In other cases, protests were banned in advance, including in Chad, Guinea, Senegal and Sierra Leone. Bans were primarily targeted at rallies and demonstrations called for by civil society or opposition parties or leaders. In Chad, two demonstrations organized by opposition parties were among those banned by the Ministry of Public Security, ostensibly because the parties did not exist legally and had not met the conditions for authorization of a demonstration. In Guinea, a blanket ban, imposed on all political gatherings since May 2022, remained in place although several rallies supporting the head of state were allowed to proceed. FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION Threats to the right to freedom of expression continued. Speaking out against government policies, actions or inaction, or publicly sharing information deemed damaging to the government carried the risk of arrest, arbitrary detention, or death. Thulani Maseko, a human rights defender in Eswatini, was assassinated in his home. Journalist Martinez Zogo’s mutilated body was found five days after he was abducted in the Yaoundé suburbs in Cameroon. He had been reporting on the alleged corruption of people close to the government. John Williams Ntwali, an investigative journalist who reported on human rights-related issues, died in suspicious circumstances in Rwanda, one day after he told another journalist that he feared for his safety. In South Sudan, seven journalists were arbitrarily detained at the National Security Service detention facility in the capital, Juba, in relation to a video circulated on social media, which allegedly showed the president urinating on himself. They were held for various periods of up to 10 weeks and released without charge; one of them appeared to have been tortured and otherwise ill-treated. In Somalia, a court sentenced Abdalle Ahmed Mumin, a journalist and secretary general of the Somali Journalists Syndicate, to two months’ imprisonment for “disobeying government orders”. Having already spent over two months in detention on remand, he was released but re-arrested just over one week later and detained for another month. In Tanzania, at least 12 people were arrested between June and December for criticizing the Tanzania/UAE port agreement, and released unconditionally after a few days. Judicial harassment of critics was common. In Burundi, journalist Floriane Irangabiye was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment for “undermining the integrity of the national territory”. Her conviction, based on comments made on a radio show, was upheld on appeal. In Benin, Virgile Ahouansè, news director of an online radio station, was given a 12-month suspended prison sentence for “disseminating false information”. In 2022, he had broadcast an investigation containing witness statements accusing the police of extrajudicial executions. In Niger, Samira Ibrahim was convicted for “producing… data…to disturb public order”, after she claimed on Facebook that Algeria did not recognize Niger’s military regime. Several journalists, human rights defenders and activists, including in CAR, Chad, Mali, Tanzania and Togo, were forced into exile. In Togo, Ferdinand Ayité and Isidore Kowonou of L’Alternative newspaper were sentenced to three years in prison and a hefty fine after publishing an article accusing two government members of corruption. They fled the country to avoid serving their sentences. In CAR, a journalist who wrote about alleged corruption in the National Assembly fled the country, following threats from an unidentified source. In Mali, human rights defender Aminata Dicko was forced into exile after denouncing abuses by the armed forces in a briefing to the UN Security Council, following which the gendarmerie summoned her for questioning in connection to allegations of high treason and defamation. In Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Niger, Togo and elsewhere, authorities suspended media houses, newspaper outlets or news websites for various periods. Faced with social or political upheavals, authorities in Ethiopia, Guinea, Mauritania and Senegal suspended or disrupted 26 The State of the World’s Human Rights