Uganda: BBC journalists ‘facing trumped up charges’

Uganda: BBC journalists ‘facing trumped up charges’

Human Rights Network for Journalists Uganda On 8 February 2019, police in Kampala released three British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) journalists, their driver and a wife to NBS's senior investigative journalist Solomon Serwanjja after spending two nights in police custody. They were released on police bond on charges of being in "unlawful possession of classified government drugs".  The journalists are; Kassim Mohammed, Rashid Kaweesa, Godfery Badebye of BBC, their driver Shafik who were arrested on Wednesday night and Vivian Nakaliika Serwanjja - Serwanjja's wife.  Meanwhile, Solomon Serwanjja also arrived at the Central Police Station…Read more

Investigative journalist Ahmed Divela shot dead in Ghana

Authorities in Ghana should immediately investigate the killing of journalist Ahmed Hussein-Suale Divela and ensure that threats against the press are taken seriously, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Two men riding a motorcycle shot and killed Divela, a member of Tiger Eye Private Investigations, an investigative journalism outlet led by Anas Aremeyaw Anas, as he was driving in the capital, Accra, yesterday, according to media reports and a video posted on Twitter by Anas. The journalist had told CPJ in September 2018 that people had attempted to attack him and that he feared for his life…Read more
Cameroonian journalist Paul Chouta attacked outside his home

Cameroonian journalist Paul Chouta attacked outside his home

Cameroonian authorities should immediately investigate an attack on Paul Chouta, a reporter for the privately owned news website Cameroon Web, and ensure that those who assaulted him are swiftly brought to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Chouta told CPJ yesterday that three unknown men stabbed him with a knife and beat him as he left his Yaoundé home just after 6 a.m. that day. The journalist was treated for stab wounds to his right hand and elbow and bruises to his face. "They didn't say anything as they started to physically attack…Read more

Cameroonian journalists arrested for covering opposition gathering

Authorities in Cameroon should immediately release journalists Théodore Tchopa and David Eyengue Nzima, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The two journalists, from privately owned daily newspaper Le Jour, were arrested yesterday while covering an opposition gathering in Douala, Denis Nkwebo, their deputy editor in chief and the president of the Cameroonian journalists' trade union, told CPJ. Their arrest was also reported by local outlets and journalists on social media.  The journalists were detained at a house where opposition leader Maurice Kamto, who claims to have won the 2018 presidential election, and opposition activists were also arrested,…Read more

Three journalists shot while covering political party rally in Lagos

This statement was originally published on mfwa.org on 9 January 2019. The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) condemns the shooting of three journalists in Nigeria at a political party rally in Ikeja, Lagos, and calls for thorough investigations and justice for the victims. The three, Emmanuel Oladesu, group political editor of The Nation newspaper, Temitope Ogunbanke, a correspondent of News Telegraph and Abiodun Yusuf, a cameraman of Ibile Television, were shot while covering a rally organised to market Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for the governorship of Lagos State,…Read more

Mozambican journalist held for reporting on terrorist insurgencies

This statement was originally published on cpj.org on 9 January 2019. Mozambique's military should immediately release Amade Abubacar, a community radio journalist for the state-owned Rádio e Televisao Comunitária Nacedje de Macomia in northern Cabo Delgado province, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Police arrested Abubacar at a bus station in Macomia on January 5 while he was photographing families who have fled militant attacks in the coastal province, according to an emailed newsletter on January 7 by the independent Zitamar News, for which Abucar is also a correspondent. Authorities are holding…Read more

Nigerian army’s raid on “Daily Trust” offices condemned

The International Press Centre (IPC), Lagos-Nigeria, condemns in strong terms, the forceful closure of Daily Trust Newspapers' head office in Abuja and the organisation's Maiduguri office by military personnel on Sunday January 6, 2019. A senior editorial staff of the organisation confirmed the military onslaught on the media establishment stating that staff had been ordered out of the premises, laptops and computers seized and operations halted. No reason, he said, was given for the action. IPC considers this development as a fresh threat to freedom of the press as well as the freedom…Read more

Pakistan: State persecution of media and self-censorship in 2018

pakistanpressfoundation.org  From a special coercive law to blatant censorship, the Pakistani media has witnessed many forms of oppression in its 71 years of struggle-filled existence. But in 2018 the media endured an unprecedented level of imposed "self-censorship" through tactics unbecoming of a responsible state. Those who refuse to fall in line suffer loss of readership and viewership. Unjustified cover-ups and the suppression of truth regarding crucial questions of public accountability have seriously affected the perception of the quality of democracy in Pakistan. 2018 was a year of elections. Overt and covert pressures on…Read more

Journalist arrested, others beaten during Bangladesh elections

The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Bangladeshi authorities to immediately release Hedait Hossain Molla, a reporter who was arrested in Khulna yesterday in relation to his election coverage, according to news reports. A court today ordered Molla to be held for three days pending investigation into an accusation that he violated the Digital Security Act and reported "false information" about the number of votes cast from Khulna during general elections on December 30, according to news reports. Molla works for the Dhaka Tribune, Bangla Tribune and Probaho, but reports did not…Read more

Bangladeshi election discredited by attacks on journalists, press freedom

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is appalled by the physical attacks against journalists and violations of the free flow of information in the final week of the campaign for Bangladesh's parliamentary elections on Sunday (30 December). An alarming total of 12 journalists were injured when around30 masked individuals attacked the staff of two media outlets - the newspaper Jugantorand Jamuna TV - at around 10:30 p.m. on 24 December in their hotel in the Dhaka suburb of Nawabganj where they were staying while covering the last days of the campaign. Armed with steel rods…Read more