Attacks on the Media

At least 17 journalists injured covering protests in Bangladesh

Bangladesh police must ensure that officers do not harm members of the press covering protests, and should investigate attacks on journalists by demonstrators and police officers, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On March 25 and 26, in Dhaka, the capital, members of the Chhatra League, the youth wing of the ruling Awami League political party, attacked people demonstrating against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Bangladesh, and used sticks to beat journalists covering the protests, according to news reports. Also on March 26, Dhaka police fired tear gas and rubber bullets…Read more

Pakistani journalist Ajay Lalwani dies after suffering three gunshot wounds

Authorities in Sindh province, Pakistan, must immediately launch a credible investigation and apprehend those responsible for the killing of journalist Ajay Lalwani, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.  Lalwani, a local general news correspondent for the privately owned Urdu language Daily Puchano, died yesterday after suffering three gunshot wounds on Wednesday evening in Sukkur, in northern Sindh Province, according to Imdad Soomro, a correspondent of national English daily The News, who saw Lalwani in the hospital before he died, and Ashiq Jatoi, editor of the Daily Puchano, both of whom spoke to CPJ over the…Read more

Nigerian police attack journalist Eniola Daniel over photographs of building demolitions

Nigerian authorities should conduct a credible and transparent investigation into the assault of journalist Eniola Daniel and hold his attackers to account, say the Committee to Protect Journalists. At about 11 a.m. on February 28, seven police officers—six in uniforms and one in plain clothes—attacked Daniel, a reporter with the privately owned Nigerian newspaper The Guardian, after he photographed makeshift buildings that the officers had demolished in the Western Apapa council area of Lagos state, according to the journalist, who spoke by phone with CPJ, and a report and video of the attack posted by his employer. Daniel…Read more

Ugandan soldiers assault journalists at Bobi Wine event, face opaque military trial

On February 17, a group of Ugandan military police officers used sticks and batons to beat at least 10 journalists covering opposition politician Robert Kyagulanyi, known popularly as Bobi Wine, while he delivered a petition to a United Nations office in Kololo, a neighborhood of the capital Kampala, according to nine of those journalists, who spoke to CPJ, media reports, and statements by local press rights groups. The following day, the head of Uganda’s military, General David Muhoozi, gave a press conference in which he apologized for the attacks and promised to pay the journalists’ medical bills. Also that…Read more

Bangladeshi journalist Borhan Uddin Muzakkir dies of gunshot wounds

Bangladeshi authorities must swiftly identify the killers of journalist Borhan Uddin Muzakkir and hold them to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On February 19, in the Companiganj area of Bangladesh’s southern Noakhali district, police and armed demonstrators opened fire during clashes in the street between two factions of the ruling Awami League party, each of which is seeking power in the Companiganj area, according to the Daily Star. At least nine people were shot at the demonstration, according to that report. A bullet from an unidentified shooter hit Muzakkir, a reporter…Read more

Malawian police beat journalist Henry Kijimwana Mhango for reporting on COVID-19

Malawian authorities should investigate the police attack on journalist Henry Kijimwana Mhango, and ensure that those responsible are held to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On January 22, a group of at least seven police officers in the Old Town area of Lilongwe, the capital, attacked Mhango, a freelance reporter who contributes to the U.K. daily The Telegraph, with pipes and sticks after he asked permission to photograph them enforcing COVID-19 regulations, according to a report by the Malawi Voice news website and Mhango, who spoke to CPJ in a phone interview. “Authorities in Malawi…Read more

Arrest warrant issued for Indian journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta in defamation case

Authorities in the Indian state of Gujarat should drop their arrest warrant for journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, and the Adani Group conglomerate should stop trying to intimidate journalists with legal harassment, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The Adani Group initiated criminal and civil defamation suits in 2017 against Guha Thakurta and three of his colleagues at the Economic and Political Weekly, a peer-reviewed academic journal, over an article alleging that the company had used its political influence to obtain favorable government policies, according to news reports, CPJ documentation from 2017, and Anand Yagnik, Guha Thakurta’s…Read more

Internet access cut, social media banned during Uganda elections

Ugandan authorities should immediately cease all efforts to disrupt internet access in the country and allow the press to cover the country’s elections freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said . Yesterday, the Uganda Communications Commission, the country’s broadcasting and telecommunication regulator, ordered telecommunications providers to suspend internet services in the country until further notice, according to a statement posted on Facebook by one of the providers, Africell, a separate statement by another company, MTN Uganda, which CPJ reviewed, and a copy of a letter from the commission to Simbanet, which was posted on social media…Read more

Police beat, detain journalists covering opposition candidates ahead of Uganda elections

Ugandan security forces should stop harassing and attacking journalists, and should ensure that the press can freely cover the country’s upcoming elections, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Since December 11, security officers have assaulted at least 10 journalists covering opposition events ahead of the country’s January 14 presidential election, and briefly detained at least two members of the press and questioned them about their work, according to media reports and journalists who spoke with CPJ. “The unabated violence and hostility against journalists ahead of Uganda’s general election is shocking. Reporting on the opposition…Read more

Photographer Abul Kalam detained in Bangladesh after documenting refugee relocation

Bangladeshi authorities should immediately release photographer Abul Kalam and allow the press to freely cover refugee issues in the country, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On December 28, authorities at the Kutupalong Registered Camp, a refugee camp in the southeastern city of Cox’s Bazar, detained Kalam after he photographed the government transfer of Rohingya refugees to Bhasan Char Island, according to news reports. Kalam was arrested in response to a complaint filed by Khalilur Rahman, an official at the camp, who alleged that Kalam was involved in violence in Rohingya refugee camps in…Read more