Philip Njaru

Philip Afuson Njaru (b. 1966, d. 27 Aug 2022 ) was a Cameroonian investigative journalist. He has been internationally recognised for his work, but has faced widespread harassment from local authorities in his home country. In September 2008 he applied for political asylum in Norway.

Work His harassment began in May 1997, when the Chief of Post for the Immigration Police in Ekondo-Titi, a town close to the Nigerian border, responded to Njaru's allegations of various corruption by warning Njaru "that he would 'deal with him', should he continue to publish 'unpatriotic' articles, accusing police officers of corruption and alleging that constable P.N.E. had raped a pregnant Nigerian woman". According to Njaru's statement, he was eventually kicked and beaten to unconsciousness by the Chief of Post in October 1997.

In August 2008, Njaru wrote a long complaint about alleged police fraud, arbitrary arrests and extortion of Nigerian immigrants, again in the town of Kumba.

International attention In 2005 Njaru filed a case to the United Nations Human Rights Committee, evoking the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and citing "unlawful arrest, ill-treatment and torture, threats from public authorities and failure to investigate" as the reasons for his complaint.

He has won "multiple international awards" for his investigative journalism, among others the 2002 PEN-Novib Award, given by International PEN and NOVIB for "brave efforts to resist censorship". He was also given the Hellman-Hammett Grant in 2003 by Human Rights Watch.

Defection attempt In September 2008 he travelled to the Global Investigative Journalism Conference in Lillehammer, Norway. He represented Ocean City Radio, for which he had worked the past six years. He had previously been invited to the 2007 edition of the conference, held in Toronto, but was denied entrance into Canada. However, although there were suspicions that Njaru might defect during the conference, no objections were raised towards his entrance into Norway. On the night before the last day of the conference, he applied for political asylum in Norway. According to Njoru himself, he had a "90% chance" of getting murdered if returning to Cameroon.

Njaru was subsequently granted asylum in Norway, settling in the southern city of Arendal.