Africa: Winners Announced - West Africa Media Excellence Awards 2025

The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) has announced the winners of the 2025 West Africa Media Excellence Awards at a ceremony held in Accra, Ghana, on Saturday, October 11. Read more »

West Africa: Guinea-Bissau - Supreme Court Bars Three Radio Stations From Press Conference On Electoral Decision

On September 25, 2025, Guinea-Bissau's Supreme Court of Justice (STJ) barred three radio stations from covering a press conference at its headquarters. The press conference was… Read more »

West Africa: Journalist Released After Four Months of Enforced Disappearance

Journalist and activist El Bachir Thiam, who had been missing for over four months following a kidnapping, has been released and reunited with his family in Bamako. Thiam, who… Read more »

West Africa: Blogger Arrested After Criticising Regional Hospital in Facebook Post

Blogger and photographer Alhousseiny Traoré was arrested on Friday, September 12, 2025, around 6 p.m., at his home in Timbuktu, by the police. According to local sources,… Read more »

Mauritania: Environmental Activist Freed After Two Months of Detention

On Thursday, September 18, 2025, environmental activist and blogger, Ali Ould Bakkar, who had spent two months in detention, was released unconditionally following a decision by… Read more »

Ghana: TikTok User Jailed Seven Months for Threats to President, Officials

On September 13, 2025, the Ghana Police Service announced through its official social media channels the arrest of popular TikToker David Kwodwo Prah Afful, widely known as Kwame… Read more »

Burkina Faso: Journalists Freed After Year-Long Disappearance

Journalists Adama Bayala and Alain Traoré, also known as "Alain Alain," have been released after they went missing under unexplained circumstances. After more than a year of… Read more »

Gambia: Activists, Journalists Arrested While Protesting Auditor General's Removal

On September 15, 2025, police arrested and detained five individuals at the National Audit Office in Kanifing. The victims include activists Omar Saibo Camara, Public Relations… Read more »

Nigeria: Journalist Arrested Over Viral Video of Rundown Hospital

On September 10, 2025, a Nigerian journalist, Hassan Mai-Waya Kangiwa, was arrested and detained in Kebbi State, northwest Nigeria, after releasing a video that went viral, showing… Read more »

West Africa: MFWA's Perspective On President's Encounter With Media

President John Dramani Mahama hosted journalists at the Jubilee House, the seat of government, to respond to questions on the state of affairs in the country and the performance of… Read more »

West Africa: Niger - Investigative Journalist Imprisoned Following Complaint By Prime Minister

Investigative journalist Ali Soumana, founder and editor-in-chief of the weekly newspaper Le Courrier, was arrested on September 7, 2025, by Niger's judicial police. He was taken… Read more »

Nigeria: Investigative Journalist Detained By Police After Petition By Exposé Subject

Sodiq Atanda, a Senior Reporter with the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ), was detained by the Ekiti State Police Command in Nigeria on September 9, 2025. He had… Read more »

Mauritania: Reporters Detained, Forced to Delete Protest Footage

Two journalists from the independent news outlet Al Akhbar.info were arrested by gendarmes while covering a peaceful protest in Mauritania's capital, Nouakchott, on September 2,… Read more »

Nigeria: Journalist Sues Hospital for Withholding Information On Pelumi Onifade's Death

Ayomide Eweje, a journalist with Nigeria-based BONews, has filed a lawsuit against Ikorodu General Hospital and its Medical Director for allegedly withholding information about the… Read more »

West Africa: Activist Arrested After Urging Protests Ahead of Key Election Ruling

Ivorian political activist Ibrahim Zigui was arrested on September 1, 2025, after urging supporters of the opposition PPA-CI party to prepare for protests ahead of the… Read more »

West Africa: Journalist Assaulted At Lagos State Police Command

Daniel Ojukwu, a journalist with the Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ), was allegedly assaulted by officers at the Lagos State Police Command on August 29, 2025. Ojukwu… Read more »

Togo: Authorities Arrest Two Activists Amid Repression Campaign

On August 22, 2025, Armand Agblézé and Oséi Agbagno, activists from the Togolese citizens' movement organisation Tournons la Page, were arrested and detained… Read more »

Sierra Leone: Sierra Leone - Journalist Detained Over Cyberbullying Allegations

Shar Maturi, a senior reporter with the Standard Times Newspaper, was briefly detained on August 27, 2025, at the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) in Freetown over… Read more »

West Africa: Court of Appeals Lifts Sentence Against Activist

Ahmed Ould Samba, a human rights activist was released on August 28, 2025 by the Court of Appeal of West Nouakchott. Ahmed Ould Samba was taken into prison custody on January 22,… Read more »

Senegal: Court Hands Journalist Suspended Sentence, Fine Over Remarks About Prime Minister

On August 20, 2025, journalist Doudou Coulibaly, and Programme Director of Dakar Municipal Radio (RMD), was summoned by the Special Division for the Fight against Cybercrime (DSC)… Read more »

Guinea: Journalist Arrested While Reporting On Landslide Disaster

Guinean journalist Mamadou Boullère Diallo was arrested on Sunday, August 24, 2025, while reporting on a deadly landslide in Manéah, about 40 kilometres from the… Read more »

Mauritania: Authorities Shut Down News Website for 'Damaging Diplomatic Relations'

Mauritanian authorities have permanently shut down the Arabic-language news website Anbaa.info, citing alleged attempts to damage relations with Algeria. After being summoned by… Read more »

West Africa: Journalist Detained On Charges of Defamation, Insulting a Foreign Head of State

"I knew this would happen sooner or later," are the words used by journalist Doudou Coulibaly in a Facebook post published on August 19, 2025, when announcing that he had been… Read more »

West Africa: Silencing the Watchdogs - a July 2025 Overview of West Africa

The Media Foundation for West Africa's (MFWA) monitoring of freedom of expression developments in West Africa in July 2025 recorded a troubling series of abuses. Read more »

Guinea Bissau: Guinea-Bissau - President Embaló Refuses to Answer Questions About Suspension of 3 Portuguese Media Outlets

Two days after suspending 3 portuguese media outlets from operating in his country, the President of Guinea-Bissau, Umaro Sissoco Embaló, dismissed questions posed by… Read more »