Ugandan networks block The Elephant news website before election
Several Ugandan internet networks blocked Kenya-based news website The Elephant in mid-December 2020, according to the site’s publisher, John Githongo, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app in January 2021, and a report by Qurium, a non-profit foundation registered in Sweden that provides hosting services for the website. Githongo told CPJ on January 19 that…
Lebanese journalist Radwan Mortada questioned over port explosion criticism
In the morning of January 15, 2021, Lebanese intelligence officers arrived at the Beirut home of Radwan Mortada, a reporter for the local daily Al-Akhbar, and ordered him to go to the Intelligence Directorate’s Investigation Branch immediately for questioning, he said in an interview with local broadcaster Al-Jadeed TV later that day. The officers claimed…
Nigerian security forces seize journalists’ cameras, delete photos
On January 6, 2021, officers with Nigeria’s Security and Civil Defence Corps harassed at least three photojournalists in Abuja, the capital, seized their cameras, and deleted images they had taken, according to the journalists, who spoke with CPJ, and news reports. The three newspaper photographers—Olatunji Obasa with Punch, Olu Aremo with Leadership, and Mudashiru Atanda…
Authorities harass, obstruct journalists covering Kazakhstan parliamentary elections
On January 10, 2021, Kazakh law enforcement officers and electoral officials harassed and interfered with the work of at least seven journalists who were covering parliamentary elections in the country, according to news reports and journalists who spoke to CPJ. In Nur-Sultan, the capital, a police officer grabbed the phone of Saniya Toiken, a correspondent…
Somali radio journalist detained for 5 days after conducting interview
On October 17, 2020, Somali security personnel arrested Abdullahi Kulmiye Adow, a reporter with the local privately owned broadcaster Radio Kulmiye, days after he interviewed a businessman who professed support for the militant group Al-Shabaab, according to media reports and Abdullahi, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app. Abdullahi told CPJ that plain-clothed officers came…
At least 5 Sri Lankan journalists assaulted while reporting in October
At least five Sri Lankan journalists were assaulted and hospitalized during the course of their reporting in October 2020, according to news reports and journalists who spoke to CPJ. On October 3, a group of people in Moneragala district, in southeast Sri Lanka, assaulted Indunil Wijenayake, a reporter for Derana TV, while he was covering…
South Sudan journalist Bullen Alexander Bala detained for 4 days, charged
On October 16, 2020, agents of South Sudan’s National Security Service (NSS) arrested Bullen Alexander Bala, a reporter with the privately owned Juba Monitor newspaper, as he worked to report on student protests at the University of Juba, according to an Eye Radio report published on October 17 and an individual familiar with the arrest…
Brazilian journalist Arimatéia Azevedo held for 5 months under house arrest, gag order
From June to November 2020, Brazilian authorities held journalist Arimatéia Azevedo under house arrest, placed his news outlet under a gag order, and detained him multiple times, according to news reports, the journalist, and his two daughters, Haidyne and Ana Azevedo, all of whom spoke to CPJ in phone interviews. Azevedo is based in Piauí…
Journalists in India face attacks, legal action, and threats
In September and October 2020, lists circulating online allegedly identifying journalists as “anti-Hindu” or as “Indian agents” named dozens of local members of the press, police opened investigations into at least two reporters and one media executive, and authorities attacked at least one journalist during the course of his reporting, according to news reports and…
Yemeni journalist Mohammed al-Yezidi faces charges, arrest attempts in Hadramout; goes into hiding
Authorities in Hadramout Governorate, Yemen, in late September 2020 threatened to file a number of charges against Yemeni journalist Mohammed al-Yezidi, and he went into hiding after unknown individuals twice tried to abduct or detain him, al-Yezidi told CPJ via messaging app. Authorities in Hadramout—who are aligned with the Yemeni government—repeatedly attempted to arrest al-Yezidi,…