Africa

Abuja, July 9, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes Monday’s court decision in Nigeria acquitting Agba Jalingo, publisher of the privately owned CrossRiverWatch, of cybercrime charges. “While we welcome the acquittal of publisher Agba Jalingo of cybercrime charges, Nigerian authorities urgently need to stop the criminalization of journalists for their work,” said Angela Quintal, head…

On June 11, police officers in Kaduna, the capital city of Nigeria’s northern Kaduna State, arrested Gabriel Idibia, a correspondent and freelancer with the privately owned Daily Times and Daybreak Nigeria news sites, while he was taking photos of the officers guiding a large group of cattle across a road, according media reports, Idibia and Daybreak Nigeria publisher Austin Maho, who both spoke to CPJ.  Idibia…

Kampala, July 8, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes a Kenyan court’s Monday ruling that Kenyan authorities violated Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif’s right to life and that his death was arbitrary and unconstitutional. “CPJ welcomes the Kenyan High Court’s ruling that the 2022 killing of Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif was unlawful,” said Angela Quintal, head…

Dakar, July 3, 2024—The Burkinabe authorities must do everything possible to find and ensure the safety of missing journalists Serge Atiana Oulon, Kalifara Séré, and Adama Bayala, and refrain from censoring the media, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. At least three Burkinabe journalists in the capital, Ouagadougou, have separately disappeared under suspicious circumstances…

Dakar, June 27, 2024 — Malian authorities should urgently investigate the disappearance of journalist Yeri Bocoum and account for his whereabouts, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. Bocoum, director of the Facebook news page YBC-Communication, was last seen by his family outside his home in Kati, a district in the western region of Koulikoro,…

Nairobi, June 27, 2024 — Ugandan authorities should release journalists Dickson Mubiru and Alirabaki Sengooba, drop all criminal charges against them, and take steps to reform laws that can be used to stifle journalism, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. On June 20 the Buganda Road Chief Magistrates Court in the capital, Kampala, charged…

Nairobi, June 25, 2024—Kenyan authorities must investigate reports of several journalists attacked while covering protests, desist from intimidating the media, and ensure reliable and secure access to the internet, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. Thousands of Kenyans have taken to the streets several times since June 18 to protest a proposed law that…

On May 16, four supporters of Ghana’s ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) assaulted Dokurugu Abubakar Ndeeya, a reporter with the privately owned Zaa Multimedia, while he was filming outside a meeting between Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia and party leaders in the northern Tamale region, the journalist told CPJ and media reports said. Ndeeya told CPJ he…

Lusaka, Zambia, June 21, 2024—Nigerian authorities should drop all criminal charges against Precious Eze Chukwunonso, publisher of the privately owned outlet News Platform, who was detained for nearly three weeks, following a complaint about his reporting, and allow journalists to work without fear of arrest, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. On May 27,…

Dakar, June 20, 2024—Nigerien authorities must decriminalize defamation and ensure that the country’s cybercrime law does not unduly restrict the work of the media, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Thursday. On June 7, Niger’s head of state Abdourahamane Tchiani, who overthrew the democratically elected president in July 2023, reintroduced prison sentences of one…