April 23, 2024

Press Freedom

Tanzania

Detained CPJ Staffers Released in Tanzania

Photo: David Stanley (flickr)

The Committee to Protect Journalists has announced that two staff members, Angela Quintal, CPJ’s Africa program coordinator, and Muthoki Mumo, CPJ’s sub-Saharan Africa representative, have been released from detention.

CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon thanked journalists, media and press freedom organizations, and government officials who spoke out about Quintal and Mumo’s detention. He also noted help from the South African and Kenyan governments.

“Angela Quintal and Muthoki Mumo traveled to Tanzania to understand the challenges facing the Tanzanian press and to inform the global public,” Simon noted. “It is deeply ironic that through their unjustified and abusive detention of our colleagues, Tanzanian authorities have made their work that much easier. It is now abundantly clear to anyone who followed the latest developments that Tanzanian journalists work in a climate of fear of intimidation. We call on the government of Tanzania to allow journalists to work freely and to allow those who defend their rights to access the country without interference.”

You can read the CPJ statement here.