Uganda’s elections body bans civil society campaign messages

Human Rights Network for Journalists - Uganda On 30 November 2015, Uganda's elections body – the Independent Electoral Commission – suspended media houses from airing elections-voter mobilization campaign messages, saying that some of their content were anti-ruling party, but favored the opposition. The Commission contends that the messages mobilize Ugandans to vote for change at the expense of the ruling party. “Some of the material we have been hearing in Luganda (Local language) and English, some of us are complaining about them… what are the interpretations of the wider implications of your messages?”…Read more

Pakistan: TV station employee, two policemen injured in ISIS grenade attack

Pakistan Press Foundation A receptionist of a television news channel and two police constables were injured on December 1, 2015 in a hand grenade attack on the office of Din News in Lahore, the capital city of Punjab province in Pakistan. The attacker on a motorcycle hurled a hand grenade at the channel's offices, along with pamphlets claiming responsibility for the attack by ISIS – Khorasan Group (Daulat-i-Islamia Khorasan). The pamphlets also warned that such attacks would continue if the media houses did not stop helping the government of Pakistan and the army which were…Read more

Patricia Scotland elected new Commonwealth Secretary-General

Baroness Patricia Scotland was today elected as the 6th  Commonwealth Secretary-General at the 2015 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Malta and will take office on 1 April 2016.  She is the first woman to hold this post. Patricia Scotland was born in Dominica as the tenth child of twelve born to Antiguan and Barbudan parents. Her family moved to Walthamstow when she was two years old.  She pursued a London University (LLB) law degree in 1976 (in association with University College London) and was called to the bar at the Middle Temple in 1977, specialising in…Read more

In Pakistan, second journalist shot dead in a month

Committee to Protect Journalists Local television reporter Hafeez Ur Rehman was killed Sunday morning while riding a motorcycle in Kohat, the provincial capital of a district in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, according to media reports. Rehman, a television reporter, is the second journalist this month to be shot dead in Pakistan's tribal regions. "Journalists in Pakistan, especially in the northwest, are under siege. If the government in Islamabad cannot bring justice in such cases, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa authorities must step in to address the impunity with which journalists are killed," said Bob Dietz,…Read more

Fijian photojournalist dies from injuries sustained during 2006 attack

The International Federation of Journalists expresses condolences following the death of Fijian photojournalist, Sitiveni Moce, on Friday November 13, 2015. The IFJ calls on the Fijian authorities to investigate the attack in 2006 and bring those responsible to justice. Sitiveni Moce, a photojournalist with the Fiji Times and Fiji Sun died from injuries sustained in the line of work as he covered the semi-civilian coup in Suva in 2000 and then again during the December 2006 coup. According to reports, Moce was beaten and attacked by rebel supporters in the 2000 coup and then during the 2006…Read more

Third journalist shot while covering political events in Uganda

  HRNJ-Uganda    On 16 November 2015, Delta TV journalist  Kugonza, was shot in the head by police and rushed to Mulago National Referral hospital in critical condition. Blood was oozing from his head and mouth. Another unidentified woman was also reportedly shot in the scuffle, as police arrested the Capital City's Lord Mayor, Erias Lukwago. Delta TV news editor, Prossy Margaret Kisitu told Human Rights Network for Journalists-Uganda that Isaac' skull had been cracked, “A scan shows that his skull has cracked. He is in severe pain. He can't open his mouth,…Read more

CPJ condemns detention of Kenyan journalist over protection of sources

Committee to Protect Journalists The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the arrest of John Ngirachu, the parliamentary editor of independent daily The Nation. Authorities arrested Ngirachu Tuesday evening and demanded that he reveal his sources for a report on alleged procurement irregularities by the interior ministry, journalists at The Nation and other Kenyan outlets told CPJ. The Nation said Ngirachu's report was based on proceedings at the national assembly. "The protection of sources is a fundamental principle of journalism and a critical condition for press freedom in a democracy," said CPJ's East Africa representative Tom Rhodes. "We are appalled that Kenyan authorities…Read more

Cook Islands urged to withdraw media injunction

Government in the Cook Islands must withdraw an injunction stopping media from publishing a constitutional opinion that criticises overspending, says PFF, the Pacific Freedom Forum. "Using the courts to prevent publication of a public document discussing public issues around public spending is not democratic," says PFF Chair Titi Gabi. "Nor is this a good look for a country that was praised for introducing the region's first freedom of information laws in 2008", she says. The decision by the competing daily newspaper to initially kill a story on this issue for fear of legal…Read more