Tanzanian reporter finally freed after seven months

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) welcomes Tanzanian journalist Erick Kabendera’s release today after nearly seven months in prison but regrets that he had to plead guilty to charges of money-laundering and tax evasion to be freed. The high price exacted by the authorities is indicative of the steady decline in press freedom in Tanzania, RSF said. A stringer for such renowned media outlets as The Guardian and The East African, Kabendera was arrested on 29 July 2019 on suspicion of having obtained his Tanzanian citizenship fraudulently. Thereafter, the charges against him kept on being changed in a series of…Read more

Cameroonian journalist Martinez Zogo jailed since January on defamation charges

Authorities in Cameroon should immediately release journalist Martinez Zogo, drop all charges against him, and reform the country’s penal code to decriminalize defamation, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On January 17, judicial police officers in Yaoundé, the capital, arrested Zogo at the offices of Radio Amplitude FM, a privately owned broadcaster where he works as editor-in-chief, Zogo’s lawyer, Joseph Kenmoe, told CPJ in a phone interview. Authorities charged him with criminal defamation following a complaint filed by Sylvie Biye Essono, the ex-wife of a government official, which alleged that Zogo had…Read more

Pakistani journalist murdered after warning of threats against him

Pakistan authorities should take swift action to launch a thorough and credible investigation into the murder of journalist Aziz Memon, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Memon, who worked for the privately-owned Sindhi TV channel KTN News and the Sindhi-language Daily Kawish newspaper, was found strangled to death in an irrigation ditch yesterday near the town of Mehrabpur in the Naushahro Feroze District of Sindh province, according to newsreports. “The tragic murder of Aziz Memon deserves swift justice, which is something Pakistani authorities have repeatedly failed to deliver for journalists,” said CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Steven Butler.…Read more

BBC Africa’s “disproportionate and dangerous” dismissal of a journalist

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns BBC Africa’s decision to fire a journalist over an interview about the Rwandan genocide that supposedly annoyed the Rwandan government. The dismissal was “disproportionate” and will help to intimidate journalists who tackle this controversial subject, including those outside Rwanda, RSF said. Jacques Matand Diyambi, a Congolese journalist working at BBC Africa in Dakar, Senegal, was fired for “serious misconduct” as a result of his interview last November with Charles Onana, the Franco-Cameroonian author of a new book about the 1994 Rwandan genocide entitled “Rwanda, the Truth about Operation Turquoise.” The…Read more

Pakistan government secretly passes strict social media regulations

The Pakistan government should immediately roll back a set of social media regulatory measures that were passed in secret, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On January 28, the federal cabinet approved the “Citizens Protection (Against Online Harm) Rules, 2020,” a set of regulations on social media content, without public consultation; the measures were enacted in secret and were reported yesterday by The News International, an English-language daily. A copy of the regulations, which was leaked online, shows that the rules empower the government to fine or ban social media platforms over their users’…Read more

Nigerian journalist Alex Ogbu dies at protest

Nigerian authorities should conduct a credible and transparent investigation into the death of journalist Alex Ogbu, publicize the results of his autopsy, and hold those responsible to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On January 21, Ogbu, a reporter and editor with the local independent outlet Regent Africa Times, died from head injuries sustained at a protest in Abuja, the capital, held by members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria religious organization, according to Regent Africa Times publisher Shola Akingboye and Francisca Ogbu, the journalist’s wife, who both spoke to CPJ over messaging app…Read more

Journalists covering elections in Dhaka, Bangladesh attacked, harassed

The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by reports that several journalists were attacked, threatened, or had equipment taken while covering elections in Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital, on February 1. At least 15 journalists were beaten, threatened, denied access to polling stations, or had equipment broken or taken while covering the mayoral and ward councilor vote, according to reports. Separately, over 30 complaints of election irregularities, including voters being denied entry to polling stations or people standing outside centers with firearms, were reported to the Election Commission on February 1, according to the Daily Star.  The…Read more

Three journalist arrested, two radio stations closed in Gambia

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is extremely concerned about Sunday’s serious press freedom violations in Gambia, where three journalists were arrested and others were attacked during a banned protest in the capital, and the authorities closed two radio stations.     The protesters were calling for President Adama Barrow to resign on completing the first three years of his five-year term, as he had promised to do when he took office The detained journalists are Giby Jallow, the manager of King FM, a member of his staff, and Pa Modou Bojang, the manager of Home Digital FM. The authorities closed their radio…Read more

Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria journalist dies after attack

Authorities in Nigeria should conduct a swift and credible investigation into the killing of Maxwell Nashan, a reporter and newscaster with the government-owned Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), and determine whether his journalism was the motive for the attack, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Farmers found Nashan bound and gagged in Badarisa in the early hours of January 15, about 2 km from the FRCN office and about 3 km from his home in the Lainde community of northern Adamawa State, according to his employer, colleagues, and a relative, who…Read more

Journalist assaulted by demonstrators in Malawi

Journalist Patricia Kayuni was attacked by protestors while she was covering a demonstration in Chitipa in northern Malawi.  This statement was originally published on cpj.org on 14 January 2020. Malawian authorities should conduct a thorough and transparent investigation into the assault of journalist Patricia Kayuni and ensure that those responsible are held to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On January 10, a group of protesters approached Kayuni, a reporter for the Roman Catholic Church-owned radio station Tuntufye FM, while she was covering a demonstration in Chitipa, in northern Malawi, and demanded that she…Read more