The seizures took place largely at MBC offices in Blantyre, Lilongwe, and Mzuzu following a complaint by MBC’s management about the creation of a “fake” Facebook page bearing the corporation’s name and logo, which the outlet had not approved, according to the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), the journalists, and police search warrants reviewed by CPJ. The complaint accused the 14 journalists of “spamming,” which carries a maximum penalty of two million Malawian kwacha (about US$1,190) and imprisonment for five years under section 91 of Malawi’s Electronic Transactions and Cybersecurity Act.
As of March 8, police returned three laptops and nine phones to the journalists, according to a journalist who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisal. The journalist, whose phone has been returned, is concerned that the device has been compromised while in police custody and will no longer use it.
Another journalist, who also spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisal, said some MBC colleagues received email notifications about attempts to log into their Instagram and X accounts while their devices were in police custody.
Malawi police spokesperson Peter Kalaya told CPJ in a late February 2024 phone interview that the police investigation was being conducted in response to a legitimate complaint, and police had obtained a warrant before seizing and searching the devices.
“The investigation is not targeting journalists, it is targeting people who we suspect to be responsible” for the Facebook page, Kalaya said, but he declined to explain how the police had determined which individuals were suspects.
“We have a forensics laboratory and sometimes we use other institutions’ forensic laboratories,” Kalaya told CPJ, but declined to give specifics about the technologies used to search the journalists’ devices. “Our search in the gadgets is going to be restricted to those apps that we believe or that we suspect were used in the commission of the crime,” Kalaya told CPJ, adding that the journalists whose devices had been seized should trust the professionalism of the investigating officers. “Why should a police officer go to contacts, to [the] photo gallery when what he is looking for is not there, or if he does not suspect it will be there?” he said.
In January 2024, the local Platform for Investigative Journalism (PIJ-Malawi) reported that Malawian authorities had obtained the Universal Forensic Extraction Device (UFED), a powerful technology designed to access and extract information from electronic devices and sold by the Israel-based company Cellebrite. The Malawi police sought to further expand its investigative capacity with similar tools, according to the report. In response to CPJ’s questions about which tools, including those sold by Cellebrite, police used to search the devices of MBC journalists, Kalaya declined to give specifics.
CPJ has previously documented the use of Cellebrite’s UFED by police in Botswana to search journalists’ phones and has raised the issue of privacy concerns when law enforcement seizes devices and has access to such technology.
MBC director general George Kasakula declined to comment until the police investigation into the alleged spamming concludes at an unknown date.
On February 15, five police officers looking for Greyson Chapita, MBC’s suspended controller of news and programs, arrived at his daughter’s home. The officers told family members there to call Chapita and tell him that his daughter was sick to lure him there, the journalist told CPJ, adding that his family obliged, and he arrived shortly after. Once Chapita arrived, police officers told him that he was a suspect in a murder and requested to search his phone and laptop, but he initially refused.
Chapita told the officers that he would not comply until he verified that they were police officers, and he went with them to the local police station to confirm their identities. Once confirmed by a senior officer, Chapita returned with them to his home, where the officers showed him the same warrant citing MBC management’s complaint, and he opened his laptop and entered his password, he told CPJ. The officers then looked through his Facebook account for 30 minutes without further explanation as Chapita watched.
“[T]hey checked my Facebook account and took screenshots. They made me sign a document showing that they searched my laptop and did not find anything, so they didn’t take it. They couldn’t see my phone because it is not a smartphone,” the journalist added.
When asked about the police officers’ tactics used to summon Chapita and search his computer, Kalaya told CPJ that he could not comment on the specifics of the incident, but he said the journalist could file a complaint.
“What I can assure you is that our investigators are very professional and whatever they are doing is very professional,” Kalaya said.
Editor’s note: The photo caption in this case was corrected to reflect another location and time.
