Turkish journalists Cevheri Güven and Murat Çapan, working for the weekly magazine Nokta, have been charged and jailed by a court in Istanbul last Tuesday 3 November. Güven is the editor-in-chief of the publication and Çapan, the managing editor in charge. Their pretrial incarceration is officially justified by particularly severe charges: “incitement to armed uprising against the government”. The cover title of the latest issue of Nokta was: “Monday, 2nd November: the beginning of a civil war in Turkey”. The last remaining copies of the newspaper have been seized by the police and the Nokta website has been blocked. Murat Çapan…

The European Federation of Journalists, represented by its President Mogens Blicher Bjerregård and Director Renate Schroeder will participate in an international conference on freedom of expression in the Western Balkans and Turkey held today at the European Commission. The Speak Up! 3 conference will bring together journalists, media analysts, decision-makers from the enlargement countries, experts from international, regional and national organizations to discuss achievements and challenges to media freedom. The EFJ affiliates from Western Balkans and Turkey will also participate in the conference. The conference will be broadcast live. To follow the debate, you can also follow the Twitter hashtag #SpeakUp3. Here is the…

The Council of Europe (CoE) Commissioner for Human rights Nils Muižnieks visited the International and European Federations of Journalists (IFJ and EFJ) on 3 November in Brussels to exchange on the threat of surveillance laws to press freedom in Europe. Commissioner Muižnieks , accompanied by Deputy Director Giancarlo Cardinale and Stefano Montanari , met with the EFJ Secretary General Ricardo Gutiérrez , IFJ press officer Pamela Morinière together with human rights and safety head Ernest Sagaga. The Commissioner said he has been assessing the impact of surveillance laws on journalism in Europe and wanted to consult the two journalists’ organisations…