Kananelo Boloetse, editor-in-chief of Lesotho’s Newsday Media and a former MISA Lesotho chairperson, was abducted from his home in Maseru on September 5 by three unidentified men, reportedly tortured and severely beaten, then abandoned in the Thaba-Bosiu area.
Amnesty International said the attack appears aimed at silencing Newsday’s investigative coverage. “Journalists and human rights defenders must be able to carry out their work freely and safely,” said Vongai Chikwanda, the organization’s deputy regional director.
Newsday employer Lerato Peggy Matheka said the attack was intended to frighten the newsroom into silence, and called for a full investigation into the abduction.
The assault is not an isolated incident for the outlet: two Newsday reporters were assaulted in 2020, and a Lesotho Times editor was shot multiple times in 2016, pointing to a pattern of violence against journalists in the country.
The case comes as the 2026 World Press Freedom Index shows more than half the world’s countries now rank “difficult” or “very serious” for press freedom, a 25-year low.
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