CPJ: Four journalists jailed under Nigeria’s cybercrimes law despite 2024 amendments

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says amendments to Nigeria’s Cybercrimes Act, intended to safeguard journalists  and prevent its misuse, have failed to achieve their purpose.

In its annual prison census released on Thursday, CPJ said four journalists in Nigeria were imprisoned using the law.

The law was amended after media rights groups and journalists clamoured for a review, citing its abuse of criminalising “stalking”.

“Despite reforms to the country’s Cybercrimes Act in February 2024, it continues to be used to summon, intimidate, and detain journalists for their work,” the CPJ report reads.

CPJ clarified that the report did not include the many journalists imprisoned and released throughout the year.

“Journalists remain on CPJ’s list until the organization determines with reasonable certainty that they have been released or have died in custody,” the organisation said.

The report named Nigeria, Bangladesh, Jordan, Nicaragua, and Pakistan as countries with similar legislation increasingly using the guise of “fighting cybercrime” to criminalise and jail journalists over the past decade.

CPJ urged the governments of these countries to repeal existing laws that create a risk, or reform them to ensure they contain appropriate guardrails that prevent them from being wielded wrongly.

The organisation also recommended monitoring new proposed legislation to ensure there are no provisions that could be used to prevent or punish journalism.

MANY JOURNALISTS FACE LIFE SENTENCES 

In Senegal, a CPJ investigation found that René Capain Bassène was jailed for life for a crime that witnesses said he could not have committed.

In Myanmar, Shin Daewe — denied legal representation during her trial by a secret military tribunal — received a life sentence in 2024 on charges of illegal possession of an unregistered drone, a criminal offense under the country’s Anti-Terrorism law.

In China, Tohti, founder of a Uyghur news site, has served more than 10 years of his life sentence.

In Turkey, Hatice Duman – one of four journalists in the country sentenced to life – has spent more than 20 years in jail in spite of a 2019 constitutional court finding that her right to a free trial had been violated. Her retrial is ongoing.

China, Myanmar, Belarus, and Russia were among the top jailers of journalists.

While Israel has appeared several times on CPJ’s annual prison census, the reports said the arrests in the wake of the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on the Jewish nation are its highest since CPJ began keeping records in 1992.