Alsu Kurmasheva
Biden Administration Urged To Declare RFERL Reporter Russian Detention Wrongful
Washington D.C./09.11.23/Turan: National Press Club, a leading voice for press freedom in the United States, on Wednesday urged the U.S. government to immediately designate RFERL reporter Alsu Kurmasheva’s imprisonment in Russia as an unlawful and wrongful detention, signalling that she is being held as a hostage, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.
"The Biden administration is taking too long to make this important designation," Eileen O’Reilly, president of the National Press Club, and Gil Klein, president of the National Press Club Journalism Institute, said in a statement.
Kurmasheva, an editor with RFE/RL Tatar-Bashkir Service, was detained in Kazan last month and has been charged with failure to register as a foreign agent. She is the latest journalist to be jailed in Russia simply for doing her job, per Press Club leadership. "Journalism is not a crime. Secretary Antony Blinken and officials at the State Department should act swiftly to ensure Alsu is freed from her unjust detention," reads the statement.
“Alsu has been locked away for multiple weeks and the Biden administration shouldn’t wait another minute to make this critical designation, which will open up resources to support her release. It’s time for Alsu to come home to her husband and two children," the authors said.
The State Department on Wednesday refused to outline specifics of its wrongful detention designation. "As it relates to the formal wrongful detention designation that this department uses, that is an active and ongoing process," Prinsipal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel said when pressed by TURAN's correspondent.
He went on to elaborate, "If you look at the cases that we have been public about their wrongful detention designation, they did not always necessarily start out that way. It is a process. Sometimes it happens incredibly quickly; sometimes the nature of the detention evolves. And we will take this process step by step"
Alex Raufoglu
-
- Question-answer
- 9 November 2023 12:35
-
- Politics
- 9 November 2023 13:27
Politics
-
The top U.S. diplomat on Wednesday assured allies in Brussels that the Biden administration would bolster its support for Ukraine in the days and weeks ahead before Donald Trump's return to the White House as president in January.
-
Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan made an unexpected statement during a government session, emphasizing the need for a strategic deal with Azerbaijan. According to him, the future peaceful coexistence of the two countries must be guaranteed for the next century, and addressing this issue is the most crucial and fundamental task for both sides.
-
A new draft agreement on financing climate programs, unveiled at the 29th session of the UN Conference on Climate Change (COP29), proposes allocating at least $1.3 trillion (€1.23 trillion) annually for climate protection measures and adaptation to the impact of climate change, according to a 34-page document released on Wednesday. The draft, developed with input from developing nations, aims to address the needs of the world's poorest countries, though several contentious issues remain unresolved, AFP reported.
-
On November 13, representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Afghan Taliban held talks in Baku as part of the COP29 conference. According to a report by Turan correspondent, the discussions took place behind closed doors and lasted for over an hour. No statements were made to the press following the meeting. Furthermore, conference security prevented journalists from asking questions to the meeting participants.
Leave a review