The record
Incidents in Africa
Each incident is a dated action by a government, an official, a regulator, a court or a legislature that limited journalists' ability to gather or publish news.
The number of entries reflects the depth of this record, not the severity of a country's conduct.
All filters: country, dates, head of government, sort
Tanzania shuts down internet access on election day amid unrest
Tanzania's government restricted internet and social-media access on October 29, 2025, as citizens voted in a general election marked by protests, cutting national internet traffic by nearly 90 percent and leaving both local and foreign jo…
Shutdowns and blocking · Stage Silence · Head of government Samia Suluhu Hassan · Unknown
Ethiopia arrests at least six journalists including Sheger FM staff over election-year coverage
Ethiopian authorities arrested at least six journalists between August and September 2025, including three from Sheger FM after the Ethiopian Media Authority ordered the station to delete a broadcast it accused of bias and inciting violenc…
Detention and violence · Stage Punish · Head of government Abiy Ahmed · Ongoing
Tunisia's cybercrime decree pushes jailed-journalist count to highest since 1992
The Committee to Protect Journalists found at least four journalists imprisoned under Tunisia's 2022 Decree-Law 54 on cybercrime as of January 2025, including radio hosts Mourad Zghidi and Borhen Bsaies, pushing the country's jailed-journa…
Insult and defamation laws · Stage Punish · Head of government Kais Saied · Sustained
Zimbabwe's Patriotic Act criminalizes journalists' contact with foreign governments
President Emmerson Mnangagwa signed the Patriotic Act, which criminalizes meeting foreign governments or officials with intent to harm Zimbabwe's sovereignty, with penalties up to death for advocating armed intervention and up to ten years…
Secrets and espionage laws · Stage Punish · Head of government Emmerson Mnangagwa · Sustained
Ethiopia: Economist correspondent Tom Gardner expelled
Ethiopia's media regulator revoked The Economist correspondent Tom Gardner's press accreditation and gave him 48 hours to leave the country, citing unspecified conduct, almost a year after expelling a New York Times reporter.
Expulsion and visa denial · Stage Punish · Head of government Abiy Ahmed · Sustained
Ethiopia: internet and phone service cut across Tigray
Ethiopia's government cut internet and telephone service across the Tigray region when war broke out there in November 2020, leaving the region without communication for months and forcing reporters to travel there to learn what was happen…
Shutdowns and blocking · Stage Silence · Head of government Abiy Ahmed · Ongoing
Morocco: investigative journalist Omar Radi's phone is infected with Pegasus spyware and he is later detained
Amnesty International confirmed Moroccan investigative journalist Omar Radi's phone had been infected with Pegasus spyware, and Moroccan police separately detained him overnight days later after private material from his devices circulated…
Surveillance and subpoenas · Stage Punish · Head of government Saadeddine Othmani · Reversed
Egypt: media law used to fine and block news site al-Mashhad
Under a 2018 law that treats any social media account with more than 5,000 followers as a media outlet, Egypt's media regulator fined news site al-Mashhad and ordered internet providers to block it for spreading what it called false news.
Official labels · Stage Pressure · Head of government Abdel Fattah el-Sisi · Unknown
Egypt: a license requirement leaves an independent news site unable to operate legally for years
Egypt's Supreme Council for Media Regulation required news websites to obtain a government license to operate, and independent outlet Al-Manassa's application, filed in 2018, went unanswered for more than two years.
Prior restraint · Stage Pressure · Head of government Abdel Fattah el-Sisi · Ongoing
Tanzania requires bloggers and online publishers to register and pay an annual government fee
Tanzania's government, under President John Magufuli, issued regulations requiring anyone running a blog or website with user content to register with the telecoms regulator and pay an annual fee reported at roughly $930, with vaguely word…
Licensing and closure of outlets · Stage Pressure · Head of government John Magufuli · Unknown
Egypt arrests and later convicts three Al Jazeera journalists on terrorism-related charges
Months after the military removed President Mohamed Morsi, Egyptian security forces arrested Al Jazeera English journalists Peter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed at a Cairo hotel; courts later convicted them of aiding a banned orga…
Detention and violence · Stage Punish · Head of government Adly Mansour · Reversed
Zimbabwe: the High Court refuses to accredit Daily News journalists under the media registration law
Zimbabwe's High Court ruled that Daily News journalists could not be accredited to work as reporters until their newspaper's publisher had itself been registered with the government's Media and Information Commission.
Credential control · Stage Punish · Head of government Robert Mugabe · Upheld by a court
Zimbabwe: police close the Daily News under the media registration law
Zimbabwe's Supreme Court ruled the Daily News, the country's largest independent newspaper, was operating unregistered under a 2002 media law, and police shut its offices the next day; the paper stayed closed for nearly seven years.
Licensing and closure of outlets · Stage Silence · Head of government Robert Mugabe · Reversed
Zimbabwe enacts a law requiring all journalists and media houses to hold government licenses
Zimbabwe's parliament passed the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), requiring every journalist and media company to obtain a government license renewed every two years, weeks before a closely contested 2002 presid…
Licensing and closure of outlets · Stage Pressure · Head of government Robert Mugabe · Unknown
Eritrea: independent press closed and journalists jailed without trial
Eritrea's government closed every private newspaper and jailed at least nineteen journalists, including Dawit Isaac of the paper Setit, without charge or trial in September 2001, after suspending the constitution. Several have never been p…
Detention and violence · Stage Eliminate · Head of government Isaias Afwerki · Ongoing
Nigeria's military government convicts journalists by special tribunal over coup-plot reporting
A special military tribunal convicted four Nigerian journalists as accessories to a supposed 1995 coup plot after they reported on it, sentencing them to lengthy prison terms with no right of appeal, under the military government of Genera…
Detention and violence · Stage Eliminate · Head of government Sani Abacha · Reversed
South Africa bans television and photographic coverage of unrest under a state of emergency
Under a state of emergency State President P. W. Botha had declared in July 1985, the government banned television, radio and photographic coverage of unrest in South Africa's Black townships on November 2, 1985, requiring print journalist…
Shutdowns and blocking · Stage Silence · Head of government P. W. Botha · Reversed
Egypt's Nasser government nationalizes every newspaper and magazine in the country
President Gamal Abdel Nasser's government issued a decree on May 24, 1960 placing every newspaper and magazine in Egypt under state ownership and management, with the government appointing editors and deciding content, ending private contr…
Funding and ownership pressure · Stage Silence · Head of government Gamal Abdel Nasser · Ongoing
South Africa's Suppression of Communism Act lets the government ban publications and restrict individuals
Under Prime Minister Daniel François Malan, South Africa's parliament approved the Suppression of Communism Act in 1950, defining communism broadly enough to cover most opposition to apartheid. It let the government ban organizations and p…
Prior restraint · Stage Silence · Head of government Daniel François Malan · Reversed
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