Renewed call for protection plan after third journalist murdered

Reporters Without Borders Reporters Without Borders appeals again to the Indian government to set up a national plan for the protection of journalists amid a continuing wave of physical attacks on media personnel. Raghavendra Dube, the 44-year-old owner and editor of Khushboo Ujala, a local weekly in Mumbai, the capital of the western state of Maharashtra, last week became the third Indian journalist to be murdered this year. His body was found near Mira Road police station, in a Mumbai suburb, at around 5:30 a.m. on 17 July, just half an hour after…Read more

Journalists arrested in Zambia for publishing allegedly classified documents

Committee to Protect Journalists Zambian authorities have arrested two journalists and accused them of publishing classified documents, according to news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the arrests and calls on Zambian authorities to release them immediately. Police today arrested Fred M'membe, editor of the independent daily The Post, and Mukosha Funga, the paper's reporter, at the Woodlands Police Station in the capital, Lusaka, after summoning them to the station, according to news reports. The two have been charged with publishing classified documents, according to news reports. Police said the charges were in…Read more

Boko Haram threatens to kill Nigerian journalist

Committee to Protect Journalists The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Nigerian authorities to ensure the safety of a Nigerian journalist who received a death threat from a suspected member of the Islamist militant sect Boko Haram. Adeola Akinremi, the features editor of the independent daily ThisDay in Lagos state, told CPJ about the threat earlier this month. Akinremi told CPJ he received an email on May 10 from an individual who said he was Abu Musab Abul-Barnawi. In a January 2015 YouTube video, a man identifies himself as Abul-Barnawi and says he…Read more

Gambia should disclose whereabouts of radio journalist

Committee to Protect Journalists The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Gambian authorities to disclose the whereabouts, health, and legal status of Alagie Abdoulie Ceesay, a radio journalist who was last seen on July 2 with individuals reported to be Gambian state security agents. "Gambian security agents have long stoked a climate of fear for journalists working in the country," said Peter Nkanga, CPJ West Africa representative. "We call on Gambian authorities to immediately release Alagie Abdoulie Ceesay and to stop trying to silence the media through intimidation." Ceesay, the managing director of…Read more

Jail term and radio station raid fuel concern in Zimbabwe

Reporters without Borders Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s government seems to be taking a tougher line with the media, raiding a community radio station and imposing a prison sentence on a journalist in the space of a week. The latest events follow weeks of gathering storm clouds for the media in Zimbabwe, a country that saw 22 media freedom violations in 2014 and whose president who is on the Reporters Without Borders list of “Predators of Press Freedom.” “The two latest developments have sounded a new alarm for media freedom, which is already very…Read more

Ugandan press freedom group’s office raided for second time in 2 years

Human Rights Network for Journalists - Uganda A media rights body, Human Rights Network for Journalists-Uganda (HRNJ-Uganda) has lost vital information and property to unknown persons who broke into their office premises in Kayanja Triangle Zone in Rubaga, a Kampala suburb, and made away with all desktop computers, laptops, documents and unspecified amount of money for project activities. “It is hard for us to comprehend. This was a highly sophisticated intrusion. The organization is paralyzed, a lot of our important information was taken, we can't tell what they intend to use it for.…Read more

Indian journalist beaten and dragged behind motorbike

Committee to Protect Journalists An Indian journalist was beaten by a group of men and dragged behind a motorcycle in Uttar Pradesh state on June 13, in apparent reprisal for his critical reporting, according to reports. The attack comes days after freelance journalist Jagendra Singh was killed in the same state in a case that local police and a minister are accused of being involved in, according to local news reports. Haider Khan, a stringer for a local TV news channel in Pilibhit district, told reporters he was attacked while following up on…Read more

Journalists assaulted while covering protest in western Kenya

Committee to Protect Journalists The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns an attack on Tuesday against four journalists covering a peaceful protest in western Kenya and calls on authorities to investigate the attacks and hold the assailants to account. Four journalists--Saka Richards, a reporter for the privately owned radio station Milele FM; Duncan Wasa, a reporter for the privately owned faith-based station Imani TV; Leonard Wamalwa, a reporter for the independent station West FM; and David Sirengo, a reporter for the private national broadcaster Citizen TV--were attacked by a mob of residents in the western town…Read more

Third blogger hacked to death in Bangladesh this year

Committee to Protect Journalists Four unidentified assailants wielding cleavers and machetes killed a blogger in Bangladesh today, marking the third time in less than three months that a blogger has been slain in the country, according to news reports. Ananta Bijoy Das was hacked to death while headed to work in the city of Sylhet, the reports said. "The government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina must take urgent steps to ensure the security of critical bloggers in Bangladesh given this series of murders," said CPJ Asia Program Research Associate Sumit Galhotra. "Authorities can…Read more

Threats facing journalists in northern Kenya

Canadian Journalists for Free Expression Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) is distressed by reports of persistent threats facing journalists working in northern Kenya, particularly in light of recent violence in the region. Kenyan journalists are increasingly being forced to make an impossible choice in their quest to report public interest stories, as they face attacks and threats from both militant groups and government officials. CJFE has received multiple reports from journalists working on the ground in northern Kenya that the continued incursion of the Al Shabab militant group into the region has…Read more