Africa

  

Ethiopian police detain journalists, translator for 24 hours

Ethiopian federal police detained Bloomberg correspondent William Davison, freelance journalist Jacey Fortin, and a translator they had hired near the eastern town of Awash at around 12:40 p.m. on March 3, according to the Foreign Correspondents Association of East Africa.

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Court sentences man in murders of five Somali journalists

New York, March 4, 2016 — A military court in Mogadishu on Thursday found Hassan Hanafi, a former journalist, guilty of direct or indirect involvement in the killing five journalists on behalf of the armed militant group Al-Shabaab, according to news reports. The court sentenced him to death by execution, which in Somalia is usually…

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Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye, who is under house arrest, speaks during a news conference at his home on the outskirts of Kampala, the capital, on February 21. (Reuters/Goran Tomasevic)

After disputed Uganda election, journalists fear prolonged crackdown

Twenty nine-year-old photographer Abubaker Lubowa was excited when he was assigned to cover the campaign of opposition leader Kizza Besigye. He told CPJ he did not anticipate that the assignment would mean he would make the news almost as often as he covered it.

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CPJ Newsletter: March edition

Landmark conviction in 2000 attack on Colombian journalist A Colombian court on February 26 convicted a former paramilitary fighter in the kidnapping and torture of Colombian journalist Jineth Bedoya and sentenced him to 11 years in prison. The fighter, Alejandro Cárdenas Orozco, was also ordered to pay a fine of around US$17,500.

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Nigerian journalist says businessman threatened her over investigative report

Abuja, Nigeria, February 25, 2016–Nigerian authorities should investigate claims that a businessman threatened freelance journalist Augustina Armstrong-Ogbonna over her investigation into his company, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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Court convicts suspect in murder of DRC journalist Soleil Balanga

New York, February 23, 2016–A court in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Monday convicted a suspect of murdering journalist Soleil Balanga in April 2015, in Équateur province, according to a press release issued today by Journaliste en Danger, a Congolese press freedom organization. The High Court of Boende found Moussa Tendenle guilty of having…

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Uganda blocks social media and mobile phone services during voting

Nairobi, February 18, 2016 — The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Ugandan authorities’ restricting access to social media as voters went to the polls in today’s presidential elections.

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Ugandan radio host arrested mid-broadcast

Kampala, February 17, 2016 – Ugandan authorities should immediately drop all charges against radio journalist Richard Mungu Jakican, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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A photo taken on February 11, 2016 shows election posters of incumbent President Yoweri Museveni and opposition leader Kizza Besigye in Kampala. (Isaac Kasamani/AFP)

Uganda elections approach amid hostile environment for media

Demonstrations against the government are a routine affair in the Ugandan capital Kampala, and Andrew Lwanga thought it would be just another day at work when he was assigned to cover a protest march by a few dozen unemployed youth on January 12, 2015.

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Nigerian journalists barred from covering deputy governor’s inauguration

Armed security guards on Tuesday, February 9, 2016, prevented journalists from covering the inauguration of Simon Achuba to the post of deputy governor of Nigeria’s central Kogi State, according to news reports and local journalists.

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