Amnesty slams attacks on journalists

Amnesty International today (Monday) said journalists in Nigeria are operating under a 'climate of fear' because 19 reporters were detained by security forces this year. The rights group said there has been a disturbing rise in threats and attacks on journalists for expressing critical views of the authorities on both conventional and social media in the country. 'Increasingly, the human rights cost of receiving and sharing information for journalists, bloggers and activists comes with dangerous consequences, forcing journalists, bloggers and activists to operate in a climate of fear,' Amnesty's Nigeria director Osai Ojigho said in a statement. Amnesty accused the police, military and the Department of State Services (DSS) secret police of being responsible for the clampdown. It cited the case of Abiri Jones, the publisher of Weekly Source who was arrested in 2016 and detained without access to family or lawyers for two years by the DSS.

Amnesty International statement