Criminal Defamation

On October 21, 2019, police arrested Achiko Ngaya, editor of the privately owned newspaper Les Nouvelles du Soir, in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ngaya told CPJ. The journalist said he was detained for five days and charged with criminal defamation.

New York, October 29, 2019—Authorities should drop all charges against journalists Joe Ogbodu and Prince Amour Udemude, and reform Nigeria’s penal code to ensure that journalism is not criminalized, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Mahmud Tim Kargbo, a freelance reporter in Sierra Leone, was arrested and detained twice in September 2019 after Miatta Samba, an appeals court judge, lodged a complaint with the police against him for a report published September 9, 2019, on his Facebook page and in a WhatsApp group that criticized Samba’s decision to grant bail…

On September 12, 2019, Lebanese judge Ziad Abu Haidar filed a criminal defamation suit against the Nida al-Watan newspaper as well as its editor-in-chief Beshara Charbel and managing director George Barbari, according to news reports and a report by regional press freedom group Skeyes Center for Media and Cultural Freedom.

Dakar, September 25, 2019 — Authorities in Chad should not challenge the appeals of journalists Martin Inoua Doulguet and Abdramane Boukar Koyon, and should take immediate action to repeal legislation that criminalizes acts of journalism, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

“Ever since I started working as a journalist nine years ago, I have been under constant pressure from my family, my tribe, and my community to give up journalism. Friends have been asked by security forces to sever ties with me,” said freelance journalist Guhdar Zebari, when he met with CPJ in the empty lobby…

Miami, September 3, 2019 — The Committee to Protect Journalists today welcomed an announcement by the Honduran National Congress that the country will decriminalize defamation and slander.

Bangkok, August 29, 2019 – The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned a decision by Myanmar’s Mandalay District Court to hear an appeal that could reopen a criminal defamation lawsuit against editor Swe Win.

Abidjan, June 20, 2019 — Cameroonian authorities should immediately release journalist Paul Chouta and drop criminal defamation and false news charges against him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Nairobi, June 14, 2019 — Authorities in Uganda should end the criminal proceedings against Pidson Kareire, managing editor of privately owned news website The Drone Media, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.