]]>Morin was in the encampment conducting interviews for a story about the Indigenous-led camp, which was targeted for demolition by the city of Edmonton, where 58% of the unhoused population is Indigenous, according to Ricochet.
While Morin was speaking with individuals in the encampment, police cordoned off the perimeter, Ricochet reported. In an article Morin wrote for Ricochet about her arrest, she recounted that police asked her to leave, and she told them that she had a right to be there as a journalist.
Morin was then handcuffed and placed in a police vehicle before being taken to police headquarters. Morin wrote that she was then searched by a female officer and held in a cell for five hours. While in detention, she was allowed to call for her daughter to be picked up and to contact her editor to arrange for a lawyer.
Morin wrote that she was charged with obstruction upon her release and was given a court summons for February 1. On that day, Morin was photographed and fingerprinted, the Guardian reported. Morin wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that her next court date is March 1.
If convicted, Morin could face up to two years in prison under Canada’s criminal code.
Morin was arrested in a media exclusion zone, where police can limit public access and where journalists have had trouble reporting in recent years. Canadian courts in two provinces have ruled that journalists are allowed to report in exclusion zones with very narrow exceptions.
An award-winning journalist and author, Morin has reported on missing Indigenous women and girls in Canada and the environmental impact of oil sands extraction on Indigenous communities.
The Edmonton Police media relations department said that they would not be commenting at this time since the matter is currently before the courts.
]]>Baroshky was released from the city’s Zirka prison at around 10 p.m. on bail of 3 million dinars (US$2,291) to await trial for violation of Article 2 of the Misuse of Communication Devices law, those sources said. He has yet to receive a trial date, they said.
CPJ has repeatedly documented the use of the 2008 law against journalists. Baroshky previously spent 18 months in jail from 2020 to 2022 under the same law because of his social media posts that criticized authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan.
Hruri told CPJ that the arrest stemmed from a lawsuit filed by Zirka prison authorities over Barokshky’s January 23 Facebook post where he said that a Kurdish prisoner, Mala Nazir, had been kidnapped from the prison and his whereabouts were unknown.
“Nazir’s family informed me that he was abducted. I published the news,” Barokshky told CPJ, adding the family were worried when Nazir was transferred from Zirka prison to Asayish prison in Duhok a few weeks before he was due to be released.
Nazir was subsequently released from jail on February 11.
Article 2 states that individuals who misuse social media, email, and communication devices to “slander, threaten, insult or spread fabricated news that provokes terror and conversations contrary to public morals” and publish private information about individuals that harms or offends them, can be jailed for up to five years or fined up to 5 million dinars (US$3,818).
Baroshky is the director and founder of Rast Media, a news outlet that was shuttered after the regional Asayish intelligence agency raided its Duhok office in April 2023. Since then, Facebook has become his main reporting outlet.
Irfan Barwari, spokesperson for Zirka prison, declined to comment on the case.
]]>Police opened an investigation into the journalists, who have since been released, under Section 47 of the Electronic Transactions Act, 2008, those sources said. The law criminalizes the electronic publication of content deemed illegal under existing laws or “contrary to public morality or decent behavior” with a penalty of up to five years in prison and a fine of 100,000 rupees (US $754). CPJ has repeatedly documented the use of the Electronic Transactions Act to detain and investigate journalists for their work.
Kamal Thapa, superintendent of the Kanchanpur police, told CPJ that the case registered against the journalists was in relation to their social media posts, not their news coverage. On February 5, the Kanchanpur police said in a statement that those who “write such misleading news/status” would be punished under the law.
Binod Bhatta, the journalists’ lawyer, told CPJ that his clients’ social media posts and news coverage should be considered as interrelated because they reported on the same topic in the public interest.
On February 5, Bhatt published an interview on his Facebook page with a police officer who said that he resigned from his job after he was beaten by a female inspector, whom he named. Bhatt also commented on the allegations on his Facebook page.
