Intimidation & Harassment

Mozambican journalist held for reporting on terrorist insurgencies

This statement was originally published on cpj.org on 9 January 2019. Mozambique's military should immediately release Amade Abubacar, a community radio journalist for the state-owned Rádio e Televisao Comunitária Nacedje de Macomia in northern Cabo Delgado province, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Police arrested Abubacar at a bus station in Macomia on January 5 while he was photographing families who have fled militant attacks in the coastal province, according to an emailed newsletter on January 7 by the independent Zitamar News, for which Abucar is also a correspondent. Authorities are holding…Read more

Pakistan: State persecution of media and self-censorship in 2018

pakistanpressfoundation.org  From a special coercive law to blatant censorship, the Pakistani media has witnessed many forms of oppression in its 71 years of struggle-filled existence. But in 2018 the media endured an unprecedented level of imposed "self-censorship" through tactics unbecoming of a responsible state. Those who refuse to fall in line suffer loss of readership and viewership. Unjustified cover-ups and the suppression of truth regarding crucial questions of public accountability have seriously affected the perception of the quality of democracy in Pakistan. 2018 was a year of elections. Overt and covert pressures on…Read more

Media sector concerned by South African politician’s threats against journalist

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) deplores South African opposition politician Julius Malema's use of threats and insults against journalists and media outlets covering his party's alleged involvement in an embezzlement scandal, and calls on the authorities to condemn his attempts to intimidate the press. The leader of Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), South Africa's second-largest opposition party, Malema has stepped up his threats and invectives in recent weeks. Naming five journalists on 20 November, he urged his supporters to "deal with them decisively" while adding to "never be violent with them." The five journalists named…Read more

Ugandan Unity FM radio station raided, taken off air and journalists arrested

Human Rights Network for Journalists - Uganda Unity FM radio based in Lira remains shut down since 17 November, 2018 when the Lira District Police Commander (DPC) Joel Tubanone stormed the radio station with heavily armed police personnel and military officers, switched off the radio and picked six staff on allegations of inciting violence. On 17 November 2018, at around 3:20 P.M, police arrested six (6) Unity FM journalists and two other clients who were found at the station for business. The arrest was allegedly on the orders of the Resident District Commissioner…Read more

Ghanaian journalist abducted and beaten over critical story on opposition politician

Ghanaian authorities should thoroughly investigate and bring to justice all those responsible for an attack on Jerry Azanduna, a reporter with the government-funded Ghana News Agency (GNA), and ensure his belongings are returned, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Azanduna said that on August 27, a group of men tricked him into getting in a car by saying they would drive him to a press conference he had been told to attend. The men instead drove the journalist to the house of Hassan Ayariga, an opposition Ghanaian politician with the All People's…Read more

In India, party activists beat TV journalists during live broadcast of show

A group of people suspected of being supporters of the far-right Shiv Sena political party attacked several journalists including the producer, Rahul Zori, during a live broadcast of a show for the privately owned broadcaster TV9 Marathi. The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Maharashtra police to thoroughly investigate the attack and take action against those responsible. Zori told CPJ that on August 25, a group of activists he believes are affiliated with Shiv Sena beat him and several other journalists during the filming of "Maharashtrachya Manat Kay" (What is in the…Read more

Ugandan security forces attack and detain journalists covering protests

Security forces beat and detained at least four journalists covering protests in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, on August 20, and confiscated or damaged their equipment. CPJ today condemned the attacks and called on Ugandan authorities to hold those responsible to account. The journalists were arrested while covering protests in Kampala to demand the release of lawmakers, including opposition MP Robert Kyagulanyi, known as Bobi Wine, who were arrested last week in connection to unrest in the northern town of Arua on August 13, during which President Yoweri Museveni's convoy was stoned, according to…Read more

Tanzania police detain journalist overnight on allegations of unlawful assembly

Police in Tanzania should drop allegations of illegal assembly against Sitta Tumma, a journalist who was arrested on August 8 and detained overnight, and investigate allegations that he was assaulted by security personnel, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Tumma, a print reporter and regional bureau chief for the privately owned Tanzania Daima newspaper, told CPJ that on August 8 he was arrested while covering an opposition campaign rally in Tarime District, northern Tanzania, ahead of a local authority by-election, even though he repeatedly identified himself as a journalist. He said he…Read more

Ugandan security personnel arrest, assault journalists covering electoral unrest

Authorities in Uganda should immediately drop charges of incitement and malicious damage to property against two journalists and investigate allegations that security personnel on August 13 and August 14 assaulted members of the press reporting on political unrest in northern Uganda's Arua District, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Herbert Zziwa and Ronald Muwanga, journalists with the privately owned NTV Uganda, were on the night of August 13 assaulted by security personnel and arrested during their live coverage of unrest in Arua District, according to a report by the press rights group…Read more

Nigerian media lobby groups call for immediate release of journalist Samuel Ogundipe

This statement was originally published on mediarightsagenda.net on 15 August 2018. Media Rights Agenda (MRA) today called for the immediate and unconditional release of Mr. Samuel Ogundipe, a Premium Times newspaper reporter who was arrested yesterday and is being detained by the Nigerian Police at the Force headquarters in Abuja for refusing to disclose the source of his information for a news report. In a statement issued today by its Programme Director, Mr. Ayode Longe, MRA said: "We are dismayed by this increasing resort by the Buhari Administration to tactics of intimidation and…Read more