Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA)

The MFWA condemns the gruesome killing of a student, Deborah Samuel, on accusations of blasphemy and demands a thorough investigation into the incident which needs to lead to justice for her family.

While covering the court proceedings of a case involving prominent opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, journalist Pape Malick Thiam is knocked out cold by a security officer and then convicted of assaulting the officer.

Following mediation by MFWA and its local Guinea-Bissau partners, 77 of the 79 radio stations shut down earlier in the month by authorities, were allowed to resume broadcasting.

Together with their partners in Guinea-Bissau, the Media Foundation for West Africa engaged authorities to consider a negotiated payment plan for the radio stations forcibly taken off air.

The MFWA’s monitoring of the FOE landscape in West Africa in the last quarter of 2021 records a spike in violations.

Nigerian activist Bala Mubarak’s two-year detention for blasphemy is followed up with a 24-year prison sentence.

Guinea-Bissau plunged into information blackout after 79 radio stations are shut down by government for not meeting an impossible deadline to renew licenses.

A legal challenge brought by the NGO SERAP has resulted in a decision by the West Africa regional court, ordering Nigeria to amend part of its Cybercrime Act to conform with some international laws the country has ratified.