Libyan radio journalist Sami al-Sharif detained while covering protests
Washington D.C., August 27, 2020 – Libyan authorities should immediately release journalist Sami al-Sharif and ensure that the press can cover protests without fear of attack or harassment from demonstrators or security forces, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On August 23, men in military uniforms affiliated with the U.N.-backed Government of National Accord…
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham militants abduct US journalist Bilal Abdul-Kareem and driver in Syria
New York, August 17, 2020 — The militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham should immediately release reporter Bilal Abdul-Kareem and his driver and stop detaining journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On August 13, in the northern Syrian town of Atmeh, masked militants with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an Al-Qaeda offshoot formerly known as Al-Nusra…
Vietnamese blogger Truong Duy Nhat’s 10-year jail sentence upheld on appeal
Bangkok, August 17, 2020 – A court in Hanoi upheld Vietnamese blogger Truong Duy Nhat’s 10-year prison sentence in a one-day hearing on August 14, according to news reports and CPJ’s communication with the journalist’s family. “Vietnamese authorities should halt all legal action against Truong Duy Nhat and release him from prison immediately,” said Shawn Crispin,…
Journalist Hopewell Chin’ono arrested, charged with incitement in Zimbabwe
New York, July 20, 2020 – Zimbabwean authorities should immediately release independent investigative journalist Hopewell Chin’ono and drop the incitement charges against him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. At about 11 a.m. today, Chin’ono posted two short messages on his Twitter account, which are no longer available after his account was later deactivated,…
Two Zimbabwean journalists charged with violating COVID-19 lockdown
New York, June 23, 2020 — Zimbabwean prosecutors should drop the charges filed against two journalists for violating the country’s COVID-19 lockdown regulations and ensure that they can report freely about alleged abuses by security forces, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Frank Chikowore, a freelance journalist, and Samuel Takawira, a reporter for the…
Maxwell Nashan
Maxwell Nashan, a 39-year-old reporter and news anchor with the government-owned Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), was found bound and gagged in Badarisa in the early hours of January 15, 2020, about 2 km from the FRCN office and about 3 km from his home in the Lainde community of northern Adamawa State, according…
Erick Kabendera
Tanzanian freelance journalist Erick Kabendera was arrested in July 2019 and charged with economic crimes in retaliation for his reporting. Kabendera, whose health has deteriorated in detention, does not qualify for bail under Tanzanian law. His case has been delayed several times. Kabendera’s work has appeared in local and international publications including The EastAfrican newspaper,…
Roohollah Zam
Iranian authorities executed journalist Roohollah Zam by hanging on December 12, 2020 after sentencing him to death on anti-state charges for his coverage of protests in 2017. Intelligence agents of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) lured Zam to Iraq, where he was abducted on October 14, 2019, and taken to Iran, according to news…
Embarca Bint Taleb Ould Hussein
Ould Hussein, an announcer at Radio Sahara, was reportedly abducted from her home in September 1979. Although it is unclear who is holding her, Amnesty International reports that plainclothes police came to search her house shortly before she was taken. While 300 Sahrawis reportedly were released after a pardon from Morocco’s King Hassan II in…
Truong Duy Nhat
Truong Duy Nhat, a blogger with the U.S. Congress-funded Radio Free Asia’s Vietnamese-language service, is serving a 10-year prison sentence for “abusing his position and power while on duty” as a reporter. He was sentenced in a half-day trial on March 9, 2020, and his appeal was denied that August. Nhat was formally arrested in…