Reporters Without Borders (RSF)

Lai, ‘Apple Daily’ founder and RSF Press Freedom Prize laureate, has over the past three decades been an outspoken advocate for the right to information in the territory.

“Everything seems to suggest that this was a planned and coordinated attack with the aim of undermining the work of the national media and sowing fear in newsrooms in general. It ratchets up the climate of insecurity and self-censorship that is becoming part of the life of journalists in Ecuador.”

Kashmiri journalist Irfan Mehraj, who runs Wande Magazine, is facing the possibility of life imprisonment following his arrest by the National Investigation Agency.

Freelance French reporter Olivier Dubois, who was abducted in April 2021, holds the unenviable record of being one of France’s longest-held hostages.

Since the adoption of the pension reform on 16 March, several journalists covering protests have been victims of violence by riot police, or unjustified arrest and other arbitrary measures.

Following the shocking judgement sentencing Togolese journalists Ferdinand Ayité and Isidoro Kouwonou to 3 years in prison and a US$4,860 fine each, the two have gone into hiding.

“The judicial harassment of the newspaper ‘El Periódico’ must stop and its publisher must be released.”

“The systematic persecution of journalists who still dare to do their job must end,” says RSF.