Articles Written By: Lindsay Ross

Pakistani journalist in hiding after police raid his home over protest reports

Pakistani police have raided the home of digital journalist Usman Khan three times, forcing him into hiding to avoid detention for his coverage of protests over alleged human rights abuses in southwestern Baluchistan province. “Pakistani police must immediately cease their attempts to detain independent journalist Usman Khan and allow the media to report on current affairs without fear of intimidation or arrest,” said Beh Lih Yi, CPJ Asia program coordinator. “Pakistani authorities must do more to protect independent voices across the country. We have seen an alarming uptick in attacks on the press…Read more

Nigerian security forces attack, arrest journalists covering protests

  • Posted on August 28, 2024
  • /Under Assault
The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Nigerian authorities to investigate reports that dozens of journalists were assaulted, harassed, and detained while covering cost-of-living protests, which began on August 1. CPJ is investigating multiple incidents including one in the capital Abuja on August 3, where masked security forces fired bullets and teargas at several journalists wearing “Press” vests and their media-branded cars at the national stadium. Attacks on the press have been reported across the country since July 31, including by unidentified assailants who smashed the windows of a Channels Television-branded bus carrying 11 journalists and a car carrying two journalists in the northern…Read more

Kenyan journalist Catherine Wanjeri wa Kariuki shot in leg covering protests

  • Posted on August 5, 2024
  • /Under Assault
Kenyan authorities must conduct a swift and thorough investigation into the July 16 shooting of journalist Catherine Wanjeri wa Kariuki as she covered ongoing protests in the country, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. Kariuki, a reporter for the privately owned Mediamax Network Ltd media group, was shot three times with rubber bullets across her left thigh as she covered anti-government in Nakuru County, according to Greg Onyango, a local journalist who was with Kariuki during the incident and spoke to CPJ, a statement by the Media Council of Kenya, a statutory industry…Read more

Malik Hassan Zaib becomes 7th journalist slain in Pakistan this year

The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by a surge in the killing of journalists in Pakistan, as the July 14 shooting of Malik Hassan Zaib brings the death toll to seven since the start of the year. On Sunday afternoon, Hassan Zaib, a reporter for the privately owned Urdu-language newspaper Daily Aaj, was in a car with his brother in the northwestern city of Peshawar when two unidentified assailants on a motorbike stopped the vehicle and shot the journalist dead on the spot, according to news reports. “Authorities in Pakistan must immediately end this…Read more

Authorities detain 2 Ugandan journalists on charges of publishing without license

Ugandan authorities should release journalists Dickson Mubiru and Alirabaki Sengooba, drop all criminal charges against them, and take steps to reform laws that can be used to stifle journalism, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. On June 20 the Buganda Road Chief Magistrates Court in the capital, Kampala, charged Mubiru, managing editor of the privately owned news website theGrapeVine, and Sengooba, a reporter with the outlet, with publishing information without a broadcasting license, according to their lawyer, Nasser Kibazo, and a copy of the charge sheet reviewed by CPJ.  Authorities cited a May…Read more

Pakistani journalist Khalil Jibran shot dead following threats from militants

The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply disturbed by the continued killing of journalists in Pakistan, including six in 2024 thus far, and calls on the country’s authorities to swiftly investigate the fatal attack on veteran journalist Khalil Jibran and hold those responsible to account. On the evening of June 18, unidentified assailants fatally shot Jibran, a reporter for the privately owned Pashto-language broadcaster Khyber News, in the Landi Kotal area of northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, according to news reports and the local press freedom group Pakistan Press Foundation. Two armed men dragged Jibran, former president of…Read more

At least 5 journalists harassed or assaulted covering pre-election events in Mozambique

  • Posted on June 11, 2024
  • /Under Assault
Mozambican authorities should investigate the harassment and assault of at least five journalists covering election-related events since March, and take concrete steps to ensure the press can freely and safely report on matters of crucial public interest leading up to the country’s October general elections, said the Committee to Protect Journalists on Friday. On May 16, in Mozambique’s central Zambézia province, about 10 private security guards assaulted and threatened STV reporter Jorge Marcos and camera operator Verson Paulo at a Renamo opposition party event, according to the two journalists, a statement by the Mozambican chapter of…Read more

Mozambique journalist arrested, 2 harassed and robbed at protest

The Committee to Protect Journalists on Friday expressed alarm that police arrested one journalist and two others were robbed of equipment while covering a protest in the Mozambican capital, Maputo.  At around 6:00 p.m. on June 4, seven police officers chased and arrested Sheila Wilson while she was reporting live from a protest by hundreds of former secret service agents over alleged non-payment of pensions, according to news reports and the journalist, who spoke to CPJ. Wilson, a reporter with the the non-governmental organization Center for Democracy and Human Rights, was broadcasting live on the Facebook page of the advocacy…Read more

Shooters attack three Pakistani journalists in two separate incidents

Pakistan authorities must immediately investigate the attacks against journalists Haider Mastoi, Khan Muhammad Pitafi, and Chaudhry Ikhlaq, hold those responsible to account, and take steps to end the intensifying wave of violence against journalists in the country, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. On May 29, an unknown number of unidentified gunmen on three motorbikes stopped Mastoi, a reporter for Sindh News TV and Times News media outlets, and shot him four times while he was on his way home in Rohri town, located in Pakistan’s Sukkur District, according to press freedom nonprofit…Read more

4 journalists killed in Pakistan, others attacked, in May

The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply alarmed by the continued killings of journalists in Pakistan, including four in May so far, and calls on Pakistan authorities to immediately investigate these incidents, hold those responsible to account, and end the wave of violence against journalists in the country. The killings represent the highest number of journalists killed in the South Asian country in any single month  since CPJ began collecting data in 1992. On May 21, Nasrullah Gadani, a reporter for local Sindhi language newspaper Awami Awaz, was attacked by armed assailants in the…Read more