Arrest & Detention

Indian journalist Santu Pan arrested, 3 others assaulted in West Bengal violence

Indian authorities must drop the charges against journalist Santu Pan, who was arrested live on air while reporting on allegations of abuse by West Bengal officials, and investigate the earlier assault of three journalists reporting on clashes related to one of those officials, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Thursday. On Monday, police arrested Pan, who works for the privately owned news broadcaster Republic Bangla, while he was reporting from a woman’s home in the village of Sandeshkhali, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) east of West Bengal’s state capital, Kolkata, and remanded…Read more

Cameroonian journalist Bruno Bidjang detained for alleged ‘rebellion’

Cameroonian authorities must immediately release journalist Bruno François Bidjang, drop legal proceedings against him for alleged rebellion, and allow journalists to comment freely on public affairs, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Thursday. On February 6, gendarmes from the Yaoundé State Secretariat for Defense (SED) summoned Bidjang, managing director of the privately-owned L’Anecdote media group and news program presenter on Vision 4 television, to secretariat headquarters for questioning.  He was then detained on allegations of “rebellion” in connection with a video posted and later removed on TikTok, according to his lawyer Charles Tchoungang and…Read more

Rwandan journalist Dieudonné Niyonsenga says he was beaten, detained in ‘hole’

The Committee to Protect Journalists has expressed alarm at reports that Dieudonné Niyonsenga had been tortured in a Rwandan prison and called on authorities to unconditionally release the journalist, who is serving a seven-year sentence.  During a January 10, 2024, hearing at the court of appeal in the capital Kigali, Niyonsenga said that he was held under “inhumane” conditions in a “hole” and was frequently beaten, according to media reports and court documents reviewed by CPJ. Niyonsenga, who also goes by Cyuma Hassan, appeared in court with a head wound and said that his hearing and vision were impaired by the conditions of his detention,…Read more

South African journalist Thomo Nkgadima charged with intimidation after photographing mayor’s home

South African authorities should drop criminal trespass and intimidation charges against freelance journalist Thomo Nkgadima and ensure that members of the press do not face reprisal for reporting issues of public interest, the Committee to Protect Journalists have said. On December 24, 2023, police in Fetakgomo Tubatse Municipality in South Africa’s northern Limpopo Province summoned and arrested Nkgadima, who contributes to the privately owned newspaper Sunday World, in response to a complaint of trespass and intimidation by the municipality’s mayor, Eddie Maila, the journalist and Sunday World digital editor Tumo Mokone told CPJ. In a statement to…Read more

Two Nigerian journalists charged with cybercrime over corruption reports

Authorities in Nigeria should swiftly drop all charges against journalists Aiyelabegan Babatunde AbdulRazaq and Oluwatoyin Luqman Bolakale and allow them to work freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Tuesday. On September 11, police officers detained AbdulRazaq and Bolakale, publishers of the independent news websites Just Event Online and The Satcom Media respectively, over their critical reporting about a local politician, according to the two journalists and their lawyer Taofiq Olateju, all of whom spoke with CPJ. According to the charge sheet, reviewed by CPJ, the September 9 articles contained allegations of abuse of office by Jumoke Monsura…Read more

Indian journalist Debmalya Bagchi faces criminal investigation after reporting on illicit liquor dens

Authorities in the east Indian state of West Bengal should drop their investigation into journalist Debmalya Bagchi and stop harassing him simply for doing his job, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. On September 6, police arrested Bagchi, a correspondent for the privately owned newspaper Ananda Bazar Patrika (ABP), after a woman from the local Dalit community—a historically marginalized group in India’s caste system—filed a police complaint alleging that the journalist had assaulted her, according to news reports. Bagchi was being investigated on four counts under the penal code—wrongful restraint, voluntarily causing hurt, intention to…Read more

Sri Lankan police arrest, beat journalist Tharindu Uduwaragedara

Sri Lankan authorities should immediately and unconditionally release journalist Tharindu Uduwaragedara and investigate allegations that he was beaten by police, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. At around 3 p.m. on Friday, July 28, police arrested Uduwaragedara after he covered a trade union protest in Borella, a suburb of the capital Colombo, according to Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka, a rights group operating from exile, and Jayantha Dehiaththage, the journalist’s lawyer, who spoke with CPJ by phone. Officers pulled Uduwaragedara out of a rickshaw while he was leaving the protest and forced…Read more

Journalists arrested and attacked, media offices set ablaze amid Pakistan protests

Pakistan authorities and the leadership and supporters of the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party must respect the rights of journalists covering the country’s political unrest, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. Amid protests following the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday, May 9, authorities and supporters of Khan’s PTI party have repeatedly attacked and harassed members of the press, according to a statement by the local press freedom group Pakistan Press Foundation and local journalists who spoke to CPJ. On Thursday, Pakistan’s Supreme Court declared Khan’s arrest illegal and ordered his immediate release. As of the…Read more

Indian journalist Sakshi Joshi assaulted, detained while covering women-led protest

Indian authorities must conduct an immediate and impartial investigation into the police harassment, assault, and detention of journalist Sakshi Joshi and hold the officers responsible to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. At around 12:30 a.m. on Wednesday, May 3, police in the capital city of Delhi confronted Joshi while she attempted to cover a protest, according to the journalist, who spoke to CPJ by phone, and a statement by Digipub, an association of digital media journalists of which Joshi is a member. Joshi, an independent journalist who posts her reporting on YouTube,…Read more

Pakistani journalist Gohar Wazir abducted, allegedly electrocuted

Pakistan authorities must conduct an immediate and impartial investigation into the abduction and alleged electrocution of journalist Gohar Wazir and hold the perpetrators to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. At around 4 p.m. on April 19, five unidentified men abducted Wazir, a reporter for the privately owned Pashto-language broadcaster Khyber News and head of the National Press Club Bannu journalists association, from a market in the city of Bannu, in northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, according to news reports, a statement by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, a nongovernmental organization, and a person…Read more