Attacks on the Media

Pakistani journalist Imran Riaz Khan held in terrorism investigation

Pakistani authorities must immediately and unconditionally release journalist Imran Riaz Khan, whose whereabouts are unknown, and stop harassing and detaining members of the press for their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Tuesday. On March 1, the journalist—whose current affairs YouTube channel Imran Riaz Khan has some 4.6 million subscribers—was freed on bail in a corruption case and re-arrested hours later, on separate terrorism charges, outside a court in the eastern city of Lahore, according to multiple media reports and Azhar Siddique, one of Khan’s lawyers, who spoke to CPJ. “Pakistan authorities must immediately and unconditionally…Read more

CPJ urges Nigerian authorities to investigate attacks on journalists following court judgment

  • Posted on March 12, 2024
  • /Under Assault
Nigerian authorities must comply with a federal high court judgment ordering the government to investigate and hold accountable those responsible for attacking journalists in Nigeria, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday.  In 2021 Nigerian local press freedom group Media Rights Agenda (MRA) filed a lawsuit requesting the court to compel the federal government to investigate and prosecute attacks on the press. On February 16, the court ruled in favor of MRA, calling “the failure of the federal government of Nigeria to take effective legal and other measures to investigate, prosecute and punish perpetrators of attacks…Read more

4 Nigerian journalists charged with cybercrime, defamation over fraud investigation

Authorities in Nigeria should immediately drop all charges against journalists Adisa-Jaji Azeez, Salihu Ayatullahi, Salihu Shola Taofeek, and Abdulrahman Taye Damilola, and allow them to work without fear of arrest, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Friday.  On Tuesday, police officers arrested Azeez, managing director, and Ayatullahi, editor-in-chief, of the privately owned The Informant247 news website, over reports published on November 10  and February 1 about corruption at Kwara State Polytechnic, Ayatullahi and Taofeek, the outlet’s publisher, told CPJ by phone.  Azeez and Ayatullahi were arrested after responding to a request from the police headquarters in Ilorin, capital of western Nigeria’s Kwara…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

South African journalist Thomo Nkgadima charged with intimidation after photographing mayor’s home

South African authorities should drop criminal trespass and intimidation charges against freelance journalist Thomo Nkgadima and ensure that members of the press do not face reprisal for reporting issues of public interest, the Committee to Protect Journalists have said. On December 24, 2023, police in Fetakgomo Tubatse Municipality in South Africa’s northern Limpopo Province summoned and arrested Nkgadima, who contributes to the privately owned newspaper Sunday World, in response to a complaint of trespass and intimidation by the municipality’s mayor, Eddie Maila, the journalist and Sunday World digital editor Tumo Mokone told CPJ. In a statement to…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

Two Sri Lankan journalists questioned, harassed following protest coverage

Sri Lankan authorities must immediately drop any investigation into freelance Tamil journalists Punniyamoorthy Sasikaran and Valasingham Krishnakumar in retaliation for their reporting and allow them to work without interference, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. On October 28, a police officer separately interrogated Sasikaran and Krishnakumar at their homes in eastern Batticaloa district following their reporting on an October 8 protest, according to the advocacy group Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka and the journalists, who spoke with CPJ. The protest, which coincided with President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s visit to Batticaloa, included hundreds of farmers and…Read more