Security Issues

Private media outlet Class Media Group firebombed in Ghana

Authorities in Ghana should swiftly and comprehensively conclude their investigation of the April 25 firebomb attack on Class Media Group’s office, hold those responsible to account, and ensure that journalists at the media outlet can work safely, said the Committee to Protect Journalists on Monday. On April 25, four unidentified men on two motorbikes threw petrol bombs inside the privately owned Class Media Group’s office in the Labone district of Ghana’s capital Accra, and fled the scene, according to media reports and Class Media Group Operations Officer Theodore Edwards, who spoke to CPJ by phone.  Class…Read more

Court documents allege Cameroon counterintelligence spied on murdered journalist Martinez Zogo

Cameroonian authorities must disclose which journalists, in addition to murdered journalist Martinez Zogo, have been targeted for surveillance by the country’s counterintelligence service and ensure that spying on members of the media is immediately discontinued, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. The existence of a surveillance operation that allegedly spied on Zogo since at least 2015 was disclosed in a 20-page referral to trial document reviewed by CPJ. The document was part of a judicial investigation into the January 2023 kidnapping, torture, and murder of the popular radio host, which was finalized on February 29, 2024. Seventeen…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

Pakistani journalists abroad face terrorism investigations at home

Pakistan authorities must cease harassing foreign-based journalists Wajahat Saeed Khan, Shaheen Sehbai, Sabir Shakir, and Moeed Pirzada and allow them to work freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. On Saturday, June 10, police in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad opened a criminal and terrorism investigation into freelance U.S.-based journalists Khan and Sehbai, along with two former army officers, for allegedly “inciting people to attack military installations, spread terrorism, and create chaos” on May 9 after the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, according to news reports and the two journalists, who spoke with CPJ…Read more

Bangladeshi journalist Mamunur Rashid Nomani faces hearing over Digital Security Act charges

Police in Bangladesh’s southern city of Barisal should immediately drop all charges against journalist Mamunur Rashid Nomani and allow him to report without fear of reprisal, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. Nomani, chief news editor of the privately owned newspaper The Daily Shahnama and editor of the Barisal Khabar news website, is due in court on April 4 to face charges against him and two others under two sections of the Digital Security Act stemming from a 2020 case, according to the journalist, who spoke with CPJ by phone, and a copy…Read more

South African court bans Independent Media outlets from publishing leaked intelligence report

A South African court judgment banning the publication of an intelligence report about alleged U.S. efforts to gather intelligence about South Africa’s ruling African National Congress party must be made public and should be overturned on appeal, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday.  On October 5, Gauteng High Court judge Daisy Sekao Molefe issued a final order banning the Daily News newspaper and Independent Online (IOL) news website from publishing a leaked November 5, 2020 intelligence report marked “secret” by South Africa’s State Security Agency and ordered that all copies of the…Read more

Indian government suspends MediaOne TV for unspecified ‘security reasons’

Indian authorities should allow the Malayalam-language news channel MediaOne TV to operate freely, and should not suspend broadcasters over their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. At about 12:30 p.m. on Monday, MediaOne TV ceased broadcasting after it received a suspension notice via email, according to the outlet’s editor, Pramod Raman, who spoke to CPJ in a phone interview. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting suspended the broadcaster for unspecified “security reasons” and because it allegedly had not been granted a security clearance by the Home Ministry during its license renewal,…Read more