Africa Archives - Page 12 of 12 - Committee to Protect Journalists

A demonstrator carries Benin's flag outside the National Assembly in Porto Novo in April 2017. Benin's media regulator threatened to shut down online publications that were distributing content without a license, according to news reports. (Yanick Folly/AFP)

Benin media regulator threatens to prosecute online outlets over registration

January 24, 2018 2:58 PM EST

Benin’s media regulator, the High Authority for Broadcasting and Communication (HAAC), on December 21, 2017, threatened to shut down online publications that did not have authorization to distribute content, according to an HAAC press statement and the news website Beninwebtv.

Two Nigerian journalists assaulted after denied access to Buhari appearance in Kaduna

January 19, 2018 11:59 AM EST

Nigerian police on January 4, 2018, denied at least 10 journalists access to the public commissioning of a dry port in Nigeria’s northwestern Kaduna state, and then assaulted at least two of the reporters, according to accounts form the two reporters, Enemaku Ojochigbe and Taye Adeni, and the Daily Trust newspaper.

Tanzania slaps fines on 5 TV stations after they report on alleged human rights abuses

January 12, 2018 4:09 PM EST

Nairobi, January 12, 2018–Tanzanian authorities should immediately annul fines levied against five television stations that the country’s regulatory commission accused of broadcasting seditious and unbalanced content, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Former Gambia President Yahya Jammeh, pictured in November 2016, is among the suspected human rights abusers to be penalized under the U.S. Magnitsky Act. (Reuters/Thierry Gouegnon)

Mixed first year, but Global Magnitsky Act could be strong tool in fight for justice

January 12, 2018 12:08 PM EST

In December, the U.S. government announced the names of those it will penalize under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights and Accountability Act.

Broadcast journalist Baba Alpha was accused of using false identity documents in retaliation for his reporting. (Mohamed Alpha)

Appeal hearing for Niger journalist postponed

January 9, 2018 1:52 PM EST

New York, January 9, 2018–An appeals court in Niger’s capital, Niamey, yesterday postponed a hearing for Baba Alpha until March 12, the broadcast journalist’s lawyer, Amadou Boubacar Mossi, told CPJ. Alpha, a reporter for the privately owned radio and television news agency Bonferey, is serving a two-year sentence for using false documents, in what his…

Women march in a procession to celebrate the 25th anniversary of proclaimed independence in the capital Hargeisa, Somaliland, a breakaway region of Somalia on May 18, 2016. (AP/Barkhad Dahir)

Somaliland journalists sentenced to two years in prison on propaganda charges

January 8, 2018 4:29 PM EST

Nairobi, January 08, 2017–A Somaliland regional court yesterday sentenced journalists Mohamed Abdilaahi Dabshid and Ahmed Dirie Liltire, to two years of prison on charges of conducting propaganda against the state, bringing Somaliland into contempt and “bringing the flag or national emblem of a foreign state” into contempt, according to a statement by the Human Rights…

Nigerian journalist Timothy Elombah, pictured, is detained over an article that he says he didn't write. (Family handout)

Nigerian journalist detained over critical article he didn’t write

January 8, 2018 2:53 PM EST

Lomé, January 8, 2018–Nigerian authorities should immediately release Timothy Elombah, editor of the news website Elombah, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Security forces arrested the journalist at his home in Nnewi, a city in Anambra state, on January 1, 2018, according to his lawyer, Obunike Ohaegbu, and media reports.

Somali police parade at a ceremony to mark the 74th anniversary of the formation of the police force, at the police academy in the capital Mogadishu, Somalia Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2017. (AP/Farah Abdi Warsameh)

Somali authorities arrest local journalist following critical reporting

January 4, 2018 5:23 PM EST

Nairobi, January 4, 2017–Somali authorities should immediately release Abdishakur Abdullahi Ahmed, also known as Shaasha, who works as a correspondent for the Nairobi-based RTN Somali TV channel and owns a local radio station, City FM, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.