{
  "title": "Search in Africa, stage: punish, from 2020",
  "canonical_url": "https://thewaronnews.com/search?continent=africa&stage=punish&from=2020",
  "filters": {
    "continent": "africa",
    "stage": "punish",
    "from": "2020"
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  "sort": "date",
  "count": 5,
  "page": 1,
  "pages": 1,
  "per_page": 50,
  "counts_caveat": "The number of entries reflects the depth of this record, not the severity of a country's conduct.",
  "facets": {
    "country": [
      {
        "value": "ET",
        "label": "Ethiopia",
        "rsf": {
          "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
          "year": 2026,
          "rank": 148,
          "of": 180,
          "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 148th of 180",
          "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
        }
      },
      {
        "value": "MA",
        "label": "Morocco",
        "rsf": null
      },
      {
        "value": "TN",
        "label": "Tunisia",
        "rsf": {
          "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
          "year": 2026,
          "rank": 137,
          "of": 180,
          "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 137th of 180",
          "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
        }
      },
      {
        "value": "ZW",
        "label": "Zimbabwe",
        "rsf": {
          "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
          "year": 2026,
          "rank": 124,
          "of": 180,
          "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 124th of 180",
          "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
        }
      }
    ],
    "continent": [
      {
        "value": "africa",
        "label": "Africa"
      }
    ],
    "tactic": [
      {
        "value": "detention_and_violence",
        "label": "Detention and violence",
        "count": 2
      },
      {
        "value": "insult_and_defamation_laws",
        "label": "Insult and defamation laws",
        "count": 2
      },
      {
        "value": "outlet_licensing",
        "label": "Licensing and closure of outlets",
        "count": 1
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      {
        "value": "secrets_and_espionage_laws",
        "label": "Secrets and espionage laws",
        "count": 1
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      {
        "value": "expulsion_and_visa_denial",
        "label": "Expulsion and visa denial",
        "count": 1
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      {
        "value": "surveillance_and_subpoenas",
        "label": "Surveillance and subpoenas",
        "count": 1
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      {
        "value": "punish",
        "label": "Punish",
        "count": 5
      }
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    "level": [
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        "value": "national",
        "label": "National",
        "count": 5
      }
    ],
    "outcome": [
      {
        "value": "sustained",
        "label": "Sustained",
        "count": 3
      },
      {
        "value": "ongoing",
        "label": "Ongoing",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "reversed",
        "label": "Reversed",
        "count": 1
      }
    ],
    "leader": [
      {
        "value": "abiy-ahmed",
        "label": "Abiy Ahmed"
      },
      {
        "value": "emmerson-mnangagwa",
        "label": "Emmerson Mnangagwa"
      },
      {
        "value": "kais-saied",
        "label": "Kais Saied"
      },
      {
        "value": "saadeddine-othmani",
        "label": "Saadeddine Othmani"
      }
    ],
    "era": [
      {
        "value": "2020s",
        "label": "2020s",
        "count": 5
      }
    ],
    "year": [
      {
        "value": "2020",
        "label": "2020",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "2022",
        "label": "2022",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "2023",
        "label": "2023",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "2025",
        "label": "2025",
        "count": 2
      }
    ],
    "has_case": [
      {
        "value": "0",
        "label": "without a court case",
        "count": 5
      }
    ]
  },
  "results": [
    {
      "slug": "2025-ethiopia-arrests-journalists-sheger-fm",
      "title": "Ethiopia arrests at least six journalists including Sheger FM staff over election-year coverage",
      "occurred_on": "2025-09-03",
      "occurred_on_precision": "day",
      "country": "ET",
      "country_name": "Ethiopia",
      "continent": "africa",
      "jurisdiction": "ET",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "detention_and_violence",
      "tactics": [
        "detention_and_violence",
        "outlet_licensing"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "abiy-ahmed",
      "leader_name": "Abiy Ahmed",
      "issue_of_the_day": "The arrests came ahead of Ethiopia's national elections scheduled for 2026, after the Ethiopian Media Authority ordered Sheger FM to remove an August 29, 2025 broadcast it said was one-sided and incited violence.",
      "outcome": "ongoing",
      "outcome_on": "2025-09-22",
      "outcome_note": "Some journalists were granted bail while an appeal proceeded; the media authority's order against Sheger FM remained in force.",
      "stage": "punish",
      "ladder_note": null,
      "rsf": {
        "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
        "year": 2026,
        "rank": 148,
        "of": 180,
        "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 148th of 180",
        "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
      },
      "era": "2020s",
      "granularity": "granular",
      "status": "in_effect",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "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 violence, ahead of national elections scheduled for 2026.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-ethiopia-arrests-journalists-sheger-fm"
    },
    {
      "slug": "2025-tunisia-record-journalists-jailed-decree-54",
      "title": "Tunisia's cybercrime decree pushes jailed-journalist count to highest since 1992",
      "occurred_on": "2025-01-16",
      "occurred_on_precision": "day",
      "country": "TN",
      "country_name": "Tunisia",
      "continent": "africa",
      "jurisdiction": "TN",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "insult_and_defamation_laws",
      "tactics": [
        "detention_and_violence",
