Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA)

The African Freedom of Expression Exchange (AFEX) held its 4th Annual General Meeting in Grahamstown, South Africa, on 31 August 2016. The AGM was preceded by a two-day capacity building workshop on Digital Rights Advocacy, as a follow up to a similar workshop held in Ghana in January 2016.

On the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, the MFWA remembers a disappeared Gambian journalist.

The social media blackout coincides with a turbulent day in Bamako, where misinformation on social media resulted in a clash between the police and a mob protesting the arrest of popular journalist Mohamed Bathily.

IFEX members call on the Government of Bahrain to stop the and judicial harassment and reprisals against Sheikh Maytham Al-Salman.

Civil society groups have written an open letter urging medical discharge from prison for distinguished Bangladeshi journalist Shafik Rehman .

Following an outcry by the local and international community, including a statement issued by the African Freedom of Expression Exchange (AFEX), Alfred Taban was granted bail on 29 July 2016.

On July 16, 2016, agents of the National Security Service arrested Alfred Taban, Editor-in-Chief of Juba Monitor, an independent English language daily newspaper in South Sudan. The security service accused the journalist of inciting violence, and consequently shutdown the Juba Monitor on the same day.

What’s it really like to live 22 years under the shadow of a president responsible for a growing list of human rights violations?