The IFJ Condemns the Detention of Two Journalists in Nigeria

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today has condemned the detention of two journalists in Nigeria.

“We call on authorities in Nigeria to immediately release the two journalists who have only done their job by reporting accurately and independently on behalf of  the right of the public to know”, said Gabriel Baglo, IFJ Africa Director.

 

According to Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) an IFJ affiliate, journalists Musa Muhammad Awwal and Aliyu Saleh from weekly Al-Mizan, a Hausa-language newspaper, have been arrested and detained by the county’s security forces since December 24.

 

NUJ said that security forces on last Monday arrived at dawn in the journalists’ homes in the town of Rigasa, Kaduna state (North) and arrested them. They have been held since that time without charges and without access to lawyers.

 

Nigerian Union of Journalists still think that the arrests are linked to stories published by the newspaper many of which were focusing on abuses by security forces in the fight against  Boko Hara, a radical islamist sect.

 

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