Africa
2016
Mounting press freedom crisis in Burundi
Nairobi, October 25, 2016–The Committee to Protect Journalists today expressed alarm about the deteriorating situation for the media in Burundi. In the past three days alone, the Interior Ministry closed the country’s journalists’ union and security forces detained reporters on assignment.
Ethiopia’s state of emergency cuts lines of communication and puts bloggers at risk of arrest
On October 4, I heard that my friend Natnael Feleke had not returned home even though it was approaching midnight in Ethiopia. Family and friends were discussing where to search for the blogger, who had only been released 11 months earlier from the notorious Kilinto prison, where he was held for 16 months over his…
Nigeria religious police assault journalists
Four representatives of the Kano State Hisbah Board, a local security agency set up to enforce its interpretation of Sharia law, on August 27, 2016, assaulted two journalists from private broadcaster Express Radio, according to news reports. The religious police were angry that Express Radio correspondent Abdullahi Isa brought two female journalists–Hauwa Musa Abdullahi, a…
Liberian newspaper publisher arrested over civil libel case
Philipbert Browne, the publisher of Liberia’s Hot Pepper newspaper, was arrested at his office and jailed at the Monrovia Central Prison in the Liberian capital on October 7, 2016, for libel on the orders of a Civil Law Court over a story in his paper titled, “During Ebola Time: ‘I Lost My Virginity'” published the…
Somalia closes newspaper, arrests editor
Nairobi, October 17, 2016 — Somali authorities should immediately release the editor of Xog Ogaal newspaper and allow the newspaper to resume publishing, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Officers from Somalia’s National Intelligence Agency raided the newspaper’s office and arrested its editor on October 15, according to press freedom advocates and press reports.
CPJ calls on Burundi to release Radio Maria reporter
Nairobi, October 13, 2016–Burundi’s national intelligence service should immediately release radio journalist Salvador Nahimana, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Police detained Nahimana, a reporter for the Burundian branch of Radio Maria, a global station that broadcasts news and missionary statements, on October 2, and transferred him to the custody of the intelligence service,…
Protecting journalists who cover corruption is good for the bottom line
Corruption is one of the most dangerous beats for journalists, and one of the most important for holding those in power to account. There is growing international recognition that corruption is also one of the biggest impediments to poverty reduction and good governance. This is why journalists on this beat must be protected, including by…
Liberia journalist detained for republishing story about president of Equatorial Guinea
Plainclothes police officers on September 15, 2016, detained Festus Poquie, a journalist with Liberia’s New Democrat newspaper, from his office and took him to the Liberia National Police headquarters in the capital Monrovia, where he was detained and interrogated for several hours.
Police arrest prominent Ethiopian blogger
New York, October 3, 2016 – Ethiopian authorities should immediately and unconditionally release blogger Seyoum Teshome, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Police arrested Teshome on October 1, according to press accounts and opposition activists.