Rana Ayyub one of 10 journalists identified as facing ‘most urgent threat to press freedom’: One Free Press Coalition

The One Free Press Coalition, launched by TIME magazine in partnership with other organisations, has released its first-ever “10 Most Urgent” list for the month of April, “identifying 10 journalists around the world who are facing injustice, incarceration and other threats in connection with their work”. The list will be updated on the first of every month.

This month’s list includes Indian journalist Rana Ayyub who, One Free Press Coalition notes, “has faced a wave of harassment on social media, including pornographic videos with her face photoshopped in them and the publication of her address and personal phone number”.

The list also includes La Jornada correspondent Miroslava Breach Velducea from Mexico who was murdered in March 2017 “in connection to her reporting on links between politicians and organized crime”. Maria Ressa and Rappler are listed for “arrest and legal threats for critical media outlet and its editor”. Ressa has been arrested several times and is at the forefront of the battle for press freedom under the Duterte regime in the Philippines.

Other journalists on the list are Tran Thi Nga from Vietnam, who was sentenced to nine years in prison on charges of “spreading propaganda against the state” after reporting on government corruption and environmental spills; Azimjon Askarov in Kyrgyzstan who a received life sentence “for documenting human rights abuses”;  Miguel Mora and Lucía Pineda Ubau from Nicaragua “detained amid media crackdown”; Amade Abubacar in Mozambique who’s been held in detention without trial; Claudia Duque  in Colombia who has endured “kidnapping, illegal surveillance, psychological torture, and exile”; and Osman Mirghani in Sudan, who is being held on charges that have not been made public.