Africa

Kinshasa, July 28, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls for authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to immediately drop legal proceedings against three journalists who were beaten and detained overnight while seeking to interview a provincial minister in the north-eastern city of Kisangani. On July 23, KIS24 Info’s Steves Paluku, ElectionNet’s Paul Beyokobana,…

Kinshasa, July 24, 2025—Authorities in the Republic of the Congo must ensure the safety of journalist Rosie Pioth following death threats for her reporting on the anniversary of the 1982 bombing of the Maya-Maya International Airport in the capital, Brazzaville, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. “The authorities of the Republic of the Congo…

Abuja, July 24, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Ghanaian authorities to ensure the safety of journalists reporting on elections, after three incidents during a local election on the outskirts of the capital, Accra.  On July 11, a group of men overran a polling station in Ablekuma North constituency and assaulted a candidate, forcing voting to be temporarily…

Kinshasa, July 23, 2025—Authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo must ensure the safety of journalist Sadam Kapanda wa Kapanda, who has received death threats from at least two local officials and two unidentified callers for his reporting, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday.  Kapanda, a reporter with the privately owned broadcaster Notre…

Abuja, July 23, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Liberian authorities to ensure justice for journalist Alex Seryea Yormie, who was abducted for several hours and brutalized by members of a local traditional society in northeastern Nimba county.  On June 30, the men abducted Yormie while he was on his way back to the community-based Lar-Wehyi…

Lusaka, July 21, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the Malawi Constitutional Court’s landmark July 16 ruling striking down Section 200 of the penal code criminalizing defamation. “Malawi’s Constitutional Court has taken a monumental step towards protecting press freedom and affirmed that criticism and dissent are essential to democracy by ruling criminal defamation to be unconstitutional,” said…

Dakar, July 17, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Beninese authorities to release Comlan Hugues Sossoukpè, publishing director of the banned online Beninese weekly newspaper Olofofo Info, following his arrest in Ivory Coast on July 10 and extradition to Benin. “The forcible transfer of journalist Comlan Hugues Sossoukpé by Ivory Coast to Benin, despite his refugee status in…

The Committee to Protect Journalists and Freedom House called on the U.S. government to maintain Cameroon’s ineligibility for preferential trade benefits ahead of its July 18 African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) review hearing, citing Cameroon’s continued repression and imprisonment of journalists. Cameroon is consistently among Africa’s worst jailers of journalists, with five journalists — Amadou Vamoulke, Manch Bibixy, Thomas Awah…

The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 180 journalists, civil society organizations, and academic researchers in a joint letter urging Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Diakhar Faye to end the prolonged detention of journalist and writer René Capain Bassène, who has been behind bars since January 2018 and convicted of complicity in murder. A CPJ investigation found Bassène could…

Dakar, July 14, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Senegalese authorities to release news commentator Badara Gadiaga, to cease arresting journalists, and to refrain from retaliating against the media for coverage critical of the government.  Senegal’s special cybersecurity division (DSC) arrested Gadiaga on July 9 over his remarks during a July 4 broadcast about Prime Minister…