New York, December 31, 2015–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo not to extradite Egide Mwemero, an exiled Burundian radio journalist who has been in custody since October 13, according to reports. Bob Rugurika, director of independent Burundian station Radio Publique Africaine where Mwemero also worked, told CPJ…
Nairobi, December 27, 2015–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on authorities in Ethiopia to release the editor-in-chief of Negere Ethiopia online newspaper, Getachew Shiferaw, who was arrested on Friday, according to news reports.
Over the past year, CPJ has documented anti-press violations all over the world, cases of journalists killed, imprisoned, abducted, or threatened in relation to their work. You can see all of our coverage at our website, www.cpj.org. But here at CPJ Impact we also highlight those times when CPJ has stepped in and advocated for…
Nairobi, December 22, 2015–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on authorities in Ethiopia to release news anchor Fikadu Mirkana. Fikadu, who works for the state-run broadcaster Oromia Radio and TV, was arrested at his Addis Ababa home on Saturday morning, according to news reports.
Abuja, Nigeria, December 18, 2015–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on authorities in Sierra Leone to release Jonathan Leigh, managing editor of the Independent Observer. Leigh was arrested Thursday on accusations of publishing false information, according to news reports and local journalists with whom CPJ spoke.
The Committee to Protect Journalists alongside 19 Nigerian, African and international organisations today signed an open letter addressed to the upper chamber of Nigeria’s parliament calling for the rejection of a bill which would undermine press freedom, stifle public opinion, and criminalize freedom of expression in Nigeria.
At least 10 people, including officers of the Nigerian Prisons Service, allegedly beat Emmanuel Elebeke, a journalist with the independent daily Vanguard, at the premises of a high court in the capital Abuja on November 12, 2015, according to news reports. The reporter, who also takes photographs for the paper, told CPJ he was attacked…
Elections in Tanzania passed smoothly in October, but several local journalists and a media lawyer told me the spectre of anti-press laws is casting a pall over critical reporting in the country and that hopes for legal reform under the newly elected President John Pombe Magufuli remain muted.
Egypt is second only to China as the world’s worst jailer of journalists in 2015. Worldwide, the number of journalists behind bars for their work declined moderately during the year, but a handful of countries continue to use systematic imprisonment to silence criticism. A CPJ special report by Elana Beiser