PEN SA Africa Pulse #2
27 Jan 2017
PEN SA Africa Pulse is a weekly round-up of news concerning cases of freedom of expression and the freedom of the press in Africa.
Nigeria: Police Raid Premium Times, Arrest Publisher, Journalist
Policemen in plain clothes raided the head office of one of Nigerian leading newspapers, the Premium Times, following the newspaper’s refusal to retract a story they had published about the Nigerian army and its operations. On 19 January 2017, the policemen invaded the newspapers office in Abuja and arrested the newspaper’s publisher, Dapo Olorunyomi alongside the paper’s judiciary correspondent, Evelyn Okakwu. The order, according to the Daily Trust, was filed by Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai.
Daily Trust , Sahara Reporters, Olisa TV
Nigerian Writers Urge President Buhari To Halt Harassment Of Journalists
A contingent of Nigerian public commentators, intellectuals, activists and writers have written a strong worded letter to urge President Muhammadu Buhari to stop the harassment of journalists and bloggers by security agencies and to respect freedom of expression. In the letter, addressed to President Buhari, the writers expressed their “deep concern over what appears to be an increase in harassment by security services of journalists going about their work.”
Sahara Reporters
Gambia expels foreign journalists with days to Barrow’s investiture
Two days before the then Gambian President Yahya Jammeh was ousted out of office and the new incumbent Adama Barrow was sworn in, there were reports that Jammeh ordered the expulsion of foreign journalists in Gambia. According to Jeffrey Smith, a journalist who has been following the developments in Gambia, a CCTV crew and a Swedish journalist were expelled. The reason behind the expulsion was unclear.
Africa News
Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill Focus
In the last few months, under the fastidious eye of Raymond Louw, PEN South Africa Vice-President, PEN South Africa made comments on the Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill. We submitted our comments to the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development.
The media responses to the bill have been varied. The Times ran an editorial titled “Hate speech bill is a minefield we can ill afford to fall into“, following a recent incident where a Ghanaian preacher, Dag Heward-Mills, made homophobic comments in a Johannesburg church. There has also been caution from the likes of Safura Abdool Karim, a lawyer and student at Georgetown University, who questioned whether it is constitutional to make hate speech an offence.
Other News:
Cameroon has shut down the internet in its English-speaking regions
The Cameroonian government shut down Internet in the northwest and southwest of Cameroon, its two main English-speaking regions, in response to a mass protest against marginalization of the region by the French-speaking led government.
Quartz Africa
Kenyan government warns of possible internet shutdown in August elections
iAfrikan reports that the Kenyan Communications Authority has told the media that the government will be forced to shut the internet down should hate speech and the incitement of violence “get out of hand” during the election period in August. This is alarming as hate speech and incitement of violence can sometimes mean anything said against the government.
iAfrikan
Access PEN SA Africa Pulse #1 here.