Africa

New York, March 4, 2013--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a decision by Nigeria's media regulatory body to shut down a radio station in connection with a broadcast that questioned the local government's motives in an anti-polio vaccination program.

Nairobi, March 1, 2013--Authorities in Zimbabwe have stepped up their crackdown on independent news coverage in the country by raiding the production studios of a radio station and confiscating radios distributed by nongovernmental organizations, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Nairobi, February 28, 2013--Zimbabwean authorities' seizure of hand-cranked and solar-powered radios distributed by nongovernmental organizations prevents local citizens from accessing diverse sources of information in the run-up to the country's general elections in July, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

At any given time over the past two years, as wars raged in Libya and then Syria, and as other conflicts ground on in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, a number of journalists have been held captive by a diverse array of forces, from militants and rebels to criminals and paramilitaries. And at any given time, a small handful of these cases--sometimes one or two, sometimes more--have been purposely kept out of the news media. That is true today.

Election-related violence is a worry for journalists in many countries, but perhaps nowhere more so than Kenya, where presidential polls will be held March 4. In the aftermath of the nation's last presidential elections in 2007, over one thousand people were killed in ethnic and political violence, live news broadcasts were banned, and the press faced a torrent of threats, leading to widespread self-censorship. Already, in recent weeks, some journalists have been harassed and their equipment confiscated, while media houses have been threatened in relation to coverage.

Spirits of journalists in Somalia, the most dangerous country in Africa to practice the profession, were lifted slightly this week after Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon made several auspicious announcements. The key concern on the minds of journalists in the capital, Mogadishu, is access to justice--both in terms of journalists' own court appearances and in terms of solving the many outstanding murder cases of their colleagues. Twelve journalists were killed in the line of duty last year, the worst on record, and there hasn't been a single prosecution. 

On Tuesday, Burundi's press corps did what it has done for the past three weeks: protest the imprisonment of one of its own. Hassan Ruvakuki is a reporter jailed since November 28, 2011 on anti-state charges; for the first time, the journalists wore white t-shirts showing Ruvakuki in his green prison uniform. But this time, the reaction by police caught journalists by surprise.

New York, February 15, 2013--Authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo should release pending appeal a journalist who was sentenced to six months in prison in December on defamation charges, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The journalist was taken into custody on Tuesday.

Police arrested Joachim Diana Gikupa, editor of the private daily La Colombe in Kinshasa, and held him at a local court before transferring him to Malaka central prison, according to local news reports. Gikupa's lawyers filed an appeal, saying the journalist was in poor health and should be released on bail, according to the U.N.-backed broadcaster Radio Okapi. Gikupa was also ordered to pay US$20,000 in damages, local press freedom groups reported. 

Abuja, Nigeria, February 15, 2013--Authorities should halt their harassment of a Nigerian journalist whose paper published allegations of extrajudicial detentions being carried out by the country's special army unit, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Armed officers of Nigeria's Joint Task Force and members of the State Secret Service (SSS) raided the Kaduna home of Musa Muhammad Awwal, an editor of the Hausa-language weekly Al-Mizan, early on Thursday, according to news reports. The agents seized Awwal's laptop and phone and took him into custody, saying they had been told to bring him to Abuja, the capital, Al-Mizan Editor-in-Chief Ibrahim Musa, said in a press release. The officers did not cite a reason for the detention or produce a warrant, Abdulmumin Giwa, an editor at Al-Mizan, told CPJ. Giwa also said that the Nigeria Union of Journalists had confirmed that Awwal was being held by the SSS.

CPJ's Robert Mahoney identifies the 10 countries where press freedom suffered the most in 2012. They include Syria, the world's deadliest country for the press; Russia, where repressive laws took effect; Brazil, where journalist murders soared; and Ethiopia, where terror laws are used to silence the press. (3:26)