When the Taliban took control in August 2021, a group of girls studying at the School of Leadership Afghanistan, or SOLA, an all-girls boarding school in the capital, Kabul, had to flee the country, not only for their right to education but to save their lives.

As they sought refuge, Rwanda opened her arms wide, and thus, for the last one year and a half, they have been staying in the country and are continuing to study.

ALSO READ: Basij-Rasikh on Afghan girls’ journey, finding welcoming learning place in Rwanda

Back home, the Taliban has closed girls' schools beyond 6th grade and, just recently, barred women from universities.

In an interview with US TV broadcast, 60 Minutes, Shabana Basij-Rasikh, the founder of SOLA, said that when the US’s plans of removing its troops from Afghanistan started to take shape in 2021, she knew that it was a matter of time before it was going to be irresponsible of her to continue running an all-girls boarding school in Kabul.

She came up with the idea of taking the whole SOLA community - students and staff - abroad for a semester while the American withdrawal played out.

ALSO READ: Kagame meets Afghan girls' leadership school founder

So, she started searching for a country, ideally, one nearby that would accept them.

But the warmest response she got by far was from Rwanda.

The idea then was that they would leave for a year, and return if the security back home got better.

ALSO READ: How Afghan Colonel, his family found safety in Rwanda

As American soldiers prepared for an announced end-of-August departure, SOLA brought in passport officials on August 14 to process the girls' paperwork for flights a few days later. They worked into the night, but unbeknownst to all of them, it was too late. The Taliban were closing in and would enter Kabul in just a few hours.

“One of my teachers came and said that: ‘You guys have to leave SOLA in five minutes.’ And I said that, ‘Why?’ And she said, ‘If the Taliban come, they will know that here is a school, and they will kill all of us,” Najia, one of the SOLA girls recalled during the interview.

In the chaos of the Taliban takeover and government collapse, SOLA quickly sent students home with teachers and staff.

Shabana scrambled to transform what was to be an orderly departure into a sudden, life-threatening escape.

“Most of us remember the desperate, frantic crowds trying to get out of Kabul after the Taliban takeover in August, 2021. Among them were the students, teachers, staff and staff families of SOLA -- 256 people in all,” Basij-Rasik narrated.

After a hustle to get to the airport through Taliban checkpoints and the jostle that was at the airport at that time as many people tried to flee, the girls and school staff managed to make it out of Afghanistan.

Asked by 60 Minutes broadcast host, Lesley Stahl, if they like it in Rwanda, the girls responded, “Yes!”

“What's the reception been like in Rwanda?” she asked.

Basij-Rasik responded: “Remarkable doesn't quite capture it. I've had this conversation with so many Rwandans saying, ‘Please don't forget, we were also once refugees. Here we are back in Rwanda. You will go back home, but for the time being, welcome home to Rwanda.’ By Hudson Kuteesa, The New Times

Abuja, February 27, 2023 – At least 14 journalists and media workers were detained, harassed, or attacked while covering Nigeria’s presidential and federal elections, including private news website WikkiTimes owner Haruna Mohammed Salisu, who remains in police custody without charge, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday.

Police detained Salisu on February 25 in Duguri town, southeastern Bauchi state, shortly after he and other reporters had met with the state governor, according to WikkiTimes editor Yakubu Mohammed, who spoke to CPJ, and a local coalition of press freedom groups. Police said they took Salisu into custody to protect him after supporters of the governor attacked him as he interviewed local women protesting, but then refused to release him, according to Mohammed, who visited him after he was transferred to police headquarters in Bauchi, the state capital. The local PRNigeria news site reported that police had “received a formal complaint that the journalist was inciting the electorate.” Salisu remained in detention as of Monday evening.

Private citizens, political groups, or security forces threatened, attacked, or seized at least 13 other journalists and media workers during the elections, according to CPJ interviews. 

“Nigerian authorities should immediately and unconditionally release journalist Haruna Mohammed Salisu, and bring to account all those responsible for intimidating and attacking at least 13 other journalists and media workers,” said Angela Quintal, CPJ’s Africa program coordinator, from New York. “Press freedom is an integral component of Nigerian democracy, and the media should be able to cover national polls without fear of reprisals.”

CPJ spoke to reporters involved in each of the following incidents on February 25:

• A group of men beat Dayo Aiyetan, executive director of the privately owned nonprofit International Centre for Investigative Reporting, tore his clothes, and stole his phone and belongings after he filmed them disrupting the voting at a polling site in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital. Aiyetan said one man tried to stab him, and he reported the attack to local police. Some of his belongings were returned, including his phone with content deleted.
• Youths in Ibadan, Oyo state, attacked a vehicle from the state-owned News Agency Nigeria for covering the elections, one of the crew told CPJ. Yinka Bode-Are, a camera operator, was traveling with a reporter and driver when the vehicle was set upon with sticks and dented.
• Security forces questioned Adesola Ikulajolu, a reporter with the local nonprofit Center for Journalism Innovation and Development, about his work and deleted image folders from his phone as he moved between polling places in Lagos. Ikulajolu said he believed they were from the Department of State Services because of their equipment and black clothing. DSS spokesperson Peter Afunanya told CPJ he was not aware of the incident and that black clothing did not prove a DSS affiliation.
• In Agbor town, Delta state, a supporter of the Peoples Democratic Party, one of Nigeria’s main political parties, punched Bolanle Olabimtan, a reporter with the private news website TheCable, and knocked her over, while another seized her phone and deleted photos and video before returning it.
• Police detained and threatened to shoot Gbenga Oloniniran, a reporter with the privately owned Punch newspaper, in Port Harcourt, Rivers state, then drove him across town and deleted photos from his phone before releasing him. Local media advocacy groups condemned the incident. Police officers also deleted photos from his phone in a separate incident after he photographed them at a polling site, he told CPJ. CPJ’s calls to Rivers state police spokesperson Grace Woyengikuro Iringe-Koko went unanswered.
• A group of men stopped Ajayi Adebola, a reporter with the private news website Peoples Gazette, at a polling site in Lagos, and deleted content from her phone. Some wore vests representing the All Progressives Congress, another major party, she told CPJ. APC spokesperson Felix Morka told CPJ that he would investigate the incident and that the party did not want its supporters to target journalists.
• PDP supporters threatened or assaulted five reporters in three separate incidents in Sagbama, a council area in Bayelsa state: Akam James, a reporter with the privately-owned Daily Post newspaper was slapped and beaten; Princewill Sede and Jeany Metta, publisher and managing editor of the private Upfront News magazine, were hit in the face and had their camera smashed; and Joe Kunde and Miebi Bina, a reporter and camera operator for the private news broadcaster TVC, were intimidated and driven from the area.

CPJ called Bauchi police spokesperson Ahmed Mohammed Wakil for comment regarding Salisu’s detention and sent questions via messaging app, which were marked as read, but received no response. Calls to Bauchi Governor Bala Mohammed and one of his aides, Muktar Gidado, went unanswered.

CPJ’s calls to national police spokesperson Olumuyiwa Adejobi rang unanswered.

PDP presidential campaign council spokesperson Kola Ologbondiyan told CPJ that reports of incidents involving their supporters were “falsehood” and asked to review details, but did not immediately comment on those that CPJ provided to him. Reached by phone, PDP spokesperson Debo Ologunagba asked for a call back, but did not answer the call.

Days before the polls, journalists also faced attack or were denied access to cover election preparations, CPJ has reported. CPJ