Singapore’s premier hounds website editor again

  • Posted on September 23, 2019
  • /Under Legal
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to abandon his latest absurd complaint against Terry Xu, the editor of the independent news website The Online Citizen (TOC), and to stop deploying his army of lawyers against anyone who publishes news reports he doesn’t like. In what resembles David going into battle against Goliath, Terry Xufiled a “memorandum of appearance” with Singapore’s high court today in response to the summons issued against him five days ago on Lee’s behalf over a 15 August article. Xu’s filing means that he intends to defend himself…Read more

Pakistani TV reporter murdered for covering criminal gang

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls for an all-out investigation into the murder of Mirza Waseem Baig, a reporter for the 92 News TV channel, who was gunned down in the state of Punjab, in eastern Pakistan, after covering the activities of a criminal gang specializing in extortion. Based in Sarai Alamgir, 120 km southeast of Islamabad, Baig died while being taken to hospital after being shot six times at close range by three men outside his home on 30 August. The police officer in charge of the investigation, Ameer Abbas, told RSF that…Read more

CPJ concerned about Pakistan media court initiative

  • Posted on September 23, 2019
  • /Under Legal
Pakistan’s federal cabinet has approved an initiative to establish specialized courts aimed at resolving media-related issues, the government announced yesterday, according to news reports. The proposal drew swift condemnation on social media from human rights and press freedom organizations. “The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned that Pakistani authorities are moving forward with this vague plan to establish specialized media courts, despite an outcry from local journalists,” said Steven Butler, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “Instead, Pakistan needs to strengthen the nation’s democracy by freeing newspapers and broadcasters from the intense official pressures they already face.” The courts would…Read more

Nigerian publisher Agba Jalingo charged with treason

  • Posted on September 9, 2019
  • /Under Legal
Nigerian authorities should drop all charges against publisher Agba Jalingo, release him from detention, and stop using the country’s state security laws to harass government critics, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On August 30, federal authorities in southern Nigeria’s Cross River state charged Jalingo, the publisher of the privately owned news website CrossRiverWatch, with disturbance of public peace and treason for his writings and social media posts about Cross River Governor Benedict Ayade, according to a copy of the charge sheet reviewed by CPJ and Attah Ochinke, the journalist’s lawyer, who spoke to…Read more

Singapore prime minister threatens to sue The Online Citizen for libel

Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong should drop his legal threat against news website The Online Citizen and cease his government’s long-running legal harassment of independent media, the Committee to Protect Journalists said. On September 1, Lee’s press secretary, Chang Li Lin, sent a letter to The Online Citizen’s chief editor, Terry Xu, threatening to file libel charges if he did not retract an article about Lee’s allegedly strained relationship with his siblings from the outlet’s website and Facebook page and publish an unconditional apology by September 4, according to news reports citing the letter. Xu told CPJ via…Read more

Nigerian publisher Agba Jalingo detained since August 22 without charge

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

Framework adopted by Ghana police set to improve relationship with the media

  • Posted on August 27, 2019
  • /Under Legal
The Ghana Police Service (GPS) has adopted a new framework aimed at fostering a better relationship between the Service and the media, following a year-long series of multi-stakeholder processes facilitated by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA).  This statement was originally published on mfwa.org on 20 August 2019. The Ghana Police Service (GPS) has adopted a new framework aimed at promoting relations between the Service and the media, enhancing safety of journalists and countering impunity for crimes against journalists in Ghana. The adoption of the Framework followed over a year-long series of multi-stakeholder engagements…Read more

Tanzania detains Watetezi TV journalist over investigation of police

The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned for the welfare of investigative journalist Joseph Gandye, who was arrested yesterday and handed over to police on whom he had reported critically, alleging they had abused other detainees. Police summoned Gandye, a production editor and reporter with Watetezi TV, to appear at Urafiki police station in Dar es Salaam, where they questioned him in the presence of his lawyer about his reporting, according to a statement from the Tanzania Human Rights Defenders Coalition, a non-governmental coalition that owns Watetezi TV. Police said they arrested Gandye on suspicion of publishing false…Read more

RSF calls for former Gambia president to stand trial for journalist’s murder

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls for former Gambian President Yahya Jammeh, now living in exile in Equatorial Guinea, to be extradited back to Gambia to stand trial for the 2004 murder of Deyda Hydara, a newspaper editor who was the dean of Gambia’s journalists and RSF’s correspondent. RSF issued the call after an army officer confessed on July 22nd to Gambia’s Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission that he carried out Hydara's murder and said it was ordered by President Jammeh.  Detained since 8 February 2017, two weeks after Jammeh’s removal from office and…Read more

Channels TV reporter dies from injuries after shooting at Nigeria protest

Nigerian authorities should immediately investigate the death of Precious Owolabi, a reporter for the privately owned Channels TV, who was shot during a protest in Abuja on July 22, and ensure those responsible are held to account. Owolabi, 23, was shot while covering a confrontation between Shiite Muslim protesters and Nigerian police, and died the same day after being taken to a hospital, according to a Channels TV broadcast uploaded to its YouTube page. He had been covering a protest over the detention of Ibrahim Yaqoub El Zakzaky, the leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, according…Read more