On February 5, Kunwar’s news website Nigarani Khabar reported the same allegations against the female officer, while a second article made four allegations of misconduct by the same policewoman, including her involvement in detaining Kunwar in 2023 while the journalist was reporting on a clash between police and locals. Kunwar also commented on the allegations on her Facebook page.
Bhatt and Kunwar were released at around 10 p.m. on February 14 and 1 a.m. on February 15 respectively, on personal guarantee, which requires them to remain present in the area while the investigation is carried out, according to Media Action Nepal, Bhatta, and a person familiar with the case who spoke to CPJ on condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal.
While in police custody, the officer asked the journalists to apologize by touching her feet, a sign of respect in South Asian culture, but Kunwar refused, which delayed her release, those sources said.
As of February 20, the journalists’ phones, which were seized during their arrest, remained in police custody, according to Bhatta and the person familiar with the case.
]]>A jeep hit Hossan’s motorcycle and ran over his body, according to a complaint, reviewed by CPJ, that was filed by the family at Rangunia Model Police Station on the day that Hossan died.
No arrests had been made although the police were given the driver’s name, those sources said. A journalist familiar with the case, who spoke to CPJ on condition of anonymity due to fear of reprisal, said the driver went into hiding shortly after the crash.
Chandan Kumar Chakraborty, officer-in-charge of Rangunia Model Police Station, told CPJ that officers were searching for the driver, whose vehicle was brought into police custody in early February, and the police were investigating what authorities considered to be a road accident.
The circumstances surrounding Hossan’s death were unclear, the anonymous journalist said, adding that that a witness told him that they saw Hossan’s motorcycle standing upright on the road after the crash.
Sikder and the anonymous journalist told CPJ that they suspected Hossan was targeted due to his journalistic work. Sikder said that his son tipped off a civil service official about illegal construction on government-owned land three months before his death and authorities demolished the structure on September 20.
On September 21, Hossan reported in Newsnow24 that two brothers, whom he named, were rebuilding the structure the day after the demolition. In the article, Hossan said one of the men phoned him after he visited the site and said, “I will make you a corpse. And I will see how great a journalist you are.”
On September 23, Hossan filed a complaint about the threat, reviewed by CPJ, at Rangunia Model Police Station. Chakraborty said that the police were investigating the complaint.
]]>The unwanted publication of personal information online—known as doxxing—is an increasingly common form of digital harassment of the press.
On November 23, 2023, Botswana’s Assistant Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry, Beauty Morukana Manake, published screenshots of a WhatsApp conversation with Ramasia, in which the journalist’s phone number was visible, on her Facebook page, which has over 63,000 followers, according to Ramasia, who spoke to CPJ, a statement by the Botswana chapter of the press freedom group Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), and CPJ’s review.
Ramasia is a freelance reporter who covers politics, health, and other news for a variety of local outlets.
On February 1, 2024, the post was still live and contained screenshots of Manake’s conversation with Ramasia, who asked Manake for comment on allegations that she was “abusing” her office, including by arriving late at events.
In the screenshots, Manake said the allegations were baseless and part of a “witch-hunt.” Manake also said that she had been “abused and weaponized by people using the media for their selfish ‘political gains.’”
Ramasia told CPJ that he had called Manake, asking her to conceal his identity or delete the post, and that she had requested an apology, which the journalist declined to give.
Manake told CPJ that she felt unfairly treated by the journalist and accused Ramasia of deliberately attempting to tarnish her image.
On December 19, 2023, Madibelatlhopo, a group that campaigns against election rigging and is affiliated with the opposition party Umbrella for Democratic Change, published Dihutso’s phone number on its Facebook page, which has over 10,000 followers, according to MISA, CPJ’s review, and Dihutso, who spoke to CPJ.
Dihutso’s phone number was included in a series of screenshots showing a WhatsApp exchange in which Dihutso, a reporter with the privately owned Duma FM, sought comment from Madibelatlhopo’s spokesperson, Michael Keakopa, about the group’s registration as a private company and its shareholding.
