Winner of the 2019 Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Journalism Award, the Berlin-based Cameroonian journalist Mimi Mefo was one of less than a handful of reporters working without fear or favour in Cameroon’s climate of repression and self-censorship. An award-winning broadcast journalist at private media house Equinoxe TV and Radio, Mefo was arrested in November 2018 after she published reports that the military was behind the death of an American missionary in the country. Mefo reports on the escalating violence in the country’s western regions, a conflict that has become known as the “Anglophone Crisis” and is a leading voice in exposing the harassment of other Cameroonian journalists, calling publicly for the release of those jailed.

Mefo now works for Deutsche Welle. In October 2019, she was denied a visa to enter Australia where she was due to visit a press freedom conference.

We caught up with Mefo to find out what she has been working on since winning the award in April and how being part of the Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards Fellowship has helped with this work.