Journalist Sheila Wilson, a reporter with the Centre for Democracy and Human Rights, was violently pushed into a police vehicle sustaining injuries to her head. She was taken to the Fourth Police Station in the capital Maputo, where she was held incommunicado for almost six hours before being released without charges .
Amnesty International reported that former agents of National Service for Popular Security held a 'sit in' at the UNDP headquarters in Maputo to demand compensation which they claim was agreed as part of the General Peace Agreement signed on 4 October 1992. It concluded hostilities between the Mozambican Government and Renamo, the ex- rebel forces that fought against the Ferlimo Government after Independence.
Journalists and media workers in Mozambique continue to face a dire situation in relation to their work due to increasing suppression of media freedom and consistent attacks on journalists. Since the beginning of the armed conflict in the north of the country in 2017, journalists who report on the conflict have been consistently harassed and threatened both by government forces and the armed militias to the extent that it has become practically impossible for journalists to do their job.
On 14 December, 2023, Joao Fernado Chamusse, editor of the online newspaper Ponto Por Ponto and a fierce critic of the government was killed with impunity at his home in Maputo after receiving numerous death threats.
IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger said that the attack and arrest of journalist Sheila Wilson was an unnecessary act of intimidation by the police. 'The police must understand that journalists do not in any way threaten their work while they themselves are in the process of gathering information for the public interest. The security forces in general everywhere must understand and allow journalists to do their work without any form of intimidation and harassment'.
The IFJ calls on the government of Mozambique to make a thorough investigation into the arrest of Sheila Wilson and the harassment and seizure of the equipment of Macatane and Matwassa and to ensure that those responsible are brought to justice
For more Information, please contact the IFJ - Africa Office
1st Floor, Maison de la Presse, 5 Rue X Corniche, Medina,
BP 64257, Dakar, Senegal
Tel: +221- 33 867 95 86/87; Fax: +221- 33 827 02
