Burkina Faso

Since May, four journalists in Burkina Faso have been the target of violent threats.

After Burkinabé journalist Newton Ahmed Barry questions Mali’s relationship with Russian mercenaries, an anonymous audio surfaces on social media, threatening the commentator.

Incidences of physical violence and death threats by officials against journalists on the rise in Burkina Faso.

During the military takeover in Burkina Faso, journalists Henry Wilkins and Sam Mednick were briefly detained, while local journalist Ibrahim Compaoré was badly injured during protests.

Deeply concerned by the serial violations in the lead up to the coup in Burkina Faso, the MFWA urges the military junta to uphold freedom of expression.

No stranger to being under attack Burkinabe journalist Yacouba Ladji Bama was shot at, on his way home after co-hosting a panel discussion on electoral corruption.

Security is a factor in Burkina Faso’s election, with implications for disenfranchised voters and media safety, as is the uneven allocation of airtime to certain candidates.

Authorities in Burkina Faso are being asked to investigate an attack on journalist Yacouba Ladji Bama at his home and the destruction of his property.

Compelling, in-depth investigative features are being produced by West African journalists through an MFWA programme support for critical, independent and high-quality reports on issues of governance, accountability and transparency.

Newly passed revisions to Burkina Faso’s Penal code criminalize false news or communication of news or information that causes “demoralization” of defense and security forces “by whatever means.”

Authorities in Burkina Faso arrested and detained an activist for his social media posting criticising the National Gendarmerie.

Burkinabe journalist Lohé Issa Konaté has been awarded US$70,000 in compensation for the injury he suffered following his conviction on criminal defamation charges and subsequent one-year detention in 2012.

Despite pressure, threats and attempts to silence them and to prevent them from freely exercising their work, Burkinabé journalists continue to broadcast credible and independent information.

Reporters Without Borders is alarmed by the situation in Burkina Faso, where the soldiers who staged a coup d’état yesterday have silenced most privately-owned radio and TV stations and are controlling the state-owned national TV broadcaster, RTB.

A county court in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, sentenced Boureima Ouédraogo, the managing editor of Le Reporter, to three months in prison over his reporting on a legal case.

On 5 June 2015, The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights ordered Burkina Faso’s authorities to “resume the investigations with a view to finding, charging and trying the perpetrators of the murders of Norbert Zongo and his three companions.”