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A thread about some #EastAfrica-n journalists who are imprisoned for their work and are vulnerable to #COVID19 behind bars. It is a double injustice #JournalismIsNotACrime
Mohamed Abdiwahab Nuur (Abuuja) was arrested four months ago and held incommunicado for weeks by intelligence personnel in #Somalia. Yesterday he appeared in a military court in Mogadishu, only the second court appearance since his arrest. #FreeAbuja https://twitter.com/HarunMaruf/status/1290305241309564928?s=20
Three #Rwanda-n YouTubers (Shadrack Niyonsenga, Damascene Mutuyimana, and Jean Baptiste Nshimiyimana) were arrested in Rwanda in October 2018 on allegations of spreading rumors and inciting discontent. They remain in pre-trial detention. https://cpj.org/data/people/shadrack-niyonsenga/
A group of at least 16 #Eritrea-n journalists have remained incommunicado for up to 19 years (longer than/as long as many of 2020’s first-year college students have been alive). https://cpj.org/data/imprisoned/2019/?status=Imprisoned&cc_fips%5B%5D=ER&start_year=2019&end_year=2019&group_by=location
In October 2019 a group of four journalists from the independent #Burundi-an outlet Iwacu were arrested, while covering clashes. In January they were sentenced to 2.5 years in prison. https://cpj.org/2020/07/cpj-calls-on-burundis-new-president-to-free-iwacu-journalists-respect-press-freedom/
Globally we know that at least two journalists, in Honduras and Egypt, have died after contracting #COVID19 while in govt custody. I hope we will not be telling a similarly tragic (and entirely avoidable) story in #EastAfrica in the coming months. https://cpj.org/thetorch/2020/07/at-least-2-journalists-die-after-contracting-covid-19-in-prison/
Some very good news to add onto this thread. Just received information that Abuuja, the Somali journalist who has been imprisoned for nearly 5 months, was freed today by the military court in Mogadishu. https://twitter.com/sjs_Somalia/status/1290923353025458176?s=20
