Arrest & Detention

Two Nigerian journalists charged with cybercrime over corruption reports

Authorities in Nigeria should swiftly drop all charges against journalists Aiyelabegan Babatunde AbdulRazaq and Oluwatoyin Luqman Bolakale and allow them to work freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Tuesday. On September 11, police officers detained AbdulRazaq and Bolakale, publishers of the independent news websites Just Event Online and The Satcom Media respectively, over their critical reporting about a local politician, according to the two journalists and their lawyer Taofiq Olateju, all of whom spoke with CPJ. According to the charge sheet, reviewed by CPJ, the September 9 articles contained allegations of abuse of office by Jumoke Monsura…Read more

Indian journalist Debmalya Bagchi faces criminal investigation after reporting on illicit liquor dens

Authorities in the east Indian state of West Bengal should drop their investigation into journalist Debmalya Bagchi and stop harassing him simply for doing his job, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. On September 6, police arrested Bagchi, a correspondent for the privately owned newspaper Ananda Bazar Patrika (ABP), after a woman from the local Dalit community—a historically marginalized group in India’s caste system—filed a police complaint alleging that the journalist had assaulted her, according to news reports. Bagchi was being investigated on four counts under the penal code—wrongful restraint, voluntarily causing hurt, intention to…Read more

Sri Lankan police arrest, beat journalist Tharindu Uduwaragedara

Sri Lankan authorities should immediately and unconditionally release journalist Tharindu Uduwaragedara and investigate allegations that he was beaten by police, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. At around 3 p.m. on Friday, July 28, police arrested Uduwaragedara after he covered a trade union protest in Borella, a suburb of the capital Colombo, according to Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka, a rights group operating from exile, and Jayantha Dehiaththage, the journalist’s lawyer, who spoke with CPJ by phone. Officers pulled Uduwaragedara out of a rickshaw while he was leaving the protest and forced…Read more

Journalists arrested and attacked, media offices set ablaze amid Pakistan protests

Pakistan authorities and the leadership and supporters of the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party must respect the rights of journalists covering the country’s political unrest, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. Amid protests following the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday, May 9, authorities and supporters of Khan’s PTI party have repeatedly attacked and harassed members of the press, according to a statement by the local press freedom group Pakistan Press Foundation and local journalists who spoke to CPJ. On Thursday, Pakistan’s Supreme Court declared Khan’s arrest illegal and ordered his immediate release. As of the…Read more

Indian journalist Sakshi Joshi assaulted, detained while covering women-led protest

Indian authorities must conduct an immediate and impartial investigation into the police harassment, assault, and detention of journalist Sakshi Joshi and hold the officers responsible to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. At around 12:30 a.m. on Wednesday, May 3, police in the capital city of Delhi confronted Joshi while she attempted to cover a protest, according to the journalist, who spoke to CPJ by phone, and a statement by Digipub, an association of digital media journalists of which Joshi is a member. Joshi, an independent journalist who posts her reporting on YouTube,…Read more

Pakistani journalist Gohar Wazir abducted, allegedly electrocuted

Pakistan authorities must conduct an immediate and impartial investigation into the abduction and alleged electrocution of journalist Gohar Wazir and hold the perpetrators to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. At around 4 p.m. on April 19, five unidentified men abducted Wazir, a reporter for the privately owned Pashto-language broadcaster Khyber News and head of the National Press Club Bannu journalists association, from a market in the city of Bannu, in northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, according to news reports, a statement by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, a nongovernmental organization, and a person…Read more

Zambian police briefly detain 2 Millennium TV journalists covering protest

Zambian authorities should refrain from detaining members of the press and should ensure journalists can cover protests without fear of arrest, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. On March 10, authorities detained Namo Phiri and Abel Musonda, journalists at the privately owned broadcaster Millennium TV, while they covered a protest by opposition members at the Civic Center in the capital city of Lusaka, according to media reports and both journalists and station manager Mary Mbewe, all of whom spoke to CPJ via messaging app.  Phiri told CPJ that they were covering the protest when a…Read more

Ugandan journalist Andrew Arinaitwe detained on criminal trespass charges

Ugandan authorities should immediately release freelance journalist Andrew Arinaitwe and drop all charges against him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. On Sunday, March 5, authorities arrested Arinaitwe while he was reporting at a boarding school in the central district of Wakiso, according to a statement shared with CPJ by Kiiza & Mugisha Advocates, a law firm representing the journalist, and tweets from the Human Rights Network for Journalists-Uganda, a local press rights organization. Arinaitwe was on assignment with the weekly publication The Continent, which is distributed via messaging apps including WhatsApp, according to those…Read more

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

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