Assault

Sri Lankan mob holds 3 journalists captive for 5 hours

  • Posted on September 4, 2023
  • /Under Assault
Sri Lankan authorities must investigate the recent harassment of freelance Tamil journalists Selvakumar Nilanthan, Valasingham Krishnakumar, and Antony Christopher Christiraj and hold the perpetrators responsible, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. Around 12:30 p.m. on August 22, approximately 50 Sinhalese men led by a Buddhist monk surrounded vehicles holding the three journalists after they reported on alleged state-backed encroachments on Tamil cattle farmers’ land in the Mylathamadu area of the eastern district of Batticaloa, according to news reports, the rights group Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka, and the three journalists, who spoke to…Read more

Armed men attack Nigerian journalists covering clashes in Bayelsa state

  • Posted on September 4, 2023
  • /Under Assault
Nigerian authorities should swiftly identify and hold to account those responsible for recently attacking a group of journalists in southern Bayelsa state, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday.  On August 14, a group of unidentified men carrying guns, knives, and sticks attacked journalists who were reporting on the aftermath of clashes between younger members of the Opu Nembe community and their leaders, according to the journalists, who spoke with CPJ, and news reports. The men assaulted and robbed one journalist and stole equipment from two others. Two of the journalists were injured while…Read more

At least 7 Ugandan journalists assaulted, robbed at news conferences

  • Posted on August 14, 2023
  • /Under Assault
Ugandan authorities should investigate and prosecute those responsible for assaulting, robbing, and harassing seven journalists at two separate news conferences, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. On July 20, unidentified men punched and kicked at least six journalists at the headquarters of the opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) in the capital city of Kampala and stole several of their mobile phones, according to media reports and five of the journalists, who spoke to CPJ. In a separate incident that day, John Xerxes Ogulei, a reporter with the privately owned Teso Broadcasting Services, told CPJ…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

Zimbabwean ruling party supporters assault 3 freelance reporters 

  • Posted on August 14, 2023
  • /Under Assault
Zimbabwean authorities should thoroughly investigate the assaults of freelance reporters Annahstacia Ndlovu, Pamenus Tuso, and Lungelo Ndlovu in Bulawayo and hold their attackers to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. On Monday, July 17, in Bulawayo’s central business district, a group of people wearing regalia of the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front, or ZANU-PF, slapped Annahstacia Ndlovu, a correspondent for U.S. Congress-funded Voice of America, across her face and punched her when she refused to delete a recording and photographs of their skirmish with vendors at a vegetable market in the city, according to news reports,…Read more

Journalists harassed, 1 beaten after opposition protest coverage in Pakistan

  • Posted on June 7, 2023
  • /Under Assault
Pakistani authorities must cease harassing journalists covering the country’s political unrest and respect the media’s right to report freely and safely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. Since May 16, police have visited the homes of at least three journalists who reported from the scene of a May 9 protest and attack on an army corps commander’s residence, according to news reports, a statement by the Lahore Press Club reviewed by CPJ, and journalists who spoke to CPJ. On Tuesday, May 23, the Lahore High Court ordered authorities to cease harassing journalists and media…Read more

Malawi journalist Francis Mzindiko assaulted while covering political event

  • Posted on June 7, 2023
  • /Under Assault
Malawi authorities should thoroughly and speedily investigate the recent assault of journalist Francis Mzindiko and hold those responsible to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. On the morning of May 17, political activists attacked Mzindiko, a photographer with the privately owned Times Group newspaper, while he covered a fight between supporters of the ruling Malawi Congress Party and its allied United Transformation Movement in the city of Blantyre, according to media reports, a statement by the Malawi chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa regional press freedom group, and the journalist, who spoke to CPJ.…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

Sierra Leone journalist Alie Melvin Tokowa beaten while filming political dispute

  • Posted on April 11, 2023
  • /Under Assault
Sierra Leone authorities should thoroughly investigate the recent attack on journalist Alie Melvin Tokowa and hold the perpetrators to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. On March 28, a group of about seven people kicked, choked, and beat Tokowa, manager of radio broadcaster FOP 89.7FM Moyamba, as he attempted to cover an event by the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party in the southern district of Moyamba, according to the journalist, who spoke to CPJ by phone, and a statement by the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists, a local trade group. The attackers, whom…Read more