        "insult_and_defamation_laws"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "kais-saied",
      "leader_name": "Kais Saied",
      "issue_of_the_day": "Decree-Law 54, issued by President Kais Saied in 2022 without a sitting parliament, criminalized spreading what authorities deem \"false news\" online, and by January 2025 had become the basis for jailing a record number of Tunisian journalists.",
      "outcome": "sustained",
      "outcome_on": null,
      "outcome_note": "Decree-Law 54 remained in force and continued to produce new prosecutions, which CPJ said brought jailed-journalist numbers to a record.",
      "stage": "punish",
      "ladder_note": null,
      "rsf": {
        "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
        "year": 2026,
        "rank": 137,
        "of": 180,
        "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 137th of 180",
        "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
      },
      "era": "2020s",
      "granularity": "granular",
      "status": "in_effect",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "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-journalist count to its highest since 1992 under President Kais Saied.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-tunisia-record-journalists-jailed-decree-54"
    },
    {
      "slug": "2023-zimbabwe-patriotic-act-criminalizes-foreign-contact",
      "title": "Zimbabwe's Patriotic Act criminalizes journalists' contact with foreign governments",
      "occurred_on": "2023-07-14",
      "occurred_on_precision": "day",
      "country": "ZW",
      "country_name": "Zimbabwe",
      "continent": "africa",
      "jurisdiction": "ZW",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "secrets_and_espionage_laws",
      "tactics": [
        "insult_and_defamation_laws",
        "secrets_and_espionage_laws"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "emmerson-mnangagwa",
      "leader_name": "Emmerson Mnangagwa",
      "issue_of_the_day": "The bill passed weeks before Zimbabwe's August 2023 general election, at a time when the government accused foreign-linked civil-society and media figures of working to undermine it ahead of the vote.",
      "outcome": "sustained",
      "outcome_on": "2023-07-14",
      "outcome_note": "President Mnangagwa signed the bill into law despite CPJ's call for a veto; a court challenge by journalists did not block it.",
      "stage": "punish",
      "ladder_note": null,
      "rsf": {
        "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
        "year": 2026,
        "rank": 124,
        "of": 180,
        "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 124th of 180",
        "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
      },
      "era": "2020s",
      "granularity": "granular",
      "status": "in_effect",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "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 for supporting sanctions, weeks before the country's 2023 general election.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2023-zimbabwe-patriotic-act-criminalizes-foreign-contact"
    },
    {
      "slug": "2022-ethiopia-expels-tom-gardner",
      "title": "Ethiopia: Economist correspondent Tom Gardner expelled",
      "occurred_on": "2022-05-13",
      "occurred_on_precision": "day",
      "country": "ET",
      "country_name": "Ethiopia",
      "continent": "africa",
      "jurisdiction": "ET",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "expulsion_and_visa_denial",
      "tactics": [
        "expulsion_and_visa_denial"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "abiy-ahmed",
      "leader_name": "Abiy Ahmed",
      "issue_of_the_day": "Not stated in the sources reviewed.",
      "outcome": "sustained",
      "outcome_on": "2022-05-13",
      "outcome_note": "The expulsion was carried out and was not reported as reversed in the sources reviewed.",
      "stage": "punish",
      "ladder_note": "Ethiopia gave a foreign correspondent 48 hours to leave over unspecified conduct, the second such expulsion in a year; the White House ban restricted access to the briefing room, not to the country itself.",
      "rsf": {
        "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
        "year": 2026,
        "rank": 148,
        "of": 180,
        "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 148th of 180",
        "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
      },
      "era": "2020s",
      "granularity": "granular",
      "status": "in_effect",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "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.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2022-ethiopia-expels-tom-gardner"
    },
    {
      "slug": "2020-morocco-omar-radi-pegasus-and-detention",
      "title": "Morocco: investigative journalist Omar Radi's phone is infected with Pegasus spyware and he is later detained",
      "occurred_on": "2020-07-05",
      "occurred_on_precision": "day",
      "country": "MA",
      "country_name": "Morocco",
      "continent": "africa",
      "jurisdiction": "MA",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "surveillance_and_subpoenas",
      "tactics": [
        "surveillance_and_subpoenas"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "saadeddine-othmani",
      "leader_name": "Saadeddine Othmani",
      "issue_of_the_day": "Radi worked as an investigative journalist for the Moroccan outlet Le Desk and had faced a prior court conviction and government-aligned media allegations before the spyware finding.",
      "outcome": "reversed",
      "outcome_on": "2024-07-01",
      "outcome_note": "Radi was released in July 2024 as part of a mass royal pardon, though he said his legal status left him unable to work as an accredited journalist afterward.",
      "stage": "punish",
      "ladder_note": "A journalist's private communications were covertly extracted despite his taking precautions against hacking, then published by pro-government media and used against him in court.",
      "rsf": null,
      "era": "2020s",
      "granularity": "granular",
      "status": "reversed",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "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 in pro-government media.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2020-morocco-omar-radi-pegasus-and-detention"
    }
  ],
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  "license": {
    "name": "CC BY 4.0",
    "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
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}