Africa

Abuja, Nigeria, March 11, 2020 — Ghanaian authorities should lift the suspension on broadcaster Radio Tongu and drop the police investigation against journalist Bestway Zottor, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

New York, March 6, 2020 — Nigerian authorities should ensure that Premium Times employees are able to work in safety and without interference or intimidation, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

New York, March 5, 2020 — Authorities in Cameroon should not contest journalist Adalbert Hiol’s appeal of a false news and defamation conviction and should let his newspaper publish freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Nairobi, March 4, 2020—The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on authorities in Uganda to drop all charges and to immediately release freelance journalist and documentary filmmaker Moses Bwayo, to return his equipment undamaged, and to allow him to continue his work without intimidation.

On January 23, 2020, officers of the Liberia National Police assaulted Christopher Walker, the sports editor of the privately owned daily newspaper FrontPage Africa, during the semi-final of a national soccer tournament at the Samuel Kanyon Doe Sport Stadium in Monrovia, the capital, according to Walker, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app, local news…

Laws and Rights Awareness Initiative, a Nigerian nongovernmental organization, filed a lawsuit on February 25 against the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) over regulations granting warrantless access to telecom subscribers’ information, including “call data.” The suit claims that accessing the information “violates and will likely further violate” Nigerians’ constitutional right to privacy, according to a copy…

On January 26, 2020, bodyguards of Liberian President George Weah assaulted Zenu Koboi Miller, a local broadcast journalist, as he was leaving the Samuel Kanyon Doe Sport Stadium in Monrovia, the capital, where he had covered the final of a national soccer tournament, according to a Facebook post by the journalist, local journalists who spoke…

Nairobi, February 24, 2020 — The Committee to Protect Journalists today welcomed the release of Tanzanian freelance journalist Erick Kabendera but expressed concern about the hefty fines levied against him.

The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 27 other press freedom and human rights organizations in a letter dated February 19 calling for authorities in Togo to maintain the stability and openness of the internet and social media platforms.

New York, February 18, 2020–Somali broadcast journalist Abdiwali Ali Hassan was shot several times near his home in the town of Afgooye, about 30 km (19 miles) outside Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, on February 16, and died on his way to the hospital, according to three local media organizations, his colleagues, and news reports.