Burundi Court Upholds Journalist’s Conviction

Authorities Should End Cynical Assault on Media, Civil Society

Burundi: Journalist’s Conviction Violates Free Speech Rights

Last week, civil society in Burundi breathed a collective sigh of relief at the announcement that five human rights defenders charged with state security crimes had been released from prison. But as is often the case in Burundi, their relief was short-lived. Four days later, an appeals court in Bujumbura confirmed the conviction of journalist Floriane Irangabiye.

Irangabiye was convicted in January on charges of criticizing the government during a radio broadcast, in defiance of her most basic media freedoms. Her conviction came less than a week after lawyer and former human rights defender Tony Germain Nkina was released following two years of unjust imprisonment.

Irangabiye was given a 10-year sentence and fined 1,000,000 Burundian Francs (US$480). Her months-long detention without charge and the prosecutor’s failure to produce credible evidence of a crime during the trial amounted to flagrant violations of Burundian and international law.

Adding insult to injury, the appeals court’s decision was announced on the eve of World Press Freedom Day, underscoring Burundian authorities’ contempt for freedom of the press.

The five rights defenders released last week were charged with rebellion and undermining state security and the functioning of public finances. The charges appeared to stem from their relationship with a foreign organization and the funding they received from it. Three were acquitted and two were convicted of rebellion, fined 50.000 Burundian Francs ($25), and handed a two-year suspended sentence. They work for some of Burundi’s few remaining human rights organizations, and their arrests sent a chilling message to the few activists who stayed in Burundi despite a brutal crackdown against civil society triggered by the country’s 2015 political crisis.

As Burundi, faced with serious economic and humanitarian challenges, is pressing international partners to restore financial assistance, it seems reckless to jeopardize the government’s relationship with donors over abusive arrests and trials of human rights defenders and journalists. Yet after repeated convictions and acquittals, it looks increasingly like they are being used as bargaining chips.

Burundi should put an end to this cynical game. The European Union, the United States, and Burundi’s other international partners should call for Irangabiye’s immediate and unconditional release. They should also make clear, through public statements and concrete demands, that their trust in Burundian authorities will only be restored once they truly respect the rights of media and civil society.

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Authorities Should End Cynical Assault on Media, Civil Society Burundi: Journalist’s Conviction Violates Free Speech Rights Last week, civil society in Burundi breathed a collective sigh of relief at the announcement that five human rights defenders […]

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Outrage as Kenyan police attack journalists during protests

A barrage of tear gas canisters and a deluge from an armoured water cannon directed at journalists in Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga’s convoy highlighted the brutality of security forces on the third day of anti-government protests.

Anti-riot officers battered the journalists as their vehicle was trapped between a barricade erected by police and Mr Odinga’s convoy — which wasn’t spared either — with the Kenyan opposition leader of the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition alleging his car was shot at seven times.

Faced with the vicious attacks, the journalists, who were perched on the carrier of the black Toyota Land Cruiser, scampered for safety and, in the process, four were seriously injured.

A woman helps police officers with water
A woman offers police officers water to rinse their faces during opposition protests in Nairobi’s Mathare estate on March 30 ,2023. PHOTO | SILA KIPLAGAT | NMG

Six journalists injured

In total, six journalists were injured during Thursday’s protests in different parts of the country, victims of brutality by police and violent protesters. It brought to 22 the total number of journalists injured since the start of the demonstrations on Monday, March 20.

ReadKenya protests: Envoys urge urgent solution

And even after the journalists and the driver of the vehicle had fled, a plainclothes policeman smashed the car’s windscreen, shoved a rifle through the cracks and fired inside several times.

In the aftermath, bloodied faces of victims of the attack, including local broadcaster NTV’s cameraman Eric Isinta told of the horror. Others injured at the scene in Nairobi were Mr Timon Abuna of Standard Media Group, Mr Mauritius Oduor of Royal Media Services and Mr George Oduor, an independent photojournalist. The journalists were rushed by colleagues to a nearby hospital for treatment.

