The report stated that the number of journalists jailed on December 1, 2023 in Sub-Saharan Africa rose from 37 recorded in 2022 to 47.
A prison census report by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has identified Eritrea, Ethiopia and Cameroon as three worst jailers of journalists in the Sub-Saharan African region in 2023.
The report stated that the number of journalists jailed on December 1, 2023 in Sub-Saharan Africa rose from 37 recorded in 2022 to 47.
The CPJ also identified Nigeria as one of the Sub-Saharan African countries where journalists faced brutality, jail, assaults and harassment with at least 14 journalists and media workers detained, harassed, or attacked while covering the 2023 general elections.
The CPJ cited some cases in Nigeria, including the case of Saint Mienpamo Onitsha, founder and publisher of NAIJA Live TV, who was arrested on October 10, 2023, and charged with cybercrime and defamation in relation to a report that he wrote alleging that there was tension in the Niger Delta after a man was killed by security guards outside government offices in Abuja.
On October 10, 2023, police officers arrested Onitsha at the home of his friend, Charles Kuboro James in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital.
The officers were said to have arrived at James’ house and forced him at gunpoint to phone and summon Onitisha.
The officers who accused James of criminal conspiracy with Onitsha forced both men into police vehicles at gunpoint and drove towards the police station, but dropped James on the roadside midway to the station.
The officers held Onitisha overnight at the Criminal Investigation Department office in Yenagoa and flew him to Abuja, where he was detained in the police headquarters.
On October 17, the police charged Onitsha with cyberstalking under the Cybercrimes Act which provides a penalty of N25 million naira (US$32,694) fine and/or up to 10 years in jail.
The police also charged Onitsha with defamation and publication of defamatory matter under the Criminal Code Act—for which the maximum penalty is two years in jail.
The CPJ also cited a case of the owner of Haruna Mohammed Salisu, a private news website, WikkiTimes owner, who was arrested and detained in police custody without charge.
The report also noted that those held in Eritrea include some of the longest-known cases of journalists imprisoned around the world, none of whom have ever been charged.
Also, Ethiopia, which forced the return of a journalist exiled in Djibouti to face terrorism charges, held eight journalists as of December 1, 2023 as press freedom challenges linger despite a 2022 peace agreement that ended two years of civil war in the country.
Similarly, Egypt, routinely among the world’s worst jailers, was tied with Turkey for the eighth-highest number of jailed journalists globally, recording 13 jailed journalists in the CPJ’s 2023 census report.
The report stated that “Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, and Iraqi Kurdistan have all expanded the use of false news, terrorism, and anti-state charges against journalists in recent years.
“Egypt, too, has a history of limiting journalists’ activities after they’ve served their sentences. Egyptian photojournalist and CPJ International Press Freedom Awardee Mahmoud Abou Zeid, known as Shawkan, was banned from international travel for five years after being released from prison in 2019.
“Eritrea, with 16 journalists in jail, is the world’s seventh-worst jailer of journalists and the worst on the African continent.
“Those held in Eritrea include some of the longest known cases of journalists imprisoned around the world; none has ever been charged.
“In sub-Saharan Africa, the number of journalists jailed on December 1 rose to 47 from 31 in 2022 and 30 in 2021, with Ethiopia (8) and Cameroon (6) ranking as the second- and third-worst in the region.
“The number of jailed Ethiopian journalists reflects the difficult environment for the media. Despite the signing in 2022 of a peace agreement that ended two years of civil war, parts of Ethiopia remain restive and conflict is raging in the country’s Amhara State between regional militia and federal forces.
“All eight journalists in CPJ’s census were arrested in 2023 after covering this conflict.
“The data also reflects media crackdowns in Senegal, Zambia, Angola, and Madagascar. Senegal, which has five journalists jailed, has only appeared on the census twice previously (2008 and 2022) with one jailed journalist in each of those years.”