Detained

Ahead of elections in Egypt later this month, in which President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is seeking a second term, the authoritarian leader’s government has further clamped down on press freedom, issuing warnings to the media and arresting critical journalists on “false news” charges. Even satirical TV shows have not been spared, with AFP reporting how…

Nairobi, March 9, 2018–Ethiopian authorities should immediately release Seyoum Teshome, who publishes the Ethiothinktank blog, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Security forces yesterday arrested Seyoum at his home near the Woliso campus of Ambo University, where he lectures, according to witnesses who spoke with Voice of America and Deutsche Welle. The reason for…

EDITOR’S NOTE: Immediately after distributing this alert, CPJ learned that Ezimakor was freed just prior to publication. CPJ issued a separate statement concerning his release. Lomé, March 6, 2018–Nigerian authorities should release immediately Tony Ezimakor, the Abuja bureau chief of the privately owned Daily Independent newspaper, and stop trying to compel him to disclose his…

New York, March 1, 2018–Iranian security forces on February 19 arrested Reza Entessari and Kasra Nouri, reporters with the Sufi news website Majzooban-e-Noor, while they were covering the violent dispersal of religious protests in Tehran, according to their employer and the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI).

New York, February 28, 2018–Egyptian authorities should immediately cease their intimidation campaign against independent news outlets, and let journalists report freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Taipei, February 28, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today said it is alarmed by news that Chinese authorities have detained at least nine relatives of four U.S.-based journalists for Radio Free Asia’s Uighur service.

Moroccan police on February 23, 2018 arrested Taoufik Bouachrine, a columnist and the publisher of Akhbar al-Youm, at the newspaper’s headquarters in Casablanca on charges including human trafficking, sexual assault, rape, prostitution, and harassment, according to his lawyers, outlets, and news reports.

Lomé, February 27, 2018–Nigerian authorities should immediately drop plans to charge Timothy and Daniel Elombah, editor and chief executive respectively, of the independent Elombah news website, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Four Belarussian police officers on February 18, 2018, attacked Andrus (Andrey) Kozel, a cameraperson for the independent TV station Belsat, while he was live streaming to Facebook from inside a polling station in central Minsk, media reported.

Nairobi, February 21, 2018–Somaliland authorities should immediately release Mohamed Aabi Digaale, the Hargeisa bureau chief for the London-based broadcaster Universal TV, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Police arrested Mohamed on February 17 and have been holding him without charge, Guleid Ahmed Jama, chairperson of the advocacy organization Human Rights Center, and Abdullahi Hersi…