As of February 1, 2024, the Facebook post was still live, along with commentary suggesting that Dihutso was an intelligence agent and a member of the ruling Botswana Democratic Party. Facebook commentators also accused him of being “naive and malicious” and claimed that Duma FM was founded on the “proceeds of crime.”
MISA said “indiscriminate sharing of [the journalists’] personal data” contravened their right to privacy under Botswana’s constitution and its Data Protection Act, and created “a hostile environment” for reporting.
Under the country’s data protection law, a person who processes sensitive personal data without permission is guilty of an offense and is liable to a fine not exceeding 500,000 pula (USD$36,500) and/or up to nine years imprisonment.
In a statement, the Botswana Editors Forum said Madibelathlopo’s comments were an “attempt to discredit or attack journalists for simply practicing their trade.”
Dihutso told CPJ he had reported the post containing his phone number to Facebook.
In response to CPJ’s request for comment via messaging app in early January, Keakopa accused a CPJ staff member of being connected to Botswana intelligence, said “I’m going to publish this conversation for Batswana to know what I discuss with so called journalists just as I did with that other pseudo,” and told the staff member to “never send me stupid messages again.” Keakopa did not respond to subsequent queries from CPJ.
]]>Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of the ruling Awami League party returned to power for her fifth term amid an opposition boycott and low voter turnout. The U.S. State Department said the elections were “not free or fair.”
Mujib Mashal, South Asia bureau chief for The New York Times, told CPJ that the newspaper was denied prior approval by the Bangladesh government to report on the polls.
Separately, on Saturday, January 6, the day before the election, the Daily Manab Zamin newspaper’s website was blocked in Bangladesh following its critical reporting on the government, according to Matiur Rahman Chowdhury, the outlet’s editor-in-chief.
Chowdhury said the outlet did not receive a government notice detailing why the website was blocked, and access was restored on Monday, January 8.
At around 1 p.m. on election day, around 15 to 20 men wearing Awami League badges attacked seven journalists– MA Rahim, a correspondent for the broadcaster Ananda TV, Rimon Hossain, a camera operator with Ananda TV; Masud Rana, a correspondent with the online news portal enews71; Sumon Khan, a correspondent with the broadcaster Mohona TV; Elias Bosunia, a correspondent with the broadcaster Bangla TV; Minaj Islam, a correspondent with the newspaper Daily Vorer Chetona; and Hazrat Ali, a correspondent with the newspaper Dainik Dabanol, during their coverage of an assault on independent candidate Ataur Rahman outside a polling station in northern Lalmonirhat district, according to Rahim and Rana.
The men beat several of the journalists with iron rods and bamboo sticks, beat and pushed others, and broke and confiscated multiple pieces of equipment including cameras and microphones—according to those sources and a complaint filed at the Hatibandha Police Station by Rana, which alleged the perpetrators were led by brothers Md. Zahidul Islam and Md. Mostafa, nephews of the incumbent parliamentarian contested by Rahman.
Md. Zahidul Islam told CPJ that he denied involvement in the attack. Islam did not respond to CPJ’s follow-up question about Mostafa’s alleged involvement in the attack.
Saiful Islam, officer-in-charge of the Hatibandha Police Station, did not respond to CPJ’s request for comment.
Separately, at around 2:40 p.m., around 25 men surrounded Sirajul Islam Rubel, a correspondent for The Daily Star newspaper, and Arafat Rahaman, a reporter for The Daily Star, as they tried to leave a polling station in the capital Dhaka after covering an alleged ballot stuffing attempt by Awami League supporters, Rubel told CPJ.
The men grabbed the journalists’ phones, deleted their video footage and photos of the incident, and blocked their exit from the center along with Daily Star reporter Dipan Nandy, who subsequently joined Rubel and Rahaman to report from the station. The trio managed to leave with the assistance of police at around 3:05 p.m., Rubel said.
