of state with up to five years in prison. That’s welcome news for press freedom and freedom of expression. The provision in question, Art. 103, is a relic of the outdated […]