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New York, April 4, 2019 – The Committee to Protect Journalists has launched the #WhereIsAzory campaign to draw attention to the case of Tanzanian freelance journalist Azory Gwanda, who is due to mark 500 days since his last visit.
The campaign aims to raise public awareness of Gwanda and calls on the Tanzanian authorities to conduct a credible investigation and report publicly on his fate. Supporters can participate by sharing the hashtags #WhereIsAzory and #MrudisheniAzory on social media.
"Azory Gwanda is a freelance journalist who talks about her community and it should not become a mere statistic," said Angela Quintal, CPJ's Africa Program Coordinator. "Thanks to this campaign, we want to make the Gwanda case a priority for the Tanzanian authorities and that we get indispensable answers about what really happened to it." Tanzanian journalists will not feel safe. "
According to CPJ research, Gwanda was last seen by his family and friends on November 21, 2017. Gwanda told his wife, Anna Pinoni, that he was on an emergency trip and that he would return on next day. It has not been seen since.
In an interview with the Mwananchi newspaper, Pinoni said that she thought her husband's disappearance could be linked to her work reporting a series of mysterious murders in the coastal region of Tanzania, an opinion shared by D & # 39; other persons with whom CPJ has been interviewed.
In Tanzania, journalists and media fear reprisals if they talk too much about Gwanda. When two CPJ officials were detained overnight and interviewed in Tanzania last year, they were specifically questioned about their interest in Gwanda. His death comes against a backdrop of diminishing press freedom in the country, including government-ordered press closures, fines, restrictive regulations and arbitrary arrests of journalists.
CPJ Africa will highlight Gwanda's case on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
CPJ is an independent, non-profit organization that works for the protection of press freedom around the world.
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