Guinea regulator orders 1-month suspensions for 3 journalists and ‘Africa 2015’ radio program
Dakar, September 30, 2022—Guinean authorities should lift the suspension of Nostalgie Guinée’s “Africa 2015” radio program and three of its journalists, and ensure the press can report freely on subjects of public interest without sanction, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. On Friday, September 23, the High Authority for Communication (HAC), Guinea’s media regulator,…
CPJ urges Gambia authorities to prioritize legal reforms, accountability for crimes against the press
Abuja, June 29, 2022 – Gambian authorities should adopt the reforms recommended by the country’s Truth, Reconciliation, and Reparations Commission (TRRC)—including ensuring journalists are not prosecuted for sedition—work to swiftly hold former President Yahya Jammeh and members of his “Junglers” death squad to account for their crimes against journalists, and end the culture of impunity…
West Africa court orders Nigeria to refrain from sanctioning media for using Twitter
New York, June 23, 2021 — In response to yesterday’s ruling by the Economic Community of West African States’ (ECOWAS) Court of Justice ordering Nigeria to refrain from sanctioning media outlets and Nigerian citizens for using Twitter, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement: “The ECOWAS court order for Nigeria to refrain from…
ECOWAS court rules Gambia violated rights of journalists
New York, February 14, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists called on the Gambian government to act on a judgment passed today by the Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to immediately repeal its laws on criminal libel, sedition, and false news.
Global Magnitsky Act could be powerful weapon against impunity in journalist murders
Last week, the proposed Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act emerged from the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee with approval. The bill was passed by the Senate last year. If passed by the full House of Representatives and signed into law by the president, it has the potential to offer partial redress to one of…
ECOWAS court rules Gambia failed to investigate journalist murder
Abuja, Nigeria, June 10, 2014–The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes today’s ruling by a West African regional court, which found that the Gambian government failed to conduct a meaningful investigation into the murder of journalist Deyda Hydara. The ruling is the first ECOWAS case relating to the murder of a Gambian journalist.
Pursuing justice for Gambia’s Deyda Hydara
December 16 will be the seventh anniversary of the killing of Deyda Hydara, the dean of Gambian journalism. It is also the 20th anniversary of the first issue of The Point, the courageously independent-minded daily that Hydara founded and directed for many years. He was murdered in a drive-by shooting as he drove himself and…
In Gambia, Jammeh asked to clarify Manneh’s ‘death’
Dear President Jammeh: We request clarification of your March 16 comments suggesting “Chief” Ebrima Manneh, a reporter for the Daily Observer, may have died. Manneh disappeared after witnesses saw him being arrested by state security agents in the offices of the Daily Observer on July 7, 2007. The government has previously denied any knowledge of Manneh’s fate.