February saw both welcome and worrying developments in the region, including: the conviction of a lifelong criminal for the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia; Alexei Navalny sent to prison and losing his prisoner of conscience status; harsh prison sentences handed to two journalists in Belarus; and a sharp rise in homophobic hate speech and intolerance…
Ghanian online news site temporarily blocked over Kenyan gambling report
This statement was originally published on cpj.org on 19 February 2021. By Jonathan Rozen/CPJ Senior Africa Researcher On February 4, Emmanuel Dogbevi turned to Twitter with a plea for help. He tagged press freedom groups and colleagues in a series of tweets, lamenting how allegations that he violated U.S. copyright law had prompted his news website to…
Sports journalist sentenced to 6 months for defaming football head in Guinea
This statement was originally published on rsf.org on 25 February 2021. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls for the immediate release of Ibrahima Sadio Bah, a sports reporter who has been jailed for defaming the head of the Guinean Football Federation (FEGUIFOOT) although Guinea has decriminalized defamation. Bah was arrested at the end of his trial in…
Journalist Nanou Kazaku shot while covering protest
This statement was originally published on rsf.org on 18 February 2021. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls for a thorough investigation into the shooting that injured a radio reporter today in Goma, the capital of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’s Nord-Kivu province. The person who fired the shot must be identified and brought to justice,…
Disciplinary measures against Ugandan army officers shrouded in mystery
This statement was originally published on cpj.org on 25 February 2021. Ugandan authorities should ensure that soldiers who recently assaulted journalists covering an opposition political event are held to account in a credible and transparent process, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On February 17, a group of Ugandan military police officers used sticks…
Ugandan military brutally assault journalists
This statement was originally published on hrnjuganda.org on 18 February 2021. About 10 journalists are nursing injuries after they were assaulted by military police personnel who were hell-bent on stopping them from covering the delivery of a petition against growing heinous human rights abuses by the Uganda Government to the United Nations Human Rights Office…
Joint statement on the National Day of the Journalist in Nicaragua
Since Nicaraguan officials and state security forces responded to widespread protests in April 2018 with a brutal crackdown on protesters and the media, Nicaragua has become an ever-more hostile climate for the press. News outlets have been forced to close and individual journalists threatened, harassed, sued, surveilled and jailed, as dozens more fled the country…
Turkey: Council of Europe should take action over refusal to abide by ECtHR order to release Osman Kavala
This statement was originally published on hrw.org on 1 March 2021. The Turkish government’s failure to comply with a binding European Court of Human Rights order to release the human rights defender Osman Kavala should prompt Council of Europe action against Turkey, Human Rights Watch, the International Commission of Jurists, and the Turkey Human Rights Litigation…