Articles Written By: Lindsay Ross

On February 3, 2016, Zimbabwe's Constitutional Court granted an application by MISA-Zimbabwe seeking confirmation of the fact that criminal defamation is no longer part of the law. The ruling followed a concession by the State that Section 96, which provides for criminal defamation under the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act (CODE), was void ab initio (from the beginning), which effectively brings the matter to finality. Arguing the case on behalf of the applicants comprising MISA-Zimbabwe, journalists Nqaba Matshazi, Sidney Saize, Godwin Mangudya and Roger Stringer, Advocate Thembinkosi Magwaliba, argued that Section 96 was invalid…Read more

The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on authorities in Tanzania to end their harassment of the weekly newspaper Mawio. The Kiswahili-language newspaper was permanently banned from publishing in print and online Friday and two of its editors were briefly detained, according to reports. Announcing the ban on Saturday, Tanzania's information minister Nape Nnauye told reporters the privately owned paper had been barred from publishing under the 1976 Media Act, Government Announcement 55, for allegedly inciting violence in articles. He cited a report in which he said the paper declared the opposition candidate the winner in presidential elections in Zanzibar, and…Read more

The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Cameroonian authorities to drop all charges against three journalists for failing to disclose information to the state. The three are scheduled to stand trial before a military court on Friday. Baba Wame, president of the Association of Cyber Journalists, Rodrigue Tongue, a reporter who formerly worked for the privately owned daily Le Messager, and Félix Cyriaque Ebolé Bola, a reporter for the privately owned daily Mutations, will appear in the military court in Yaoundé on charges of "non-denunciation," Denis Nkwebo, president of the Cameroon Journalism Trade Union, told CPJ. "Journalists…Read more

The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on authorities in Tanzania to end their harassment of the weekly newspaper Mawio. The Kiswahili-language newspaper was permanently banned from publishing in print and online Friday and two of its editors were briefly detained, according to reports.  Announcing the ban on Saturday, Tanzania's information minister Nape Nnauye told reporters the privately owned paper had been barred from publishing under the 1976 Media Act, Government Announcement 55, for allegedly inciting violence in articles. He cited a report in which he said the paper declared the opposition candidate the winner in presidential elections in Zanzibar, and…Read more

The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned that journalists in Uganda are being prevented from freely covering Parliament and campaigning for next month's presidential elections. The government announced this week that journalists without a university qualification will be barred from covering parliament, according to local reports. Journalists have also reported being attacked and threatened while covering the election campaign. "The entire democratic process is undermined if journalists are restricted whether through arbitrary regulations or physical violence from covering politicians," said Sue Valentine, CPJ's Africa program coordinator. On Monday, the Parliamentary Commission sent a…Read more

HRNJ-Uganda On 10 January 2016, George Obia – a high-profile police commander in Moroto District – roughed up four journalists, damaging a video camera and confiscating three others amidst threats to shoot them if they did not heed his orders. The journalists – Galiwango Ronald of NTV, Kenneth Oryema of New Vision, Ernest Kyazze from Bukedde newspaper and the Daily Monitor's correspondent in Moroto, Julius Ariong – had gone to Nadiket to follow up on reports that police had mounted a road block in the middle of the road allegedly to block the opposition Forum for…Read more

RSF have published the 2015 World Press Freedom ReviewRead more

The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the convictions in the case of Ahmed Rajib Haider, a blogger hacked to death in Bangladesh in February 2013. A Dhaka court sentenced two students to death for murder, including Rezwanul Azad Rana, a fugitive who was charged in absentia and who was described by police as the mastermind, according to reports. Six others were convicted over the attack, according to The Associated Press. "The convictions in the murder of Ahmed Rajib Haider mark a long overdue but encouraging first step in addressing the violence directed against bloggers in Bangladesh," said…Read more

The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on authorities in Sierra Leone to release Jonathan Leigh, managing editor of the Independent Observer. Leigh was arrested Thursday on accusations of publishing false information, according to news reports and local journalists with whom CPJ spoke. Bai-Bai Sesay, editor of the daily Independent Observer, told CPJ Leigh is accused of publishing false information over a front-page article published Thursday under the headline: "Panic in Kono: 3 dead." The article was about reports of political violence ahead of local by-elections taking place Saturday, Umaru Fofana, a correspondent for the BBC and Reuters,…Read more