Togo

Lagos, Nigeria, February 22, 2017--Togolese authorities should ensure the safety of a journalist beaten by security forces and should fully and credibly investigate that assault, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Robert Avotor, a journalist for the biweekly newspaper l'Alternative, told CPJ that a vehicle intentionally hit him on February 19, in what he believes was retaliation for his legal complaints against the officers he accuses of beating him.

Abuja, Nigeria, November 12, 2015--The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the president of Togo to block a proposed article in the country's penal code that would threaten press freedom. Under the proposed law, journalists could face jail sentences and fines for "false news," according to news reports.

Togolese authorities shut down the leading private Radio Légende FM on August 27, 2013, after suspending the station for one month in connection with its coverage of concluded parliamentary elections, according to news reports.

Lagos, Nigeria, April 4, 2013--The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on authorities in Togo to investigate an apparently deliberate hit-and-run attack Wednesday on freelance photojournalist and videographer Koffi Djidonou Frédéric Attipou. 

Lagos, Nigeria, March 21, 2013--The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes Wednesday's ruling by Togo's Constitutional Court to reject repressive amendments to a media law that granted the state-run media regulator sweeping powers of censorship.

Lagos, Nigeria, March 18, 2013--Togolese police on Thursday fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse journalists protesting new censorship authority granted to the government media regulator, according to news reports and local journalists.

President Faure Gnassingbé and his allies used the multiple levers of power to dominate the political and media landscapes. Coverage of dissenting political views came under attack from government regulators who censored critical programming, and from security agents who violently obstructed journalists covering protests. Government regulators barred a popular current affairs call-in radio program in July, while continuing their two-year-old ban on another station known for its vernacular political debate program. Street protests against human rights violations and abuses of power flared throughout the year but were violently dispersed by security forces. CPJ documented at least three instances in which security agents or police assaulted journalists covering the demonstrations. Journalists filming or photographing police dispersal tactics were targeted. Ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for 2013, Gnassingbé’s ruling majority in the National Assembly passed legislation giving its loyalists control over local polls and vote counting, setting off another round of public protests by the opposition, according to news reports.

Abuja, Nigeria, January 14, 2013--At least four journalists were reported injured by police while covering an anti-government protest in Togo's capital, Lomé, on Thursday, according to news reports. Several of the journalists, along with local press freedom group SOS Journalistes en Danger, said police had targeted a group of reporters with tear gas and rubber bullets in an effort to prevent them from covering the demonstrations, the reports said.

Lagos, Nigeria, August 10, 2012--Togo's media regulatory body has suspended the call-in shows of a leading private radio station without giving the station an opportunity to defend itself in court, according to news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on authorities to immediately allow Légende FM to resume broadcasting all of its programs.

Abuja, Nigeria, July 6, 2012--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns an attack on a Togolese journalist who was trying to cover a demonstration on Monday and calls on authorities to immediately investigate and bring the perpetrators to justice.

Atayi Ayi, a reporter for the daily Forum de la Semaine, was taking photographs of a protest in Lomé, the capital, when two groups of unidentified demonstrators beat him and seized his camera, he told CPJ. The journalist said he was wearing a vest that identified him as press. The attack left him with injuries to his right eye, a bloody nose, and bruises all over his body, Ayi told CPJ. He was rescued by a police officer and reported the incident to the police the same day, he said. His camera was recovered by the police, he said.