Intimidation & Harassment

Indian authorities must stop harassing employees of the news websites Newslaundry and Newsclick and let them work freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. At about noon on September 10, officials from the national Income Tax Department raided the two outlets’ offices in New Delhi as part of an investigation into alleged tax evasion, according to newsreports and statements by the outlets. Officials downloaded data from office computers and the personal cell phone and laptop of Newslaundry editor-in-chief Abhinandan Sekhri, and in the Newsclick raid took various financial documents as well as email archives from editor-in-chief Prabir Purkayastha and Pranjal, an editor at the outlet…Read more

Police in Batticaloa, in eastern Sri Lanka, should stop harassing journalist Punniyamoorthy Sasikaran and let him work without interference, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On August 23, officers from the Batticaloa police superintendent’s Special Crime Branch interrogated Sasikaran, a freelance Tamil journalist who is also the treasurer of the Batticaloa District Tamil Journalists Union, at a police station, according to news reports and the journalist, who communicated with CPJ by messaging app. The officers accused Sasikaran of organizing a ceremony in January that paid tribute to Indian fishermen who died at sea in…Read more

Bangladesh authorities should immediately cease harassing brothers and colleagues Sayful Arkane, a reporter, and Mohammad Aziz Arkane, a camera operator, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On August 2, the brothers, who cover Rohingya refugees for the YouTube channel of Rohingya news website The Arakan Times, participated in a meeting between Rohingya refugees, U.N. officials, and officials with the office of Bangladesh’s Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner in Nayapara refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar in southeast Bangladesh, to discuss changes to food ration cards following protests over the issue, according to Mohammad Aziz Arkane and…Read more

Ghanaian authorities should ensure the safety of journalist Erastus Asare Donkor and hold politician Kennedy Ohene Agyapong to account for instigating attacks against him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. In an appearance on the Net 2 TV broadcaster on July 9, Agyapong, a member of Ghana’s parliament with the ruling New Patriotic Party, accused Donkor, a reporter with Joy FM, of reporting falsehoods and said he “should be beaten seriously.” Agyapong also said in that broadcast that, if he was president, “I would get people to beat him up.” Agyapong’s family owns Net…Read more

Sri Lankan authorities should stop harassing journalist Selvakumar Nilanthan and halt any further efforts to interrogate him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On July 12, officers with the Batticaloa district’s Terrorism Investigation Division, a branch of the Sri Lankan police, interrogated Nilanthan, a freelance Tamil journalist and the secretary of the Batticaloa District Tamil Journalists Association, a local press freedom group, for about three hours, according to the Tamil Guardian, a copy of authorities’ July 10 summons to the journalist, and a tweet by Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka, a local human rights group. Officers…Read more

Authorities in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh must immediately drop their criminal investigations into journalists Nidhi Suresh, Manoj Shukla, and Yashwant Singh, and cease harassing members of the press over their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On July 4, police in the state’s Shahjahanpur district launched criminal defamation investigations into Suresh, a reporter at the news website Newslaundry, as well as Shukla, a reporter, and Singh, an editor, both at the news website Bhadas4Media, according to The Wire and Suresh, who spoke to CPJ over the phone. The investigations stem from a criminal…Read more

Pakistan authorities should cease harassing journalist Nadeem Malik and refrain from summoning him over his work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On July 2, the counterterrorism wing of the Federal Investigation Agency issued a summons to Malik to appear for questioning today, according to news reports, the journalist, who spoke with CPJ in a phone interview, and a copy of the summons, which CPJ reviewed. The summons states that authorities seek to question Malik, the president of the privately owned news channel Samaa TV, about an April 28 segment of the Nadeem…Read more

Zambia’s broadcasting regulator, the Independent Broadcasting Authority, must stop harassing private broadcaster Muvi TV and should publicly reaffirm the editorial independence of media outlets ahead of the August 12 general elections, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.  On May 28, the IBA found Muvi TV guilty of professional misconduct in violation of the IBA [Amendment] Act of 2010, a law regulating the broadcasting industry, after the outlet aired interviews with opposition politicians on May 16 and April 30, according to a statement issued by IBA, which CPJ reviewed; Mabvuto Phiri, Muvi TV’s director of news and…Read more