Intimidation & Harassment

Malawi detains, charges 3 journalists seeking to cover EU delegation’s return

Malawian authorities should drop the prosecution of three journalists who wanted to cover the return to the country on January 8 of a European Union electoral observer mission, but were instead detained for two hours at Kamuzu International Airport in Lilongwe, the capital, and charged with disorderly conduct, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Three journalists from the privately owned Nation Publications Limited (NPL) and Zodiak  Broadcasting Station (ZBS) were at the VIP section of the airport to cover the arrival of the delegation, who were due to present their final report on the disputed May 21 election,…Read more

Journalists threatened, assaulted while covering local politician in Sierra Leone

Authorities in Sierra Leone should investigate recent attacks against journalists covering local politics, and should ensure that reporters can do their jobs safely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On January 4, a group of men slapped and hit Foday Conteh, a reporter with the privately owned Calabash newspaper, after he arrived at the home of Musa Bamba Fodey Jalloh, a minister of parliament, to interview the politician, Conteh told CPJ in a phone interview. The attack took place at Jalloh’s home in Sierra Leone’s northern Bendugu village, and Conteh said he was afraid…Read more

Arson attack damages indigenous newspaper office in Canada

Authorities in the Six Nations Territory in Canada should conduct a prompt and thorough investigation into an arson attack on the offices of the Turtle Island News newspaper, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. In the early morning of October 28, a truck rammed into the outlet’s newsroom in Six Nations Territory in Southern Ontario, and unidentified individuals doused the vehicle and the building with gasoline before setting it ablaze, according to a report by the paper and Turtle Island News publisher Lynda Powless, who spoke to CPJ via phone. No one was hurt in the incident, but…Read more

CPJ publishes 2019 Global Impunity Index

On 29 October, the Committee to Protect Journalists published an important document called "Getting Away With Murder". The 2019 Global Impunity Index highlights the growing problem of countries where journalists are slain but their killers go free. This important report can be accessed here and should be read by all journalists and those that believe in freedom of the media.Read more

Pakistan denies entry to CPJ program coordinator Steven Butler

Media and human rights groups including IFEX members condemn Pakistan's decision to prevent the entry of Steven Butler, who was scheduled to speak at a human rights conference  On 17 October the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Asia Program Coordinator Steven Butler was refused entry into Pakistan, despite having a valid visa. Butler was told by airport authorities in Lahore that his document was voided because his name was “on a stop list of the Interior Ministry.” Butler was expected at the Asma Jahangir Conference, the largest annual gathering of human rights advocates in…Read more

Pakistani TV reporter murdered for covering criminal gang

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls for an all-out investigation into the murder of Mirza Waseem Baig, a reporter for the 92 News TV channel, who was gunned down in the state of Punjab, in eastern Pakistan, after covering the activities of a criminal gang specializing in extortion. Based in Sarai Alamgir, 120 km southeast of Islamabad, Baig died while being taken to hospital after being shot six times at close range by three men outside his home on 30 August. The police officer in charge of the investigation, Ameer Abbas, told RSF that…Read more

Singapore prime minister threatens to sue The Online Citizen for libel

Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong should drop his legal threat against news website The Online Citizen and cease his government’s long-running legal harassment of independent media, the Committee to Protect Journalists said. On September 1, Lee’s press secretary, Chang Li Lin, sent a letter to The Online Citizen’s chief editor, Terry Xu, threatening to file libel charges if he did not retract an article about Lee’s allegedly strained relationship with his siblings from the outlet’s website and Facebook page and publish an unconditional apology by September 4, according to news reports citing the letter. Xu told CPJ via…Read more

Nigerian publisher Agba Jalingo detained since August 22 without charge

Nigerian authorities should immediately release publisher Agba Jalingo and halt their harassment of journalists reporting on alleged corruption and other issues of public interest, said the Committee to Protect Journalists. On August 22, in Lagos, police officers with Nigeria’s special anti-robbery squad arrested Jalingo, publisher of online news outlet CrossRiverWatch, according to Attah Ochinke, Jalingo’s lawyer, and Jeremiah Achibong, an editor at CrossRiverWatch, who spoke with CPJ over the phone. On August 23, authorities transferred Jalingo to a detention facility run by the anti-cult and anti-kidnapping police in Calabar, the capital of Nigeria’s southern Cross…Read more

Tanzania detains Watetezi TV journalist over investigation of police

The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned for the welfare of investigative journalist Joseph Gandye, who was arrested yesterday and handed over to police on whom he had reported critically, alleging they had abused other detainees. Police summoned Gandye, a production editor and reporter with Watetezi TV, to appear at Urafiki police station in Dar es Salaam, where they questioned him in the presence of his lawyer about his reporting, according to a statement from the Tanzania Human Rights Defenders Coalition, a non-governmental coalition that owns Watetezi TV. Police said they arrested Gandye on suspicion of publishing false…Read more

Cameroonian journalist detained on criminal defamation and false news charges

Abidjan, June 20, 2019 -- Cameroonian authorities should immediately release journalist Paul Chouta and drop criminal defamation and false news charges against him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On May 28, in the Cameroonian capital of Yaounde, five police officers arrested Chouta, who works as a reporter for the privately owned Cameroon Web news website, in response to a defamation complaint filed by French Cameroonian writer Calixthe Beyala, according to Cameroon Web editor-in-chief Emmanuel Vitus, who spoke with CPJ via messaging app, and a person with knowledge of the case who asked not to be…Read more