Censorship

Zambian police detain 2 journalists, make them delete interviews with opposition

The Committee to Protect Journalists on Monday called on Zambian authorities to thoroughly investigate a police assault on journalist Rodgers Mwiimba and his two-hour detention, alongside a second journalist, Innocent Phiri. On April 13, police officers arrested the two television journalists at Matanda Grounds, a public space in the town of Kafue, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of the capital, Lusaka, where the opposition United Kwacha Alliance planned to hold a political rally, according to news reports and the two journalists, who spoke with CPJ. Authorities banned the rally on the grounds that the recently formed opposition…Read more

Cameroon governor bans The Post over military coup headline

Cameroonian authorities should immediately lift an indefinite ban against The Post newspaper in the Southwest Region and stop any retaliatory action against the privately owned media outlet and its staff, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. On Tuesday, September 12, Southwest regional governor Bernard Okalia Bilai banned The Post until further notice, accusing the outlet of “flagrant violation of professional norms,” according to a copy of the order reviewed by CPJ and media reports. The ban followed the publication of a social media post showing a copy of the newspaper’s Monday front page with a headline, “66%…Read more

CPJ urges India to review ‘dangerous’ legislation that threatens press freedom

ndian lawmakers must thoroughly review three bills that threaten the independence of the press, and the government should withdraw and significantly amend its new data protection law, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. “We are gravely concerned by the Indian government’s apparent attempts to pass a series of bills undermining press freedom, ahead of elections in 2024, without adequately consulting journalists or civil society,” said Beh Lih Yi, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator, in Kuala Lumpur. “Indian lawmakers must allow ample time for a transparent and exhaustive review of the bills, and the…Read more

India blocks The Kashmir Walla website and social media accounts

Authorities in India must immediately unblock the website and social media accounts of the independent Kashmiri news outlet The Kashmir Walla, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. On Saturday, August 19, The Kashmir Walla became inaccessible in India following an order by India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to block its website under the IT Act without any prior notice, according to a statement by The Kashmir Walla, reviewed by CPJ, and news reports. The Kashmir Walla, which is known for its human rights reporting in the disputed territory of Indian-administered Jammu and…Read more

Bangladeshi journalist Mamunur Rashid Nomani faces hearing over Digital Security Act charges

Police in Bangladesh’s southern city of Barisal should immediately drop all charges against journalist Mamunur Rashid Nomani and allow him to report without fear of reprisal, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. Nomani, chief news editor of the privately owned newspaper The Daily Shahnama and editor of the Barisal Khabar news website, is due in court on April 4 to face charges against him and two others under two sections of the Digital Security Act stemming from a 2020 case, according to the journalist, who spoke with CPJ by phone, and a copy…Read more

Pakistan bans broadcasting of ex-PM Imran Khan’s speeches, suspends ARY News channel

Pakistan authorities must immediately rescind the ban on satellite television channels airing live and recorded speeches by former Prime Minister Imran Khan and restore the license of the privately owned television broadcaster ARY News, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. On the evening of Sunday, March 5, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority, the country’s broadcast regulator, issued the ban on airing Khan’s speeches, which went into effect on Monday, and warned that violators will have their licenses canceled, according to news reports. Hours after the order was announced on Sunday, PEMRA suspended ARY…Read more

Cameroon : Two journalists and an Equinox TV programme suspended

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns a decision by Cameroon’s National Communication Council (CNC) to suspend the head of one of the country’s most outspoken and popular TV channels, one of its star presenters, and one of its leading current affairs programmes for a month. The suspensions are arbitrary and unjustified, and constitute a serious press freedom violation, RSF said. The one-month suspensions of Equinoxe TV director Sévérin Tchounkeu, presenter Cédric Noufele and the programme “Droit de Réponse” (Right of Reply) were announced by the media regulator on 1 April. Alluding to a teachers’ strike, the CNC accused Equinoxe TV of “failing…Read more

Bangladesh authorities charge 3 journalists under Digital Security Act

Bangladesh authorities must immediately drop all charges against journalists Kabir Kishore, Tasneem Khalil, and Shafiqul Islam Kajol, and cease harassing members of the press under the draconian Digital Security Act, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On September 8 and 12, the Dhaka Cyber Tribunal accepted Digital Security Act charges against Kishore, a cartoonist; Khalil, editor of the Sweden-based news website Netra News; and Kajol, a photographer and editor with the Daily Pakkhakal magazine, according to multiple news reports and a person familiar with the cases, who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal by Bangladesh…Read more

Ugandan authorities detain 2 journalists on criminal libel charges

Ugandan authorities should drop the criminal libel charges against journalists Pidson Kareire and Darious Magara, and reform the country’s laws to decriminalize speech, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On May 27, the Buganda Road Chief Magistrate Court in Kampala, the capital, charged Kareire and Magara with criminal defamation and ordered them to be detained until a bail hearing on June 17, according to a copy of the charge sheet, which CPJ reviewed, and a statement by the Human Rights Network for Journalists-Uganda (HRNJ-U), a local press rights group. The charge sheet alleges…Read more

Pakistani TV anchor censored after denouncing violence against journalists

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is appalled that Hamid Mir, the well-known host of one of Pakistan’s most prestigious TV programmes, has been taken off the air by his TV channel after saying at a protest that those responsible for recent physical attacks on journalists should be identified. An autocratic climate is steadily taking hold in Pakistan, RSF said. The host of Capital Talk, a current affairs programme broadcast every weeknight on Geo News, Hamid Mir was suspended summarily, without any form of proceedings. He told RSF that his channel’s management notified him that he would…Read more