Cameroon’s leading journalist held on trumped up charges since 2016

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls for the immediate release of Amadou Vamoulké, the former head of state-owned Cameroon Radio & Television (CRTV), who has been held on trumped-up embezzlement charges since July 2016 and is due to appear in court again on 4 December in a trial already postponed 14 times in a row. The prosecution is scheduled on 4 December to submit interim conclusions at the next hearing before the Special Criminal Court in Yaoundé, giving the judges an opportunity to decide whether to continue the trial. In the two years and…Read more

Local reporter covering corruption is abducted and beaten to death in Jharkhand, India

Indian authorities should thoroughly investigate the killing of reporter Chandan Tiwari and bring those responsible to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Tiwari, a reporter for the Hindi daily Aj, was abducted on October 29, and found badly beaten the following day, according to NDTV. He later died in a hospital, according to reports. Police said the reporter was found injured in a forest about 175 miles from Pathalgada, in Jharkhand. At a press conference today, police identified three people-- Pintu Singh, Jamuna Prasad and Musafir Rana--whom they said are suspected…Read more

Outspoken critic and journalist detained but not yet charged by Cameroonian authorities

Authorities in Cameroon should immediately release or disclose charges against Michel Biem Tong, editor of the privately owned Hurinews website, who was detained on October 23 after being summoned to the State Secretariat for Defense in the capital, Yaoundé, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Prior to his arrest, Tong had published articles criticizing the Cameroonian government's handling of grievances of Anglophone Cameroonians from the western regions of the country in the run-up to presidential elections on October 7, according to a friend of the journalist who spoke to CPJ on condition…Read more

Nigerian soldiers arrest and detain “The Punch” journalist for 2 days

Media Foundation for West Africa (MWFA) Military officers in Nigeria arrested and detained for two days a reporter with ThePunchnewspaper during a swoop on residents of a community in Jos, Plateau State, on October 6, 2018. The reporter, Friday Olokor, who is The Punch's correspondent in Jos, is part of a group of journalists covering the military's peace enforcement operation in the state which has been in the grip of deadly ethnic clashes in recent times and is currently under a curfew. The military are also conducting a search for a retired officer,…Read more

Gunmen in Pakistan kill K2 Times reporter

The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Pakistani authorities to investigate and promptly bring to justice the killers of journalist Sohail Khan. Khan, a reporter for the Urdu daily K2 Times, was shot dead while driving in Haripur, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, yesterday, according to multiple newsreports. News reports said that Khan received threats shortly after writing a story about the arrest of an alleged drug dealer named Musarrat Iqbal. Khan had filed an application at the district police office requesting protection on the day that he was killed, Iqbal Khattak, director of…Read more

Derek Ingram Memorial Service

Following the death earlier this year of renowned Commonwealth journalist Derek Ingram, there will be a memorial service at St Bride's Church, Fleet Street, London EC4Y 1AA at 11h30 on Thursday, 8th November,Read more

Journalist Jones Abiri acquitted, awarded damages

This statement was originally published on mfwa.org on 14 September 2018. A Federal High Court in Abuja has awarded 10 million Naira (about US$27,500) in damages to Jones Abiri, describing the journalist's two-year detention without trial as an "outright conviction." Giving his ruling, the judge, Nnamdi Dimgba, rejected as baseless the government's submission that Abiri was detained in the interest of national security. He also questioned the government's refusal to arraign the journalist after taking his statement upon his arrest. Abiri, who is the editor of the Weekly Sources newspaper, was arrested on…Read more

Ghanaian journalist abducted and beaten over critical story on opposition politician

Ghanaian authorities should thoroughly investigate and bring to justice all those responsible for an attack on Jerry Azanduna, a reporter with the government-funded Ghana News Agency (GNA), and ensure his belongings are returned, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Azanduna said that on August 27, a group of men tricked him into getting in a car by saying they would drive him to a press conference he had been told to attend. The men instead drove the journalist to the house of Hassan Ayariga, an opposition Ghanaian politician with the All People's…Read more

In India, party activists beat TV journalists during live broadcast of show

A group of people suspected of being supporters of the far-right Shiv Sena political party attacked several journalists including the producer, Rahul Zori, during a live broadcast of a show for the privately owned broadcaster TV9 Marathi. The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Maharashtra police to thoroughly investigate the attack and take action against those responsible. Zori told CPJ that on August 25, a group of activists he believes are affiliated with Shiv Sena beat him and several other journalists during the filming of "Maharashtrachya Manat Kay" (What is in the…Read more

Ugandan security forces attack and detain journalists covering protests

Security forces beat and detained at least four journalists covering protests in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, on August 20, and confiscated or damaged their equipment. CPJ today condemned the attacks and called on Ugandan authorities to hold those responsible to account. The journalists were arrested while covering protests in Kampala to demand the release of lawmakers, including opposition MP Robert Kyagulanyi, known as Bobi Wine, who were arrested last week in connection to unrest in the northern town of Arua on August 13, during which President Yoweri Museveni's convoy was stoned, according to…Read more