Sri Lankan anti-terror authorities interrogate journalist Selvakumar Nilanthan

Sri Lankan authorities should stop harassing journalist Selvakumar Nilanthan and halt any further efforts to interrogate him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On July 12, officers with the Batticaloa district’s Terrorism Investigation Division, a branch of the Sri Lankan police, interrogated Nilanthan, a freelance Tamil journalist and the secretary of the Batticaloa District Tamil Journalists Association, a local press freedom group, for about three hours, according to the Tamil Guardian, a copy of authorities’ July 10 summons to the journalist, and a tweet by Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka, a local human rights group. Officers…Read more

Uttar Pradesh police open criminal investigations into 3 Indian journalists

Authorities in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh must immediately drop their criminal investigations into journalists Nidhi Suresh, Manoj Shukla, and Yashwant Singh, and cease harassing members of the press over their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On July 4, police in the state’s Shahjahanpur district launched criminal defamation investigations into Suresh, a reporter at the news website Newslaundry, as well as Shukla, a reporter, and Singh, an editor, both at the news website Bhadas4Media, according to The Wire and Suresh, who spoke to CPJ over the phone. The investigations stem from a criminal…Read more

Pakistan journalist Nadeem Malik summoned over political reporting

Pakistan authorities should cease harassing journalist Nadeem Malik and refrain from summoning him over his work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On July 2, the counterterrorism wing of the Federal Investigation Agency issued a summons to Malik to appear for questioning today, according to news reports, the journalist, who spoke with CPJ in a phone interview, and a copy of the summons, which CPJ reviewed. The summons states that authorities seek to question Malik, the president of the privately owned news channel Samaa TV, about an April 28 segment of the Nadeem…Read more

Indian journalist Pateshwari Singh assaulted after critical coverage of Uttar Pradesh politician

Authorities in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh must conduct a thorough and impartial investigation into the assault of journalist Pateshwari Singh and ensure that those responsible are held to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. At about 7:30 p.m. on the evening of June 29, a black SUV hit Singh from behind while he was driving his motorcycle in the Uttar Pradesh city of Ayodhya; five or six men then exited the vehicle and beat Singh with batons and iron rods, threw both of his cellphones to the ground, and…Read more

Zambia’s broadcasting regulator threatens to revoke Muvi TV’s license

Zambia’s broadcasting regulator, the Independent Broadcasting Authority, must stop harassing private broadcaster Muvi TV and should publicly reaffirm the editorial independence of media outlets ahead of the August 12 general elections, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.  On May 28, the IBA found Muvi TV guilty of professional misconduct in violation of the IBA [Amendment] Act of 2010, a law regulating the broadcasting industry, after the outlet aired interviews with opposition politicians on May 16 and April 30, according to a statement issued by IBA, which CPJ reviewed; Mabvuto Phiri, Muvi TV’s director of news and…Read more

Indian journalist Sulabh Srivastava dies 1 day after filing complaint over threats

Authorities in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh must conduct a thorough and impartial investigation into the death of journalist Sulabh Srivastava, and ensure that those responsible are brought to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.Unexplained On the evening of June 13, Srivastava, a reporter with the privately owned broadcasters ABP News and ABP Ganga, was declared dead at a hospital in Pratapgarh district, shortly after local laborers found his body near a brick kiln, according to news reports. Police initially said that he died in a motorcycle accident on his way home…Read more

Ugandan authorities detain 2 journalists on criminal libel charges

Ugandan authorities should drop the criminal libel charges against journalists Pidson Kareire and Darious Magara, and reform the country’s laws to decriminalize speech, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On May 27, the Buganda Road Chief Magistrate Court in Kampala, the capital, charged Kareire and Magara with criminal defamation and ordered them to be detained until a bail hearing on June 17, according to a copy of the charge sheet, which CPJ reviewed, and a statement by the Human Rights Network for Journalists-Uganda (HRNJ-U), a local press rights group. The charge sheet alleges…Read more

Indian journalist Ganji Raghu arrested for alleged rioting

Authorities in the Indian state of Telangana should immediately release journalist Ganji Raghu and drop any criminal investigation into his work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On June 3, masked men in plain clothes grabbed Raghu, a reporter with the news website Tolivelugu, outside his home in Hyderabad, and forced him into an unmarked car with its license plates covered, according to news reports, CCTV footage of the abduction shared with CPJ by Tolivelugu senior reporter Magham Srinivas, and the journalist’s wife, Praveena, who spoke to CPJ over the phone. Later that day, police announced that…Read more

Pakistani TV anchor censored after denouncing violence against journalists

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is appalled that Hamid Mir, the well-known host of one of Pakistan’s most prestigious TV programmes, has been taken off the air by his TV channel after saying at a protest that those responsible for recent physical attacks on journalists should be identified. An autocratic climate is steadily taking hold in Pakistan, RSF said. The host of Capital Talk, a current affairs programme broadcast every weeknight on Geo News, Hamid Mir was suspended summarily, without any form of proceedings. He told RSF that his channel’s management notified him that he would…Read more

Ugandan police summon Daily Monitor employees in libel and false news investigation

Ugandan police should immediately drop their criminal investigation into the Daily Monitor newspaper and guarantee that the media can cover security forces’ alleged misconduct without retaliation, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On May 31, the police Criminal Investigations Department summoned Tony Glencross, the managing director of the Daily Monitor’s parent company, Nation Media Group-Uganda, and Tabu Butagira, the group’s managing editor, to record statements as part of a police investigation into allegations of criminal libel, incitement to violence, and false news publication, according to reports by the newspaper and the BBC. The investigation focuses on a May 31 report by…Read more