Assault

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

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

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

Zimbabwean journalists assaulted, harassed, and blocked from covering events

  • Posted on October 24, 2022
  • /Under Assault
Zimbabwean authorities and ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) should investigate the assaults and harassment of journalists covering events of public interest in the past week, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. “The increasing cases of violence against journalists in Zimbabwe is becoming a serious source of concern and must be strongly condemned,” said Angela Quintal, CPJ’s Africa program coordinator, in New York. “Press freedom violations and the rising impunity for crimes against journalists should not be tolerated as the country prepares for a general election in 2023.” Between Thursday, October…Read more

Four Zimbabwean journalists beaten, forced to delete footage by ruling party supporters

  • Posted on August 30, 2022
  • /Under Assault
 Zimbabwean authorities should investigate the brutal assault of four journalists working for private media outlets, bring the perpetrators to justice, and ensure that party supporters do not attack members of the press covering political rallies, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday.  The reporters assaulted are: Chelsea Mashayaombe, a reporter for online newspaper Zimbabwe DailyPellagia Mpurwa, a reporter for online magazine Technomag Tongai Mwenje, managing editor of news website SportBriefToneo Rutsito, editor of Technomag Around 12:30 p.m. on August 25, the journalists were injured after they filmed a convoy of 20 vehicles of the…Read more

Sri Lankan security forces detain, assault journalists covering political unrest

  • Posted on August 2, 2022
  • /Under Assault
Sri Lankan authorities must thoroughly and swiftly investigate recent attacks on journalists by the country’s security forces, hold the perpetrators to account, and cease harassing the staff of Xposure News, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. On the early morning of July 22, Sri Lankan security forces assaulted at least four members of the press, including three journalists with the privately owned digital news platform Xposure News, covering a military raid on a protest site and subsequent demonstration in Colombo, the capital, according to those journalists, who spoke with CPJ by phone.…Read more

Police attack News First journalists covering Sri Lanka protests

  • Posted on July 12, 2022
  • /Under Assault
Sri Lankan authorities should thoroughly and transparently investigate the recent police attack on journalists covering anti-government protests, and hold those responsible to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. On the evening of Saturday, July 9, members of the paramilitary police Special Task Force assaulted a reporting team with the privately owned broadcaster News First covering a protest outside Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s residence in the capital city of Colombo, according to a report by CNN and multiple reports by News First. That evening, demonstrators broke into Wickremesinghe’s residence and set it on fire amid protests over…Read more

Zimbabwean journalist Anyway Yotamu charged after assault by police

  • Posted on July 12, 2022
  • /Under Assault
Zimbabwean authorities should drop all charges against freelance journalist Anyway Yotamu, investigate his assault by police, and hold those responsible to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday.  At about 11 a.m. on Thursday, July 7, police officers assaulted Yotamu while he was filming an altercation between taxi drivers and parking attendants in the central business district of the capital, Harare, according to the journalist and his lawyer Shamiso Dhlakama, both of whom spoke to CPJ via messaging app, multiple local media reports, a Facebook post by the Zimbabwe chapter of the regional press freedom group Media Institute…Read more

Pakistani journalists Ayaz Amir and Ahmer Shaheen attacked in separate incidents in Lahore

  • Posted on July 12, 2022
  • /Under Assault
Pakistan authorities must immediately investigate the attacks against journalists Ayaz Amir and Ahmer Shaheen, ensure their safety, and hold the perpetrators accountable, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. Unidentified men separately attacked Shaheen, chief editor of the news website iNEWS, on June 30 and beat Amir, a senior analyst with the privately owned broadcaster Dunya News, on July 1, according to news reports, both journalists, who spoke to CPJ in phone interviews, and a statement by the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors, which CPJ reviewed. Both attacks occurred in the Punjab provincial capital…Read more

Journalists stabbed, assaulted in Bangladesh

  • Posted on May 23, 2022
  • /Under Assault
Bangladesh authorities must conduct a swift and transparent investigation into two separate attacks on journalist Md Rashid Chowdhury and bystander Jashim Uddin, and on journalists Azim Nihad, Rahul Mahajan, and Lokman Halim, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. On the evening of Friday, May 13, a group of teenagers stabbed Chowdhury, executive editor of the privately owned daily newspaper Dainik Agrabani Pratidin, in the central city of Narayanganj, according to news reports. The teenagers also stabbed Uddin when he attempted to intervene, according to those sources. Separately, on the morning of May 8, the brother…Read more