Intimidation & Harassment

The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by reports that several journalists were attacked, threatened, or had equipment taken while covering elections in Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital, on February 1. At least 15 journalists were beaten, threatened, denied access to polling stations, or had equipment broken or taken while covering the mayoral and ward councilor vote, according to reports. Separately, over 30 complaints of election irregularities, including voters being denied entry to polling stations or people standing outside centers with firearms, were reported to the Election Commission on February 1, according to the Daily Star.  The…Read more

Ugandan police should drop all charges against journalist Willy Tamale and cease harassing reporters for their political coverage, the Committee to Protect Journalists said last week. On January 6, police in central Uganda’s Wakiso district detained four journalists who were covering a planned political event by opposition politician Robert Kyagulanyi, popularly known as Bobi Wine, according to news reports and Facebook posts by Robert Ssempala, the executive director of the Human Rights Network for Journalists-Uganda, a local press rights group. Police released three of the journalists later that day without charge, but detained Tamale, a reporter with…Read more

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

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

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

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