Media Freedom

The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on authorities in Sierra Leone to release Jonathan Leigh, managing editor of the Independent Observer. Leigh was arrested Thursday on accusations of publishing false information, according to news reports and local journalists with whom CPJ spoke. Bai-Bai Sesay, editor of the daily Independent Observer, told CPJ Leigh is accused of publishing false information over a front-page article published Thursday under the headline: "Panic in Kono: 3 dead." The article was about reports of political violence ahead of local by-elections taking place Saturday, Umaru Fofana, a correspondent for the BBC and Reuters,…Read more

Committee to Protect Journalists Local television reporter Hafeez Ur Rehman was killed Sunday morning while riding a motorcycle in Kohat, the provincial capital of a district in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, according to media reports. Rehman, a television reporter, is the second journalist this month to be shot dead in Pakistan's tribal regions. "Journalists in Pakistan, especially in the northwest, are under siege. If the government in Islamabad cannot bring justice in such cases, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa authorities must step in to address the impunity with which journalists are killed," said Bob Dietz,…Read more

The International Federation of Journalists expresses condolences following the death of Fijian photojournalist, Sitiveni Moce, on Friday November 13, 2015. The IFJ calls on the Fijian authorities to investigate the attack in 2006 and bring those responsible to justice. Sitiveni Moce, a photojournalist with the Fiji Times and Fiji Sun died from injuries sustained in the line of work as he covered the semi-civilian coup in Suva in 2000 and then again during the December 2006 coup. According to reports, Moce was beaten and attacked by rebel supporters in the 2000 coup and then during the 2006…Read more

Committee to Protect Journalists The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the arrest of John Ngirachu, the parliamentary editor of independent daily The Nation. Authorities arrested Ngirachu Tuesday evening and demanded that he reveal his sources for a report on alleged procurement irregularities by the interior ministry, journalists at The Nation and other Kenyan outlets told CPJ. The Nation said Ngirachu's report was based on proceedings at the national assembly. "The protection of sources is a fundamental principle of journalism and a critical condition for press freedom in a democracy," said CPJ's East Africa representative Tom Rhodes. "We are appalled that Kenyan authorities…Read more

Committee to Protect Journalists The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns two separate attacks in Dhaka on Saturday that, according to reports, killed and injured, respectively, two publishers who had produced books by the murdered Bangladeshi-American publisher Avijit Roy. Two writers were also injured in one of the attacks. Faisal Arefin Dipan, who published secular books, was stabbed to death at the offices of Jagriti Publications by a group of men who then fled, according to news reports. An autopsy showed the publisher's body had multiple stab wounds, according to reports. Dipan's company published The Virus of…Read more

Committee to Protect Journalists A radio journalist told the Committee to Protect Journalists on Thursday that he had been threatened by three men after he reported on the alleged rape of students in a boys' school in Nigeria's northern city of Kano. "The threat against Nasir Salisu Zango is a threat to the public's right to know what is happening in society," said Peter Nkanga, CPJ's West Africa representative. "CPJ calls on Nigerian authorities to ensure Zango's safety and apprehend the individuals behind the threats." Nasir Salisu Zango, a reporter for the privately…Read more

Committee to Protect Journalists On September 29, 2015, police in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh arrested a journalist on what his colleagues said were fabricated charges in connection with his reporting on human rights abuses by local authorities, according to news reports. Santosh Yadav, a freelance journalist based in Bastar district, contributes reports and photos to several local, privately owned dailies including Dainik Navbharat, Patrika, and Dainik Chhattisgarh. He reported on human rights abuses by the police against tribal communities in the region, according to his lawyer, Isha Khandelwal, who spoke to CPJ. Yadav had…Read more

Human Rights Network for Journalists - Uganda Enoch Matovu, a correspondent for a local television station (NTV, in the Mityana District), was reportedly shot in the head while covering an incident of vote rigging during the National Resistance Movement (NRM) party elections at Bulera police station in the Mityana district. He sustained a bullet injury to the head. Matovu told HRNJ-Uganda that he was covering the incident and never saw who shot at him in the scuffle: “I saw the local people opening the car and removing the ballot papers which they scattered…Read more