Assault

Rwandan journalist Dieudonné Niyonsenga says he was beaten, detained in ‘hole’

The Committee to Protect Journalists has expressed alarm at reports that Dieudonné Niyonsenga had been tortured in a Rwandan prison and called on authorities to unconditionally release the journalist, who is serving a seven-year sentence.  During a January 10, 2024, hearing at the court of appeal in the capital Kigali, Niyonsenga said that he was held under “inhumane” conditions in a “hole” and was frequently beaten, according to media reports and court documents reviewed by CPJ. Niyonsenga, who also goes by Cyuma Hassan, appeared in court with a head wound and said that his hearing and vision were impaired by the conditions of his detention,…Read more

CPJ calls for probe into attack on Ghana radio journalist David Kobbena at ruling NPP office

  • Posted on February 5, 2024
  • /Under Assault
Authorities in Ghana should credibly investigate an attack on Cape FM reporter David Kobbena at the offices of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and ensure that the perpetrators are held accountable, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. About 15 people, several of whom were wearing pro-NPP T-shirts, confronted and assaulted Kobbena while he was covering an event at the party’s offices on January 4, 2024, in the central Cape Coast region, according to news reports and Kobbena, who spoke to CPJ by phone. Kobbena told CPJ that he reported the incident to police that…Read more

Pakistani TV journalist Shoaib Burni injured in gun attack in Karachi

  • Posted on January 23, 2024
  • /Under Assault
Pakistan authorities must immediately investigate the attack against Suno News journalist Shoaib Burni, and hold the perpetrators accountable, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. On January 14, an unknown number of unidentified gunmen on a motorbike shot Burni, who is the TV station’s bureau chief in Karachi, in the left arm as he was driving his car in the Lucky One area of Pakistan’s biggest city, according to Suno News and Naimat Khan, General Secretary of the Karachi Union of Journalists. Khan told CPJ that the attack appeared to be targeted, although the motive…Read more

Bangladeshi journalist Md Nahid Hasan attacked while reporting on political clash

  • Posted on November 28, 2023
  • /Under Assault
Bangladesh authorities must immediately and impartially investigate the recent attack on journalist Md Nahid Hasan while reporting on a clash allegedly involving the student wing of the ruling Awami League and hold the perpetrators accountable, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. On Monday evening, about 20 to 25 men attacked Hasan, a reporter for the news website Jagonews24.com, in the capital Dhaka, according to the local press freedom group Bangladeshi Journalists in International Media, news reports, and the journalist, who spoke with CPJ. “The beating of Bangladeshi journalist Md Nahid Hasan appears to be the…Read more

Ghanaian soldiers beat and arrest journalist Nicholas Morkah, wipe phone

  • Posted on November 22, 2023
  • /Under Assault
Ghanaian authorities must swiftly complete their investigation into the soldiers who attacked and detained journalist Nicholas Morkah last month and hold the perpetrators to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday.   On October 19, six soldiers attacked and beat Morkah, a morning show host with the privately owned Akyemansa FM broadcaster, after Morkah began filming the soldiers attacking a man in the Birim Central Municipal District of Ghana’s Eastern Region, according to a report by the privately owned Modern Ghana news website and Morkah, who spoke by phone with CPJ. After noticing Morkah…Read more

Bangladeshi student journalists Abdul Alim and Abu Sayed Rony attacked on university campus

  • Posted on November 22, 2023
  • /Under Assault
Bangladeshi authorities must investigate the recent beating of student journalists Abdul Alim and Abu Sayed Rony and hold the perpetrators accountable, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. At around 2:30 p.m. on November 9, around 20 men, allegedly members of the ruling Awami League party’s student wing Chhatra League, beat Alim, a reporter for the online news portal Rajshahi Post, and Rony, a correspondent for the online newspaper Bangladesh Journal, on the Rajshahi College campus in western Bangladesh, according to privately owned news website New Age, the local press freedom group Bangladeshi Journalists in…Read more

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