Protesters run away from police officers as demonstrators block a highway in Nairobi on March 30, 2023 during a protest called by the opposition coalition Azimio la Umoja against the government and high food prices. PHOTO | YASUYOSHI CHIBA | AFP

Tear gas canisters

Mr Isinta said police lobbed three tear gas canisters directly at him with one getting into his clothes and another hitting his face.

“There were many tear gas canisters that were thrown as we were getting near the junction. I could not see where I was going. One tear gas canister hit me on the head and another one on my chest and into my clothes. I got it out before it could burn me but a third one hit my face and I was injured,” Mr Isinta said.

He sustained a serious injury on the right side of the face.

ReadHow politicians planned Kenyatta farm attack

In Kisumu, a Citizen TV cameraman was critically injured while fleeing from rowdy protesters. Mr Dismas Nabiswa, who was covering the riot from a footbridge on the Kisumu-Nairobi highway, was injured after he missed a step and fell, breaking some of his ribs. He was rescued by boda boda (motorcycle taxi) operators who rushed him to the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital where he was treated before being transferred to Avenue Hospital.

Kenya’s opposition leader Raila Odinga addressing his supporters at Nairobi’s Pipeline Estate on March 30, 2023. PHOTO | DENNIS ONSONGO | NMG

Hostile hooligans, police

His phone, camera and a live video transmission gadget were damaged during the melee. Azimio leaders condemned the attack on the press.

ReadAU calls for calm, restraint in Kenya

“It is very unfortunate that in the whole of these skirmishes, the media is being targeted for attack. The other day and today, several journalists have been injured,” Mr Odinga said shortly after the incident.

In a similar incident on Monday, journalists covering the protests were attacked by hooligans and the police in different areas. Reporters covering the protests said they faced hostility from both the protesters and the police.

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A barrage of tear gas canisters and a deluge from an armoured water cannon directed at journalists in Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga’s convoy highlighted the brutality of security forces […]

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South Sudan releases journalists held over viral Kiir video

South Sudanese President Salva Kiir. Two journalists detained over a video reportedly showing him urinating on himself have been freed. PHOTO | PETER LOUIS | AFP

Two South Sudanese journalists detained over a video reportedly showing President Salva Kiir urinating on himself have been freed, a media lobby group said Wednesday as it demanded the release of two other colleagues.

Two of the seven journalists arrested in January remain in police custody over the video that went viral on social media in December, the Union of Journalists of South Sudan (UJOSS) said.

The journalists — staff at the state-run South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation — were arrested by agents from the National Security Service as part of an investigation into the source of the clip.

In the footage, Kiir, dressed in his trademark black hat and a grey outfit at what is described as a road commissioning ceremony, is seen with a damp patch on his left trouser leg.

“We are still calling on the government to release the two (journalists) who are still behind bars,” UJOSS president Patrick Oyet told AFP.

Probe dragged

Oyet urged the government to present the duo in court if they have broken any law, adding that the probe had dragged on for months. 

“The law says you should carry out investigations and produce somebody in the court within 24 hours.”

“If there is no case they should be released,” he said.

In January, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists called for the unconditional release of the journalists and for state authorities to “ensure that they can work without further intimidation or threat of arrest.” 

Arbitrary detention

The arrests match “a pattern of security personnel resorting to arbitrary detention whenever officials deem coverage unfavourable”, said CPJ’s sub-Saharan Africa representative, Muthoki Mumo.

Kiir, 71, oversaw the birth of South Sudan as an independent nation after it broke free from Sudan in July 2011.

But the world’s youngest country has lurched from crisis to crisis since then, enduring brutal conflict, political turmoil, natural disasters and hunger.

South Sudan ranks 128th out of 180 countries on the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) press freedom index.

According to the media watchdog, freedom of the press is “extremely precarious” in the landlocked nation, “where journalists work under constant threat and intimidation, and where censorship is ever-present.”

