Legal Constraints

Concerns for UK press freedom over proposed national security bill

The draft National Security Bill which is at present being debated in Parliament, raises serious concerns for press freedom should it pass into law in its present form.    In an open letter to The Times on Wednesday 11 January 2023, an international media coalition of more than 40 signatories, warned of “serious concerns” with the bill and risk it poses to whistleblowing and public interest journalism.  The group said that whilst it understood that the aim of the bill was to update the UK’s espionage laws to protect national security, the reality…Read more

South African court bans Independent Media outlets from publishing leaked intelligence report

A South African court judgment banning the publication of an intelligence report about alleged U.S. efforts to gather intelligence about South Africa’s ruling African National Congress party must be made public and should be overturned on appeal, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday.  On October 5, Gauteng High Court judge Daisy Sekao Molefe issued a final order banning the Daily News newspaper and Independent Online (IOL) news website from publishing a leaked November 5, 2020 intelligence report marked “secret” by South Africa’s State Security Agency and ordered that all copies of the…Read more

Proposed Ugandan legislation seeks to criminalize ‘misuse of social media’

The Committee to Protect Journalists on Wednesday called on Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni not to sign into law a bill that would undermine press freedom by criminalizing speech sent via computer on a broadly defined and vaguely worded range of grounds. On September 8, Uganda’s Parliament passed the Computer Misuse (Amendment) Bill, 2022, which would impose criminal penalties and fines when a computer is used to commit offenses including the unauthorized dissemination of information, ridiculing or demeaning individuals, promoting hostility among groups of people, publishing “malicious” information, and the “misuse of social media,” according to…Read more

South African journalist Karyn Maughan criminally charged over report on former President Zuma

Former South African President Jacob Zuma and his legal team should immediately drop their private criminal prosecution against Karyn Maughan, a reporter with the privately owned News24 site, and allow the press to report on court proceedings without intimidation or fear of reprisal, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. On September 6, Zuma’s legal team notified Maughan in a court summons that it had filed criminal charges against her in connection to her August 10, 2021 News24 report on Zuma’s medical condition, according to multiple news reports, a statement by local press freedom group South African Editors’ Forum, as…Read more

Sierra Leonean authorities fine, suspend licenses of Star broadcasters

Authorities in Sierra Leone should ensure that Star television and radio stations can broadcast news without undue interference, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday.  In mid-August, Sierra Leone’s broadcast media regulator, National Telecommunications Commission, suspended the licenses of privately owned broadcasters Star Radio and Star TV for over two weeks and denied workers access to the broadcasters’ transmitters in Brookfields, a neighborhood in western Freetown, the capital, according to an August 19 commission statement and Philip Neville, the broadcasters’ founder who holds 70% ownership of shares and handles the finances. Neville, who spoke with…Read more

Zimbabwe police charge 2 journalists with publishing false information

Zimbabwean authorities should immediately drop all charges against journalists Wisdom Mdzungairi and Desmond Chingarande and allow them to work freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. On Tuesday, August 2, police summoned Mdzungairi, editor-in-chief of the privately owned media company Alpha Media Holdings, and Chingarande, a senior reporter with the company, to appear for questioning the following day, the journalists told CPJ by phone. On Wednesday morning, Mdzungairi and Chingarande appeared at the Harare Central Police Station where police held them for about three hours and charged them with transmitting “false data…Read more

Adani Group files criminal defamation suit against freelance Indian journalist Ravi Nair

Indian authorities should not pursue criminal defamation charges against journalist Ravi Nair, and should ensure he can work free from legal harassment, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. On July 26, police in New Delhi ordered Nair to appear in a court in Gandhinagar, the capital of the western state of Gujarat, on July 29, according to multiple news reports and the journalist, who spoke to CPJ in a phone interview. The police presented Nair with a bailable arrest warrant, which required his presence in court but did not mandate his arrest, according to those…Read more

Tanzanian regulator suspends DarMpya online news outlet, citing expired license

Tanzanian flag with fabric structure Tanzanian authorities should allow the DarMpya online news outlet to resume operations without further interference and reform the country’s online content regulations so they cannot be used to muzzle the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. On July 1, the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) ordered DarMpya to suspend publication immediately, according to news reports and a copy of TCRA’s July 1 letter. The letter cited the TCRA’s June 28 inspection of the outlet’s office in the commercial capital of Dar es Salaam, where authorities found that the outlet’s…Read more

Nigerian authorities criminally charge 2 journalists over political reporting

Nigerian authorities should immediately drop all charges against publisher Haruna Mohammed Salisu and reporter Idris Kamal and allow journalists to work free from legal harassment, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday.  On June 27, police in the city of Bauchi, the capital of northern Bauchi state, arrested and detained Salisu and Kamal, both with the privately owned Wikkitimesnews website, according to the journalists and their lawyer, Idrees Gambo, all of whom spoke to CPJ by phone, and a statement by the International Press Center, a local press freedom organization. Police released the journalists later that…Read more

Pakistan expands prison terms for online defamation to 5 years

Pakistan authorities must immediately revoke a recently enacted ordinance that further criminalizes freedom of expression in the country, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. On Sunday, February 20, President Arif Alvi enacted amendments to the 2016 Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, increasing the prison term for online defamation on social media platforms from three to five years, following an expedited trial that would conclude “preferably not later than six months of taking cognizance of the case,” according to news reports and a copy of the ordinance, which CPJ reviewed. The amendments allow any member of…Read more