81 reporters died, threats soared in 2017
BRUSSELS (AP) – At least 81 reporters were killed doing their jobs this year, while violence and harassment against media staff has skyrocketed, the world's biggest journalists' organization says.
In its annual "Kill Report," seen by The Associated Press, the International Federation of Journalists said the reporters lost their lives in targeted killings, car bomb attacks and crossfire incidents around the world.
More than 250 journalists were in prison in 2017.
The number of deaths as of Dec. 29 was the lowest in a decade, down from 93 in 2016. The largest number were killed in Mexico, but many also died in conflict zones in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.
The IFJ suspected but could not officially confirm that at least one other journalist was killed Thursday in an attack by an Islamic State suicide bomber on a Shiite cultural center in Kabul, in which at least 41 people died.
IFJ President Philippe Leruth said that while the drop in deaths "represents a downward trend, the levels of violence in journalism remain unacceptably high."
He said the IFJ finds it "most disturbing that this decrease cannot be linked to any measure by governments to tackle the impunity for these crimes."
Eight women journalists were
MOSCOW (AP) – Russia's highest court on Saturday upheld a decision barring opposition leader Alexei Navalny from running for president in March.
The Supreme Court turned down Navalny's appeal against the Central Election Commission, ruling that the commission's decision to bar him from the race fully conforms to law.
President Vladimir Putin, whose approval ratings top 80 percent, is expected to easily win a fourth term in the March 18 election.
Navalny has campaigned for the presidency all year despite an implicit ban on his candidacy due to a fraud conviction seen by many as politically killed, two in European democracies - Kim Wall in Denmark, who died on the submarine of an inventor she was writing about, and Maltese investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia who was blown up by a bomb placed in her car.
Beyond the deaths, the IFJ warned that "unprecedented numbers of journalists were jailed, forced to flee, that self-censorship was widespread and driven. Election officials formally barred him from the ballot Monday.
Navalny responded by calling for a boycott of the vote, and the Kremlin said authorities will look into whether such a call violates the law.
In a tweet Saturday, Navalny denounced that impunity for the killings, harassment, attacks and threats against independent journalism was running at epidemic levels."
Turkey, where official pressure on the media has been ramped up since a failed coup attempt in July 2016, is becoming notorious for putting reporters behind bars. Some 160 journalists are jailed in Turkey - two-thirds of the global total - the report said. the judge who made the ruling, saying that "such judges should face trial themselves." He also repeated his call for a voters' strike.
"We don't acknowledge elections without competition," he said.
Navalny's associates said they would appeal the ruling.
"It's obvious that this decision is political," said Ivan Zhdanov, who represented Navalny in court.
Many others have declared their intention to run in March. They include veterans of past campaigns - ultranationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky and liberal Grigory Yavlinsky - as well as
The organization also expressed concern about India, the world's largest democracy, where it said that attacks on journalists are being motivated by violent populism.
Countries with the highest numbers of media killings: Mexico: 13, Afghanistan: 11, Iraq: 11, Syria: 10, India: 6, Philippines: 4, Pakistan: 4, Nigeria: 3, Somalia: 3, and Honduras: 3. communist nominee Pavel Grudinin and TV host Ksenia Sobchak.
While none poses a serious challenge to Putin, the Kremlin is worried about voter apathy and has focused on boosting turnout to make Putin's victory as impressive as possible.
The involvement of 36-year old Sobchak, the daughter of a late St. Petersburg mayor who was Putin's boss in the 1990s, could raise public interest in the race. While Sobchak has denied colluding with the Kremlin, her participation could draw some Navalny supporters to back her and help improve turnout.