Tanzania ruling party newspaper Uhuru returns after two-week suspension
On August 11, 2021, authorities in Tanzania issued a 14-day suspension of Uhuru, a newspaper owned by the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) ruling party, following allegations that the paper had published a false and seditious report about the country’s president, Samia Suluhu Hassan, according to media reports and a statement by government spokesperson, Gerson Msigwa. Earlier that day, Uhuru had published a front-page story…
Guinea-Bissau coast guard officer assaults radio journalist Emerson Gomes
On July 21, 2021, a Guinea-Bissau Coast Guard officer assaulted and detained Emerson Gomes, a presenter and trainee journalist at Djan-Djan Community Radio in Bubaque, a town in the country’s Bijagos archipelago, accusing the outlet of spreading false news, according to a media report and Gomes, who spoke to CPJ by phone. Gomes said he…
Mob attacks journalists covering Istanbul protest and police beat, detain two reporters
On August 1, 2021 a mob in Istanbul attacked at least six journalists covering a march against the killing of seven members of a Turkish family of Kurdish origin, while also attacking the protesters, according to news reports. The police detained at least two journalists but none of the alleged attackers, the reports said. Derya…
Sri Lankan authorities interrogate journalist Punniyamoorthy Sasikaran
On July 4, 2021, police officers in Batticaloa, in eastern Sri Lanka, visited the home of journalist Punniyamoorthy Sasikaran and told his mother that he was under a preliminary investigation for suspected terrorism, according to the journalist, who spoke to CPJ in a phone interview. The officers summoned Sasikaran, a freelance Tamil journalist and treasurer…
Pakistani journalists with BOL News assaulted covering hotel gathering during COVID-19 lockdown
On July 31, 2021, employees at the Peshawari Chapli Kebab Hotel, a hotel and restaurant in the Shah Faysal colony of Karachi city in the southern Sindh province assaulted, harassed, and obstructed the work of four journalists and media workers with privately owned news channel BOL News, according to a BOL report and a video…
Demonstrators and security forces harass, obstruct journalists covering Tunisia protests
On July 25 and 26, 2021, protestors and security forces in Tunis, Tunisia, assaulted and harassed at least six journalists covering demonstrations, according to news reports, journalists who spoke to CPJ and posted their experiences on social media, and a statement by the National Syndicate of Tunisian journalists (SNJT), a local trade union. The journalists…
Taliban fighters shoot at car carrying Afghan journalists, briefly abduct them
On August 1, 2021, Taliban fighters in the outskirts of Herat city, in western Afghanistan, fired shots at a car carrying Shakib Shams, a correspondent with the national radio service Salam Wantadar, and Storai Karimi, a reporter for the independent news agency Pajhwok Afghan News, and abducted them for approximately 25 minutes, according to Shams,…
Zambian radio station transmitter damaged in arson attack
In the early hours of June 24, 2021, an unknown group of people tried to set fire to the Kalungwishi Radio Station in the Chienge district of Zambia’s northern Luapula Province, damaging transmission cables, a mixer, and air conditioning equipment, according to a news report quoting the local chapter of the regional press freedom group…
Turkish TV news crew attacked, beaten by lifeguards at Istanbul beach
On July 23, 2021, lifeguards at a beach in Istanbul beat reporter Çağdaş Evren Şenlik and cameraman Ayhan Arıtürk from the pro-government A Haber news television and damaged their equipment, according to reports and videos from their employer and other pro-government outlets. Şenlik and Artürk were there to report on drownings at beaches in Şile…
Angolan police detain Wizi-Kongo editor Jeremias Kaboco
On July 1, 2021, Angolan police detained Jeremias Kaboco, editor of privately owned news website Wizi-Kongo, in the northern city of Uige while he was covering a protest by teachers demanding unpaid wages, according to reports and the journalist, who spoke to CPJ via a messaging app call. Kaboco told CPJ the officers forced him…