Uganda / Africa

  
Journalists Herbert Zziwa, right, and Ronald Muwanga are pictured shortly after being released from Gulu Central Police station. (Daily Monitor/Julius Ocungi)

Ugandan security personnel arrest, assault journalists covering electoral unrest

Nairobi, August 17, 2018– Authorities in Uganda should immediately drop charges of incitement and malicious damage to property against two journalists and investigate allegations that security personnel on August 13 and August 14 assaulted members of the press reporting on political unrest in northern Uganda’s Arua District, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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A view of Uganda's Parliament in Kampala on June 20, 2018. Journalist Damba Wiziri was assaulted on July 27 and 30 while covering parliamentary elections. (AFP/Sumy Sadurni)

Ugandan journalist attacked twice while covering parliamentary elections

Nairobi, August 8, 2018–Authorities in Uganda should rigorously investigate two attacks on journalist Damba Wiziri that occurred while he was covering a recent national parliamentary election in Sheema Municipality, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni displays his inked finger after voting on February 18, 2016. In June 2018, Museveni and government officials verbally attacked and threatened the Ugandan media. (Reuters/James Akena)

Ugandan president, officials verbally attack and threaten media

Nairobi, June 18, 2018–Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni should stop making statements that denigrate and threaten the press, and ensure that his government does not take actions that conflate journalism with terrorism or national security threats, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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A demonstration calling for LGBT rights in Trinidad and Tobago on April 12. Journalists covering LGBTQ issues say they often face retaliation for their work. (Reuters/Andrea de Silva)

Covering LGBTQ issues brings risk of threats and retaliation for journalists and their sources

To mark the annual International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, CPJ spoke with journalists and news outlets based in Argentina, Iran, Indonesia, the U.S., Uganda, and Russia, about the challenges they face reporting on LGBTQ issues.

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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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