Separately, at around 2:45 p.m., around 20 to 25 men beat Mosharrof Shah, a correspondent for the daily newspaper Prothom Alo, after he photographed and filmed alleged ballot stuffing by Awami League supporters at a polling station in southeast Chittagong city, the journalist told CPJ.
Shah said that while speaking to an electoral officer about the incident, the men approached the journalist, took his notebook where he wrote what he observed, and deleted footage from his mobile phone in the presence of police. The men repeatedly slapped and punched Shah before he managed to flee the scene after around 30 minutes, the journalist told CPJ, adding that he received his phone back around one hour later with the assistance of his journalist colleagues.
Shah identified one of the perpetrators as Nurul Absar, general secretary of a local unit of the Chhatra League, the student wing of the Awami League. Absar did not respond to CPJ’s request for comment.
Previously, on September 24, alleged members of the Chhatra League attacked Shah on the University of Chittagong campus.
Separately, at around 4 p.m., a group of 20 to 30 men surrounded and assaulted Saif Bin Ayub, a sub-editor for the Daily Kalbela newspaper, and took his laptop, phone, other personal items while he was photographing alleged ballot stuffing by Awami League supporters inside a polling center in Dhaka, the journalist told CPJ.
The men pushed Bin Ayub against a wall and punched him, kicked him in the abdomen, and scratched him while forcibly removing his press identification card from around his neck. The perpetrators then dragged him out of the building as he requested help from police present at the scene, the journalist said.
Officers did not intervene and the beating continued outside for around 15 minutes, the journalist said, adding that he received his phone and broken laptop back later that day but not his wallet, wristwatch and other items.
Separately, at around 4:30 p.m., around eight to 10 men—including electoral officials and teenagers wearing Awami League badges—pushed Sam Jahan, a Reuters video journalist, out of a vote counting room in a polling station in Dhaka. Two of the teenagers then chased Jahan out of the station, he told CPJ.
Separately, Awami League supporters surrounded and obstructed the work of four journalists with the New Age newspaper—correspondent Muktadir Rashid, photojournalist Sourav Laskar, and reporters Nasir Uz Zaman and Tanzil Rahaman—during their coverage of polling stations in Dhaka, Rashid told CPJ.
Separately, unidentified perpetrators threw bricks from behind at Mohiuddin Modhu, a news presenter and correspondent for the broadcaster Jamuna Television, after the journalist tried to speak to a young teenager who attempted to cast a ballot in the Nawabganj sub-district of Dhaka district.
Biplab Barua, Awami League office secretary and special aide to Prime Minister Hasina, told CPJ that law enforcement took swift action regarding all attacks on journalists on election day. Barua added that the government is committed to launching investigations into all such incidents and bringing the perpetrators to justice.
]]>The 44-year-old journalist with the independent broadcaster Radio Télé Zip said he was shot at by two armed men on motorbikes who tried to block the road as he was driving home on September 29 in the Croix-des-Bouquets suburb on the northern outskirts of the city.
He believed the assailants were gang members and told CPJ he was later contacted by a member of the feared Mawozo 400 gang, who demanded payment of $1,700 as “protection money.”
Dorvil went into hiding but says he was attacked again on October 9 by half a dozen armed men while he was trying to visit his home.
“They tried to kidnap me. They hit the car and told me to get out. I refused,” he told CPJ in a phone call. He said one of the men fired a bullet through his windshield before he was able to get away.
Both incidents were reported to the police and the local judiciary visited the scene of the crime to speak to Dorvil, according to documents provided by Dorvil.
A witness, Wilmare Etienne, who is Dorvil’s brother-in-law, also provided a notarized statement in which he said that government collusion with the armed gangs had created a “general state of fear” that left Dorvil no option but to leave the country. “There is no guarantee of safety for anyone doing their job as a journalist in Haiti; their life is always in great danger,” Etienne added.
