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CPJ is honored to present its 2024 International Press Freedom Award to Nigerien journalist Samira Sabou.

Samira Sabou is one of Niger’s most prominent investigative journalists, who publishes mainly on her Facebook page and is the president of the Association of Bloggers for Active Citizenship (ABCA), an organization that advocates for freedom of expression and the rights of women and youth. Previously, she worked as a consultant for the Croissance Actualité Afrique (C2A) newspaper, directed the Economic and Social Development Information Magazine (MIDES) news website, and reported with the state-owned National Office of Publishing and Press (ONEP).

Throughout her prestigious career, Sabou has been arrested, detained, and subjected to years of legal harassment because of her reporting on governance issues. In response to the various legal proceedings brought against her, she stopped working for the media and only publishes on her social media accounts.

In July 2023, the Nigerien military seized control of the government in a coup, overthrowing the democratically elected president. In September 2023, four men in plainclothes arrested Sabou without warning at her mother’s home. She was held by the men in an unknown location for eight days and then delivered to the judicial police, where she was able to contact her lawyer. Eleven days after being arrested on suspicion of maintaining “intelligence with a foreign power” and espionage, Sabou was provisionally released. The case is ongoing, though the espionage allegation was subsequently dropped.

Separately, in January 2022, Sabou and another Nigerien investigative journalist, Moussa Aksar, were convicted for violating the cybercrime law. Their appeal of the case is still pending. In 2020, Sabou was arrested on cybercrime charges and spent 48 days in detention while she was pregnant. This case also remains open. The challenges Sabou faces in continuing to cover Niger are similar to those faced by journalists across the Sahel, working under post-coup governments and in a context of insecurity.

The Gambia Press Union (GPU) is deeply concerned by the country’s press freedom situation after the Gambian president and his environment minister decided to sue two newspapers for defamation.

President Adama Barrow’s suit against The Voice, a privately-owned daily newspaper, stems from a September 23rd story which claims President Barrow has chosen a successor as part of an exit plan.

The case was called before the Kanifing High Court today (October 25, 2024) before it was adjourned till November 22, 2024 and Musa Sheriff, the Editor-In-Chief, and The Voice newspaper given 30 days within which to file their defence.

Similarly, the Minister of Environment, Rohey John Manjang, has filed a defamation suit against reporter Kebba Ansu Manneh and The Alkamba Times claiming damages of up to D50 million ($725, 479 at today’s exchange rate). The case will be mentioned at the High Court in Banjul on November 12, 2024.

The Environment Minister’s suit against the reporter and the online news platform stems from a June 19, 2024 news story which alleges that she is involved in illegal transaction of seized logs.

“We are concerned as a Union because these suits brought against two journalists and two media houses has the chilling effect of undermining press freedom and freedom of expression,” GPU President, Muhammed S. Bah, said. “We therefore urge President Barrow and the Minister of Environment to drop all legal proceedings against the

journalists and media houses.”

The GPU is deeply concerned by both the huge financial implications, and the potential of these cases to force journalists and media houses in The Gambia into self-censorship, and therefore significantly limit their ability to effectively carry out their constitutional mandate of holding the government and public officials to account.

“These defamation suits, plus the ongoing criminal trial of Musa Sheriff and Momodou Justice Darboe of The Voice newspaper on false publication charges will significantly reverse gains made by The Gambia in the last few years in terms of press freedom,” GPU Secretary General, Modou S. Joof, said.

“We call on the aggrieved parties, President Barrow and Minister Manjang, to drop the suits and seek redress at the Media Council of The Gambia – an independent self- regulatory mechanism for the Gambian media – with all parties agreeing to the outcome in order to safeguard press freedom,” Joof said.

The Media Council of The Gambia (MCG), established by the GPU, is an independent self- regulatory mechanism for addressing public complaints against the conduct of journalists

– a mandate it has carried out successfully since 2020.

It is governed by an 11-member Governing Council, comprising representatives from the government, media, civil society, and the private sector. The Governing Council has a dual role of exercising oversight over Secretariat and serves as an Appeal Panel.

The MCG mediates complaints raised by individuals and organisations against the media, building the ethical capacity of media practitioners, and mitigating conflict that might arise between the media and its stakeholders – through the Ethics Panel which presides over public complaints against the media.