Arrest & Detention

Nigerian journalist Luka Binniyat detained over complaint by Kaduna state official

Nigerian authorities should immediately and unconditionally release journalist Luka Binniyat and drop all charges against him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On November 4, police officers in Barnawa, a town in the northern state of Kaduna, arrested Binniyat, a freelance journalist who contributes to the U.S.-based news outlet The Epoch Times, according to an Epoch Times report and Jonathan Asake, president of the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union, a local rights group, who spoke to CPJ in a phone interview. Binniyat, who also works as a spokesperson for the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union, was arrested at the…Read more

Rwandan journalist Théoneste Nsengimana detained since October 13

Rwandan authorities should immediately and unconditionally release journalist Théoneste Nsengimana and cease harassing members of the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On October 13, security personnel arrested Nsengimana, who runs the YouTube channel Umubavu TV Online, according to tweets by the Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB), a law-enforcement body, and an interview with his wife, Chantal Umwari, published by the YouTube channel Ishema TV. Authorities have charged Nsengimana with membership in a criminal group, dissemination of propaganda aimed at harming the Rwandan government abroad, spreading rumors, and inciting unrest, according to media reports, documents related to the…Read more

Tanzanian cartoonist detained over cartoon of president

Tanzanian flag with fabric structure Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns cartoonist Optatus Fwema’s arbitrary detention for the past two weeks in Tanzania over a cartoon of the president. This is the latest chilling message to journalists in a country where press freedom has been worsening steadily in recent years. Fwema has been held at Oysterbay police station in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s business capital, ever since he was arrested at his home on 24 September. The police returned to his home on 5 October to look for incriminating evidence without telling his lawyer.…Read more

Zimbabwe journalist detained, charged for filming police clash with vendors

Zimbabwean authorities must drop all charges against journalist Elizabeth Mashiri, stop arbitrarily arresting journalists, and allow them to work without interference, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On August 17, police in Gweru, the capital of Midlands Province, arrested Mashiri, an assistant editor and Midlands bureau chief for privately owned daily newspaper the Mirror, and detained her for about four hours at the central police station on allegations of disorderly conduct, according to the journalist, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app, a news report, a statement by the Zimbabwe chapter of the regional press freedom…Read more

Sri Lankan journalist Keerthi Ratnayake detained under anti-terror act

Police in Sri Lanka should immediately release journalist Keerthi Ratnayake and halt further investigations into him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Ratnayake, a former army intelligence officer and regular freelance contributor to the London-based, Sri Lanka-focused news website Lanka-e-News, was summoned to the Kollupitiya Police Station in Colombo in western Sri Lanka on August 14 to answer questions about information he had provided to the Indian embassy in Colombo concerning a possible terrorist attack on the embassy, according to Lanka-e-News and news reports After reporting to the police station, Ratnayake, who covers defense and politics,…Read more

Pakistan authorities detain, investigate journalists Amir Mir and Imran Shafqat

Pakistan authorities should immediately drop their investigations into journalists Amir Mir and Imran Shafqat, and cease harassing members of the press in retaliation for their coverage of public institutions, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On August 7, officers with the Federal Investigation Agency arrested Mir, CEO of the privately owned news agency Googly News TV, and Shafqat, who hosts the YouTube news commentary channel Tellings with Imran Shafqat, according to news reports and both journalists, who spoke with CPJ in phone interviews. Googly News TV publishes on a website and YouTube channel, which has about 360,000 subscribers;…Read more

Indian journalist Ganji Raghu arrested for alleged rioting

Authorities in the Indian state of Telangana should immediately release journalist Ganji Raghu and drop any criminal investigation into his work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On June 3, masked men in plain clothes grabbed Raghu, a reporter with the news website Tolivelugu, outside his home in Hyderabad, and forced him into an unmarked car with its license plates covered, according to news reports, CCTV footage of the abduction shared with CPJ by Tolivelugu senior reporter Magham Srinivas, and the journalist’s wife, Praveena, who spoke to CPJ over the phone. Later that day, police announced that…Read more

Bangladeshi authorities arrest journalist Rozina Islam under Official Secrets Act

The Committee to Protect Journalists has called on Bangladeshi authorities to immediately release journalist Rozina Islam, withdraw the investigation into her, and to stop arresting journalists under the Official Secrets Act. Islam, a senior correspondent for the daily newspaper Prothom Alo, was arrested today after the Health Ministry filed a complaint against her under the colonial-era Official Secrets Act, according to news reports. She was accused of taking pictures of official documents under sections 3 and 5 of the Official Secrets Act, and under sections 379 and 411 of the penal code, and could face up to 14 years…Read more

Bangladesh journalist Abu Tayeb jailed under Digital Security Act

Bangladesh authorities should immediately and unconditionally release journalist Abu Tayeb, and reform the country’s draconian Digital Security Act, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. At about 10 p.m. on April 20, police in the central city of Khulna arrested Tayeb, a correspondent for the broadcaster NTV and Khulna Gazette and Dainik Loksomaj newspapers, after the city’s mayor, Talukder Abdul Khalek, filed a Digital Security Act case against him, according to multiple news reports. Yesterday, a Khulna court denied Tayeb’s request for bail and sent him to jail pending an investigation into that complaint, those reports said. Several lawyers are…Read more

Police detain Ghanaian journalist David Tamakloe overnight in relation to ‘false news’ complaint

Police in Ghana should drop their investigation into journalist David Tamakloe and allow him to report freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On April 1, in Accra, the capital, four police officers in plainclothes arrested Tamakloe, editor-in-chief of the privately owned Whatsup News website, and detained him for about 24 hours at the city’s National Police Headquarters, seized his two phones and mobile hotspot, and then released him on bail on April 2, according to Tamakloe, who spoke with CPJ in a phone interview, and a report by the privately owned Myjoyonline news website. Officers released…Read more