Assault

Four Zimbabwean journalists beaten, forced to delete footage by ruling party supporters

  • Posted on August 30, 2022
  • /Under Assault
 Zimbabwean authorities should investigate the brutal assault of four journalists working for private media outlets, bring the perpetrators to justice, and ensure that party supporters do not attack members of the press covering political rallies, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday.  The reporters assaulted are: Chelsea Mashayaombe, a reporter for online newspaper Zimbabwe DailyPellagia Mpurwa, a reporter for online magazine Technomag Tongai Mwenje, managing editor of news website SportBriefToneo Rutsito, editor of Technomag Around 12:30 p.m. on August 25, the journalists were injured after they filmed a convoy of 20 vehicles of the…Read more

Sri Lankan security forces detain, assault journalists covering political unrest

  • Posted on August 2, 2022
  • /Under Assault
Sri Lankan authorities must thoroughly and swiftly investigate recent attacks on journalists by the country’s security forces, hold the perpetrators to account, and cease harassing the staff of Xposure News, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. On the early morning of July 22, Sri Lankan security forces assaulted at least four members of the press, including three journalists with the privately owned digital news platform Xposure News, covering a military raid on a protest site and subsequent demonstration in Colombo, the capital, according to those journalists, who spoke with CPJ by phone.…Read more

Police attack News First journalists covering Sri Lanka protests

  • Posted on July 12, 2022
  • /Under Assault
Sri Lankan authorities should thoroughly and transparently investigate the recent police attack on journalists covering anti-government protests, and hold those responsible to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. On the evening of Saturday, July 9, members of the paramilitary police Special Task Force assaulted a reporting team with the privately owned broadcaster News First covering a protest outside Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s residence in the capital city of Colombo, according to a report by CNN and multiple reports by News First. That evening, demonstrators broke into Wickremesinghe’s residence and set it on fire amid protests over…Read more

Zimbabwean journalist Anyway Yotamu charged after assault by police

  • Posted on July 12, 2022
  • /Under Assault
Zimbabwean authorities should drop all charges against freelance journalist Anyway Yotamu, investigate his assault by police, and hold those responsible to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday.  At about 11 a.m. on Thursday, July 7, police officers assaulted Yotamu while he was filming an altercation between taxi drivers and parking attendants in the central business district of the capital, Harare, according to the journalist and his lawyer Shamiso Dhlakama, both of whom spoke to CPJ via messaging app, multiple local media reports, a Facebook post by the Zimbabwe chapter of the regional press freedom group Media Institute…Read more

Pakistani journalists Ayaz Amir and Ahmer Shaheen attacked in separate incidents in Lahore

  • Posted on July 12, 2022
  • /Under Assault
Pakistan authorities must immediately investigate the attacks against journalists Ayaz Amir and Ahmer Shaheen, ensure their safety, and hold the perpetrators accountable, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. Unidentified men separately attacked Shaheen, chief editor of the news website iNEWS, on June 30 and beat Amir, a senior analyst with the privately owned broadcaster Dunya News, on July 1, according to news reports, both journalists, who spoke to CPJ in phone interviews, and a statement by the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors, which CPJ reviewed. Both attacks occurred in the Punjab provincial capital…Read more

Journalists stabbed, assaulted in Bangladesh

  • Posted on May 23, 2022
  • /Under Assault
Bangladesh authorities must conduct a swift and transparent investigation into two separate attacks on journalist Md Rashid Chowdhury and bystander Jashim Uddin, and on journalists Azim Nihad, Rahul Mahajan, and Lokman Halim, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. On the evening of Friday, May 13, a group of teenagers stabbed Chowdhury, executive editor of the privately owned daily newspaper Dainik Agrabani Pratidin, in the central city of Narayanganj, according to news reports. The teenagers also stabbed Uddin when he attempted to intervene, according to those sources. Separately, on the morning of May 8, the brother…Read more

Pakistan police assault, detain journalist Jahangir Hayat in Punjab province

Pakistan authorities must conduct a swift and impartial investigation into the police assault of journalist Jahangir Hayat, as well as the detention of Hayat and his family, and hold those responsible to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists has said. On May 1, police officers in the Icchra area of Lahore, the capital of Punjab province, assaulted and detained Hayat, a chief reporter for the privately owned daily newspaper Daily Business, according to a report by his outlet, video of the incident shared on social media, and the journalist, who spoke with CPJ by phone. Police also detained…Read more

Indian police beat and detain journalists Kanishk Tiwari and Aditya Singh Bhadauria

  • Posted on April 19, 2022
  • /Under Assault
Indian authorities should thoroughly and transparently investigate the recent police beating of journalists Kanishk Tiwari and Aditya Singh Bhadauria, and hold the officers responsible to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. On April 2, police in the central state of Madhya Pradesh arrested Tiwari, a reporter, and Bhadauria, a camera operator, while they covered a protest against the arrest of a theater artist at the Kotwali Police Station in the state’s Sidhi district, according to various news reports and Tiwari, who spoke to CPJ by phone. At a local police station, an officer forced the…Read more

Zambian journalist Eric Chiyuka charged with assault after covering land altercation 

  • Posted on April 11, 2022
  • /Under Assault
Zambian authorities must investigate an alleged police assault of community reporter Eric Chiyuka and immediately drop the charges of assault against him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. Around 11 a.m. on March 26, Chiyuka, who works for the ruling party-aligned, privately owned online publication CIC Press, was taking photographs and video of a physical altercation between municipal police officers and members of the Evangelical Church of Zambia over a disputed piece of land in the northwest town of Mufumbwe, when he was ordered to stop by town council official Gilliard Mwamba, according to…Read more