Uganda / Africa

  
A general view shows the capital city of Kampala in Uganda, in July 2016. Five unidentified men dressed in military camouflage seized journalist Charles Etukuri outside the newspaper's office in Kampala on February 13, 2018. (Reuters/James Akena)

Ugandan journalist seized in Kampala following investigative report

Nairobi, February 14, 2018–Ugandan authorities must make every effort to secure the safe release of Charles Etukuri, an investigative journalist for the state-owned New Vision newspaper, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Five unidentified men dressed in military camouflage seized Etukuri outside the newspaper’s office in Kampala yesterday, days after he published an investigation…

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Journalists and protesters hold placards outside an Istanbul court on October 31, 2017, calling for the release of jailed colleagues, including Turkish reporter Ahmet Şık. Turkey is the worst jailer of journalists in 2017. (AP/Lefteris Pitarakis)

Record number of journalists jailed as Turkey, China, Egypt pay scant price for repression

For the second year in a row, the number of journalists imprisoned for their work hit a historical high, as the U.S. and other Western powers failed to pressure the world’s worst jailers–Turkey, China, and Egypt–into improving the bleak climate for press freedom. A CPJ special report by Elana Beiser

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In defense of Uganda’s Red Pepper

CPJ has included eight staffers of the controversial Ugandan tabloid Red Pepper in its 2017 global census of imprisoned journalists. Some may disagree with that decision.

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Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni speaks during a meeting of members of the African Union during the United Nations General Assembly on September 20, 2017, at U.N headquarters. Ugandan authorities raided the newspaper Red Pepper after it published an article that said Uganda's president Yoweri Museveni was planning to overthrow Rwanda's President Paul Kagame. (AP/Julie Jacobson)

Uganda detains newspaper editors, directors, holds them without charge

Nairobi, November 22, 2017–Ugandan authorities should immediately release eight employees of the national newspaper Red Pepper who are being held in government detention without charge, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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Ugandans read a copy of the newspaper Red Pepper in Kampala, in this February 25, 2014, file photo. (AP/Rebecca Vassie)

Newspaper editor interrogated in Uganda

Nairobi, June 21, 2017–Ugandan authorities should cease investigation and intimidation of privately-owned daily newspaper Red Pepper editor Ben Byarabaha and four other publications, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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Academic Stella Nyanzi defends herself in a Kampala court on charges stemming from her critical remarks online about Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, April 10, 2017. Journalist Gertrude Uwitware has faced threats, abduction, and assault for her writing in support of Nyanzi. (AFP/Gael Grilhot)

Ugandan journalist abducted, assaulted

Unknown assailants on April 8, 2017, abducted and assaulted Gertrude Uwitware, a health reporter for the private Ugandan broadcaster NTV, from the streets of Kampala, according to the journalist and her employer.

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TV journalist Joy Doreen Biira walks out of the Kasese police station in Uganda, November 28, 2016. (Arne Gillis/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Ugandan journalist Joy Doreen Biira charged with ‘abetting terrorism’

Nairobi, November 30, 2016–Ugandan authorities should immediately and unconditionally drop all charges against Kenya Television Network (KTN) reporter and anchor Joy Doreen Biira, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Police detained Biira on November 27 after she reported on a deadly battle between police and a traditional monarch’s royal guard, charged her with “abetting…

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Uganda blocks social media sites for presidential inauguration

Nairobi, May 12, 2016 – Ugandan authorities should immediately restore access to social media websites and refrain from censoring any websites in the future, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Regulators blocked access to Twitter and Facebook, and to the messaging service WhatsApp today, according to press reports.

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In this February 22, 2016, photo, riot police prevent the media from approaching Uganda's main opposition leader Kizza Besigye as he tries to leave his house in Kasangati, Uganda. (AP/Ben Curtis)

Ugandan minister warns media not to cover protests

Nairobi, May 9, 2016 – Ugandan authorities should cease attempting to intimidate journalists in an effort to keep them from covering protests, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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Double Exposure

When it comes to abusive readers’ comments and tweets from Internet trolls, Katherine O’Donnell has heard it all. For years, O’Donnell, who is night editor of the Scottish edition of the U.K.’s The Times, has borne the brunt of personal attacks, including about her gender, from online trolls who take umbrage at articles in her…

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