MISA Regional Annual Report 2023 Operating environment Mozambique has been facing a decline in the press freedom environment over the last decade. The year 2023 was particularly challenging for journalists in the country. The local government electoral process aggravated political tensions, leading to physical and psychological attacks, restrictions on access to places and sources of information, seizures of journalists’ equipment and other limitations on press freedom committed by political actors and security forces under the command of the ruling party, Frelimo. On election day, 11 October, for example, a reporter was beaten by police officers until he sprained his ankle. The CEO of Sucesso Television, one of the few Mozambican television stations that had critical coverage of the electoral process, exposed the irregularities and fraud schemes registered received death threats. On November 24, as the president of the Constitutional Council was presenting judgement on the validation of the 2023 municipal election results, an armoured car belonging to the Mozambican police was parked at the entrance of Sucesso TV, in the capital Maputo, in what was seen as an intimidation tactic against the television station. In 2023, at least one journalist was killed in his home in circumstances that are still to be fully investigated. In addition to systematic attacks, mainly related to the electoral process, the a presidential guard attacked a journalist as he interviewed the president last year, sending a troubling message that the attacks can come from the Presidency itself. Country Reports Snapshots A new phenomenon emerged last year where a number of cyberattacks were targeted at the websites of media organisations, including the hacking of their social media pages and computers. There was also a rise in litigation against media workers, which was seen as another tactic to intimidate journalists. Such lawsuits are strategic lawsuits against public participation. The developments also continued to point to Mozambique increasingly becoming authoritarian. Challenges Mozambican authorities postponed legislative debate on media and broadcasting law reform proposals for the third consecutive year. The government submitted the bills to parliament in 2020. However, the proposed legislation faced criticism for its failure to promote media freedom and freedom of expression explicitly. MISA Mozambique and other actors engaged parliament on why the provisions in the proposed legislation failed to meet the constitutional threshold. As a result, debate on the legislation has stalled since 2020. In early 2023, there was an expectation that the bills would finally be debated, considering the inputs given by relevant stakeholders, particularly MISA Mozambique. Although the matter had been scheduled for debate at the last parliamentary session, however, once again, the bills still needed to be tabled. The lack of progress on the bills is frustrating and creates uncertainty on the future 29