Africa
2016
Zambian police arrest five radio journalists
Police on November 15, 2016, detained five journalists who work for Zambia’s private Mano Radio station, before releasing them roughly 17 hours later, pending trial on insult charges, according to a written account the station emailed to the Committee to Protect Journalists on November 18, and a report on the news website Lusaka Times.
Ugandan journalist Joy Doreen Biira charged with ‘abetting terrorism’
Nairobi, November 30, 2016–Ugandan authorities should immediately and unconditionally drop all charges against Kenya Television Network (KTN) reporter and anchor Joy Doreen Biira, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Police detained Biira on November 27 after she reported on a deadly battle between police and a traditional monarch’s royal guard, charged her with “abetting…
Mozambican journalist detained for 34 days
Police arrested Arcénio Sebastião Macuene, a Mozambican freelance journalist, on October 8, 2016, and held him on charges of defaming a police official until press freedom advocates paid his bail on November 11, Mozambican journalists and press freedom advocates told the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Gambian journalist sentenced to two years in prison
A Gambian court on November 8, 2016, convicted Alagie Abdoulie Ceesay, an exiled radio journalist and manager of community station Taranga FM, of three counts of sedition and spreading false news, according to media reports. The court, convicting the journalist in absentia, sentenced Ceesay to two years in prison and a fine of 200,000 Gambian…
Gambian journalist, broadcast executive held without charge
Abuja, Nigeria, November 18, 2016–Gambian authorities should immediately release a journalist and the head of the state-owned broadcaster who have been held without charge or access to their families or lawyers for a week, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The arrests came in the run-up to presidential elections scheduled to take place on…
Ethiopian newspaper editor, bloggers caught in worsening crackdown
Nairobi, November 17, 2016–Ethiopia should immediately release all journalists detained amid an intensifying crackdown on the media, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. In recent weeks, Ethiopian authorities have jailed a newspaper editor and detained two members of the award-winning Zone 9 bloggers’ collective, which has faced continuous legal harassment on terrorism and incitement…
Gabon newspaper raided, deputy editor alleges torture
On November 3, 2016, officers from Gabon’s domestic intelligence agency, the Directorate of Documentation and Immigration (DGDI, by its French acronym), armed with semi-automatic weapons, raided the office of the weekly newspaper Echos du Nord in the capital, Libreville, and arrested nine journalists and four other staff members, according to press reports.
For Zambia’s press, election year brings assaults and shut down orders
Zambia’s press has come under sustained assault in this election year, with station licenses suspended, journalists harassed or arrested for critical coverage, and one of the country’s largest privately owned papers, The Post, being provisionally liquidated in a move that its editors say is politically motivated.
Getting Away With Murder
CPJ’s 2016 Global Impunity Index spotlights countries where journalists are slain and the killers go free By Elisabeth Witchel, CPJ Impunity Campaign Consultant Published October 27, 2016. Some of the highest rates of impunity in the murders of journalists can be attributed to killings by Islamist militant groups, CPJ found in its latest Global Impunity…