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South Sudanese President Salva Kiir. Two journalists detained over a video reportedly showing him urinating on himself have been freed. PHOTO | PETER LOUIS | AFP Two South Sudanese journalists […]

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CIVIC SPACE IN NUMBERS

The CIVICUS Monitor measures enabling conditions for civil society or civic space. We provide ratings for civic space in 197 countries and territories (all UN member states and Hong Kong, Kosovo, Palestine, and Taiwan). At CIVICUS, we see civic space as the respect in policy and practice for the freedoms of assembly, association and expression which are underpinned by the state’s duty to protect civil society.

We view civic space as a set of universally-accepted rules, which allow people to organise, participate and communicate with each other freely and without hindrance, and in doing so, influence the political, economic and social structures around them.

CIVIC SPACE IN 2022

Today, only 3.1% of the world’s population lives in countries with Open civic space. 

For better accuracy and comparison over time, this year we added a decimal point to the percentages.

GLOBAL CIVIC SPACE RESTRICTIONS 

Over the past year, civil society across the world has faced a variety legal and extra-legal restrictions. Below we document the top ten violations captured in the CIVICUS Monitor.

Top 10 Violations to Civic Freedoms

COUNTRY RATINGS

The CIVICUS Monitor currently rates 39 countries and territories as Open, 41 rated as Narrowed, 42 rated as Obstructed, 50 rated as Repressed and 25 rated as Closed.

REGIONAL BREAKDOWNS

 OpenNarrowedObstructedRepressedClosed
Africa2413246
Americas 109952
Asia and Pacific8710114
Europe and Central Asia1921644
Middle East and North Africa00469
This page was last updated on 22 June 2022

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The CIVICUS Monitor measures enabling conditions for civil society or civic space. We provide ratings for civic space in 197 countries and territories (all UN member states and Hong Kong, Kosovo, Palestine, and Taiwan). […]

Continue reading "CIVIC SPACE IN NUMBERS"

Media Services Act amendments to be tabled  today

THE suspended bill of the amendments of Media Services Act of 2016 will be tabled in the National Assembly for the first reading today, the Minister for Information, Communication and Information Technology Nape Nnauye revealed on Thursday.

The development comes after the Director of Information Services and Chief Government Spokesperson, Mr Gerson Msigwa, announced on Tuesday  that  the long-awaited amendments of the Media Services Act of 2016 has been pushed forward to the forthcoming budget session of the National Assembly slated to start in April, this year.

The suspension triggered complaints from the Tanzania Editors Forum (TEF) on why the delay was necessary in the amendment process.

Addressing the media in Dodoma, Mr Nnauye urged the media stakeholders to continue having faith in the government, especially on the process of amending the provisions of the Act.

The Minister said that the amendments will be read today in the National Assembly following the cancellation of Universal Health Coverage bill which was scheduled to be  tabled  in Parliament.

“The amendments of the  Act  was suspended due to limited time but the cancellation of Universal Health bill pushes information bill to be read tomorrow (today)” he said

However, he urged the media stakeholders to cooperate with the government if there are issues that need clarification.

“I call upon media stakeholders to cooperate with the government on issues related to the amendment of the Media Services Act rather than discouraging journalists and Tanzanians in general with news that have not been well researched,” he said.

He added that in ensuring freedom of information and expression, the sixth phase government under President Samia Suluhu Hassan has spared no effort in improving relations with the Media as well as ensuring freedom of expression.

“President Samia has made a lot of efforts to improve the media sector including meeting with media stakeholders and discussing the challenges of the media law and advising them to propose amendments to the law,” he added

Last year Mr Nnauye announced that the government is planning to amend the Media Services Act as part of its efforts to uphold the welfare of journalists and the media industry at large.

“The aim for the amendments is to provide a conducive working environment for journalists through which their freedom and rights will be promoted and protected,” Mr Nnauye said.

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THE suspended bill of the amendments of Media Services Act of 2016 will be tabled in the National Assembly for the first reading today, the Minister for Information, Communication and […]

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