Articles Written By: Lindsay Ross

At least 14 journalists detained, attacked, or harassed covering Nigeria’s election

At least 14 journalists and media workers were detained, harassed, or attacked while covering Nigeria’s presidential and federal elections, including private news website WikkiTimes owner Haruna Mohammed Salisu, who remains in police custody without charge, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. Police detained Salisu on February 25 in Duguri town, southeastern Bauchi state, shortly after he and other reporters had met with the state governor, according to WikkiTimes editor Yakubu Mohammed, who spoke to CPJ, and a local coalition of press freedom groups. Police said they took Salisu into custody to protect him after supporters of…Read more

Ahead of elections, Nigerian journalist Jonathan Ugbal attacked, others denied access

Nigerian authorities should hold accountable those responsible for beating journalist Jonathan Ugbal, publicly advise political supporters to not attack the press, and not unduly hinder access to election-related sites, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. On Wednesday, February 22, about 20 supporters of Nigeria’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) hit and kicked Ugbal, editor of the privately owned news site CrossRiverWatch, as he worked to report on a dispute between the political supporters and a community youth group outside a PDP office in Calabar, the capital of Cross River State, according to a report…Read more

Malawi police detain, charge journalist Dorica Mtenje over story she did not write

Malawian authorities should immediately drop defamation and cyber-related charges against Maravi Post journalist Dorica Mtenje and allow her to report free from legal harassment, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. On February 8, police in the capital Lilongwe summoned Mtenje via phone to appear the following day for questioning over a Maravi Post story she did not write or publish, according to news reports, a statement by the Malawi chapter of the regional press freedom body Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), a bail form that CPJ reviewed, and a CPJ interview with the journalist. When Mtenje arrived at…Read more

Bangladesh shutters newspaper run by political opposition party

Dainik Dinkal, the newspaper of Bangladesh’s main opposition party, was forced to close on Monday after its printing license was canceled in what the outlet’s managing editor, Shamsur Rahman Shimul Biswas, said were invalid grounds. Dainik Dinkal suspended operations on February 20 after the Bangladesh Press Council, a quasi-judicial, government-funded body headed by a former High Court judge, rejected its appeal against a government shutdown order, Biswas told CPJ. “The shutdown of Dainik Dinkal is a blatant attack on media freedom ahead of Bangladesh’s January 2024 national election,” said Carlos Martinez de la Serna, CPJ’s…Read more

Police assault 2 journalists covering political protest in the Maldives

  • Posted on February 8, 2023
  • /Under Assault
Maldives authorities must swiftly investigate the recent assaults of journalists Hassan Shaheed and Ahmed Misbaah and ensure that members of the press can report on public events without fear of violence by police, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. On the morning of Monday, February 6, police officers assaulted Shaheed, a reporter and videographer for the privately owned broadcaster Channel 13, and Misbaah, a camera operator for Channel 13, while they were covering protests near the country’s parliament, according to news reports and Channel 13 station manager Ibrahim Saeed, who spoke with CPJ via…Read more

Pakistani journalist Imran Riaz Khan arrested for alleged hate speech

Pakistan authorities must immediately and unconditionally release journalist Imran Riaz Khan and cease targeting journalists in retaliation for their commentary on the military, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. In the early hours of Thursday, February 2, officers with Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency arrested Khan, an anchor with the privately owned broadcaster BOL News and host of a YouTube channel with about 3.8 million subscribers, according to news reports. FIA officers arrested Khan at Lahore’s Allama Iqbal International Airport, where he was leaving for the United Arab Emirates, in response to an investigation into alleged…Read more

CPJ calls for credible investigation into death of Rwandan journalist John Williams Ntwali

Rwandan authorities must provide a credible account of the circumstances surrounding the death of journalist John Williams Ntwali, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. Police said that Ntwali was killed in the early morning of January 18 in Kigali, the capital, after a car hit a motorcycle taxi he was riding, according to news reports, which said that police arrested the driver of that car. Ntwali reported critically on governance and human rights issues in Rwanda on the YouTube-based outlet Pax TV-Ireme News, which he founded, and worked as an editor for the privately…Read more

Nigerian journalist Agba Jalingo charged with cybercrime over report on governor’s relative

Authorities in Nigeria should swiftly drop the cybercrime charges against journalist Agba Jalingo, cease harassing him for his work, and reform the country’s laws to ensure journalism is not criminalized, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. On December 8, 2022, authorities in the southern Nigerian state of Cross River filed cybercrime charges against Jalingo, publisher of the privately owned news website CrossRiverWatch, according to a report by the privately owned news website Sahara Reporters and a charge sheet reviewed by CPJ. Jalingo told CPJ via messaging app that he is expected in court on…Read more

Bangladeshi journalist Raghunath Kha arrested, allegedly electrocuted in custody

Bangladesh authorities must immediately and unconditionally release journalist Raghunath Kha and investigate allegations that he was electrocuted and beaten in police custody, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. At around 11 a.m. on Monday, January 23, plainclothes police officers detained Kha, a correspondent for the privately owned broadcaster Deepto TV and privately owned newspaper Dainik Projonmo Ekattor, according to multiple news reports and a person familiar with the case who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity, citing safety concerns. Kha was detained after reporting on a land dispute in the Khalishakhali area of the southwestern Satkhira…Read more

Pakistani journalist Shahid Aslam arrested in leak investigation

Pakistan authorities must immediately and unconditionally release journalist Shahid Aslam and allow the media to freely and independently report on military officials, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. On January 13, Federal Investigation Agency officers in Lahore arrested Aslam, a special correspondent for the privately owned broadcaster BOL News, according to news reports and a statement by the Pakistan Press Foundation, a local press freedom group. Authorities accused Aslam of involvement in a November 19, 2022, article in the independent news website FactFocus that used leaked tax data to report on the assets of former Pakistan army chief…Read more