A prosecutor in Burundi has requested a life sentence for a journalist facing charges of terrorism. Radio journalist Hassan Ruvakuki was arrested on 28 November 2011 after interviewing an alleged member of a rebel group based in Tanzania. The...
CATEGORY: Africa
Somali journalist slain by unidentified gunmen
Somali journalist Farhan Jeemis Abdulle was reportedly murdered by two unidentified men on Wednesday evening in Puntland. According to colleagues of the journalist, he received threats from an anonymous caller days before he was shot and killed on...
Liberia: Journalist who reported on female genital mutilation forced into hiding
Threats have forced Liberian journalist Mae Azango into hiding after she reported on female genital mutilation (FGM). Azango, who is currently in the United States, faced a backlash after she wrote an article for leading independent daily...
Togo: Police assault journalists, confiscate equipment
Two journalists filming an anti-government march in the Togolese capital Lomé were attacked by police last week. Freelance journalist Noël Kokou Tadegnon, who works for Reuters TV and pan-African satellite broadcaster Vox Africa was attacked by 10...
Offices of Nigerian dailies bombed
The offices of daily newspapers in the Nigerian cities of Abuja and Kaduna were bombed on 26 April. In a statement issued yesterday, Nigeria's State Security Services said that a total of five persons were killed in the blasts, including the...
Ethiopia: Leading weekly’s website blocked
Access to the website of Ethiopia's leading weekly newspaper has been blocked within the country. The website of privately-owned weekly, The Reporter, has been inaccessible since 21 April, other than through a proxy server. Though the reason for...
Namibia: Journalist wins libel case against Swapo
Freelance journalist John Grobler has won a libel case against Namibia's ruling Swapo party. On Friday (13 April), the party was ordered to pay Grobler 300,000 Namibian dollars (27,300 GBP) in damages in connection to defamatory statements made...
South Sudan: Independence has not brought freedom for press
In November last year, Ngor Garang was illegally detained and repeatedly tortured for 18 days in South Sudan’s national security headquarters, located in the country’s interim capital, Juba. His crime: he was the chief editor for a newspaper that...
Comoros: Newspaper supplement withdrawn
The Comoros' interior minister Ahamada Abdallah has withdrawn state daily Al Watan’s latest monthly supplement from distribution and issued a decree suspending its managing editor, Pétan Mouignihazi. The supplement had a special report on...
Eritrea: Detained journalist admitted to hospital
Eritrean journalist Yirgalem Fisseha Mebrahtu, in custody since her arrest in February 2009, was admitted to hospital in Asmara earlier this year, where she reportedly remains in a serious condition. She has been admitted to the hospital twice,...
Freedom of expression in Africa. Index on Censorship covers free speech, freedom of religion, artistic freedom on the continent of Africa.