Belarusian authorities have removed the accreditation of some journalists who work for BBC and other foreign media outlets in the wake of covering anti-government protests Alexander Lukashenko was re-elected in a controversial presidential election, as per to reports.
According to the CNN, two journalists working for its Russian service in Minsk had had their press accreditation revoked “with immediate effect”.
A Reuters spokesperson said in a statement, “We are not aware of any acts by our Belarus journalists that might warrant loss of accreditation.We hope the authorities will reinstate their credentials to ensure our journalists can continue to deliver independent, unbiased news in the public interest.”
Dominic Raab, British Secretary of State for foreign Affairs tweeted, condemning the decision which would hinder objective coverage of events in Belarus.
The Belarusian authorities are continuing to target @BBCNews, local and international media by cancelling their accreditation to report in Belarus. This has been raised with the Belarusian Foreign Ministry. I condemn these clear attacks on media freedom #defendmediafreedom
— Dominic Raab (@DominicRaab) August 29, 2020
The Belarusian Association of Journalists has said that it has revoked the accreditations of 17 journalists, including a video journalist and photographer from Reuters, two from the BBC and four from the Radio Liberty.