On November 7, Dorvil left the country and sent his family to live with relatives in another part of Haiti. “I can’t go back to Haiti right now. I’ll be killed if they find me,” he told CPJ.
For the last two years, armed gangs have taken control of large parts of the capital, including Croix-des-Bouquets, terrorizing the population with impunity after police and judicial authorities were forced to abandon their posts. In several cases, journalists have been swept up in the gang violence. At least six journalists were killed in Haiti in connection with their work in 2022 and 2023, placing Haiti as the third-worst country on CPJ’s 2023 Global Impunity Index.
In Dorvil’s case, it was not clear whether the attacks were related to his journalism. While his reporting occasionally involved criticism of the gangs, he was never directly threatened because of his coverage.
Dorvil said he began receiving threats from the Mawozo 400 in late 2022 while carrying out construction on his house. “The gangs think journalists are rich and they demand money as a tax on people who live in the neighborhoods under their control,” said Dorvil, who previously worked as a press officer for the Ministry of Public Health. “They need the money to buy guns and pay their members,” he added.
The head of the Mawozo 400 gang, Joseph Wilson, alias Lanmò San Jou, is wanted by the FBI for his alleged role in the kidnapping of a group of Christian missionaries from the U.S. and Canada in October 2021.
Dorvil provided CPJ with a handwritten letter he received from the gang leader in late 2022, accompanied by two bullets. In it, Wilson informed Dorvil that he knew where he lived, and that he and his family would be killed if he did not pay the money.
]]>On October 23, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, editor of the Weekly Blitz, published a separate article in the right-wing digital media outlet HinduPost, reviewed by CPJ, alleging Saer Khan had been deported from Hungary to the United Kingdom, where he was “funding and promoting pro-Hamas and anti-Israel rallies.”
Saer Khan, an independent investigative journalist, told CPJ by phone that he denied all allegations, which also extended to accusations of involvement in drug trafficking and fraud. He said he has been targeted in a campaign that seeks to discredit his work and could potentially endanger his safety.
Saer Khan said he believed he was being targeted in retaliation for his upcoming report on alleged high-level government corruption in Bangladesh to be published by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP). On September 25, two days before the latest round of Weekly Blitz articles against him, the journalist sent a series of emails requesting comment from the subjects of his investigative article.
In recent years, the Weekly Blitz has repeatedly published articles, reviewed by CPJ, accusing Saer Khan, along with other journalists critical of the Bangladesh government, of criminal activities.
On March 17, four unidentified men beat Mahinur Khan, Saer Khan’s brother, with iron rods in Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka, accusing the latter of “writing about the PM [prime minister]” and “against the government.” As of November 22, no suspects had been held accountable, Saer Khan said.
Choudhury told CPJ via email that the Weekly Blitz stood by its reporting and was unaware of Saer Khan’s upcoming report for the OCCRP.
]]>As Maingo and reporter Jessica Bobo interviewed residents, a protestor charged at Maingo and pushed him to prevent him from filming, but Maingo held the protestor back with his hand, the journalist told CPJ. Maingo tried to continue to record the protests when six other residents joined in, beating him with their fists, sticks, and wooden planks, and threw him against a perimeter wall, he told CPJ.
When Maingo passed the camera to Bobo and she sought help for her colleague, some protestors began hitting her with sticks. The pair were saved when other community members intervened, he said.
“I couldn’t see much, but I heard some other community members screaming and telling them to stop attacking me,” Maingo said.
Bobo was not injured, however, Maingo sustained injuries to his face, ribs, and neck. He said he later sought medical treatment for severe tissue damage and has not worked for a week to recover at home and rest his back on his doctor’s orders.
Maingo said he did not plan to file a report with the police.
Priscilla Naidu, a police spokesperson for Eastern Cape Brigadier, told CPJ she was not aware of the assault and therefore could not comment.
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