Algerian journalist Badreddine Guermat arrested over Facebook post
New York, October 4, 2024—Algerian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release Djelfa Tribune editor-in-chief Badreddine Guermat, who was arrested on September 25 at home in the city of Djelfa, south of Algiers, following a Facebook post alleging government mismanagement, and charged with “insulting a state institution,” said the Committee to Protect Journalists on Friday. “The Algerian government continues its relentless attempts…
Award-winning journalist Mech Dara arrested for incitement in Cambodia
Bangkok, October 1, 2024—Cambodian authorities must release and drop criminal incitement charges against investigative journalist Mech Dara, who was arrested Monday by military police at an expressway toll booth near the coastal city of Sihanoukville, the Committee to Protect Journalists said. “Journalist Mech Dara’s arrest and detention shows just how far Cambodia’s government is willing to go to…
Mexico City police arrest 2 journalists at human rights protest
Mexico City, September 9, 2024—Police beat at least two journalists and arrested two others during a protest for human rights in Xochimilco, a southern borough of Mexico City, on Thursday, September 5, according to members of the media who witnessed the incidents. “By brutally repressing a social protest and attacking journalists who were simply covering…
CPJ and 34 other organizations condemn spate of Egyptian journalist arrests
On September 9, the Committee to Protect Journalists and 34 human rights and press freedom organizations released a joint statement condemning the recent arrests and enforced disappearance of four Egyptian journalists — Ashraf Omar, Khaled Mamdouh, Ramadan Gouida, and Yasser Abu Al-Ela — and called for their immediate release. The statement also urged Egyptian authorities…
Tajikistan journalist Ahmad Ibrohim arrested on bribery charges
New York, August 19, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Tajikistan’s authorities to drop bribery charges against Ahmad Ibrohim, chief editor of the independent weekly newspaper Payk, who was arrested August 12. “Following the wave of lengthy convictions against journalists in Tajikistan since 2022, the arrest of Ahmad Ibrohim is yet another reminder of…
South Sudan police detain journalist Sisto Germano Ohide without charge
Editor’s note: Ohide told CPJ that he was released on bail on August 9. As of August 12, prosecutors had yet to decide whether to charge him, Ohide said. Kampala, August 8, 2024— South Sudan authorities must immediately and unconditionally release Singaita FM journalist Sisto Germano Ohide, who is ill and undergoing malaria treatment, the Committee…
Nigerian security forces attack, arrest journalists covering protests
Abuja, August 6, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Nigerian authorities to investigate reports that dozens of journalists were assaulted, harassed, and detained while covering cost-of-living protests, which began on August 1. CPJ is investigating multiple incidents including one in the capital Abuja on August 3, where masked security forces fired bullets and teargas…
Chained and blindfolded: Nigerian journalist Segun Olatunji recounts his detention
The arrest and detention of Segun Olatunji, the then-editor of the privately owned First News site, by Nigeria’s military in March triggered an outcry from local and international civil society, highlighting an uptick in the unlawful detention of journalists in the West African nation. Olatunji was taken from his Alagbado home in southwestern Lagos state by more than a dozen armed men who…
Egypt arrests 2 journalists in less than a week, refuses to disclose whereabouts
Washington, D.C., July 23, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Egyptian authorities to immediately release Ashraf Omar, a cartoonist for the independent news outlet Al-Manassa, and Khaled Mamdouh, a reporter for news website Arabic Post. “By arresting journalists Khaled Mamdouh and Ashraf Omar and subjecting them to enforced disappearance, the Egyptian regime has once…
Nigeria police arrest, detain, assault journalist Gabriel Idibia while in custody
On June 11, police officers in Kaduna, the capital city of Nigeria’s northern Kaduna State, arrested Gabriel Idibia, a correspondent and freelancer with the privately owned Daily Times and Daybreak Nigeria news sites, while he was taking photos of the officers guiding a large group of cattle across a road, according media reports, Idibia and Daybreak Nigeria publisher Austin Maho, who both spoke to CPJ. Idibia…