Ivory Coast

On March 31, 2009, in the commercial city of Abidjan, Judge Aissata Koné convicted Op-Ed Editor Nanankoua Gnamenteh  and Managing Editor Eddy Péhé of  private weekly Le Repère  of charges of  "offending the head of state" over an article in early March that was critical of President Laurent Gbagbo, according to local media reports.

New York, March 20, 2009--Ivorian authorities on Thursday abruptly jailed a journalist who was scheduled to appear in court next week on libel charges related to a column critical of the government, according to local journalists and press reports. The imprisonment appeared to violate the 2004 Ivorian press law, which decriminalized press offenses and banned pretrial detention of journalists.

UPDATE

May 6, 2008
Original alert: February 5, 2008

Radio France Internationale

CENSORED

 

New York, February 5, 2008—Authorities in the Ivorian economic capital of Abidjan indefinitely suspended the FM broadcasts of France-based Radio France Internationale (RFI) on Friday. The reason given was the absence of a permanent correspondent in country, according to news reports and local sources.

 

In a telephone interview with CPJ, Frank Kouassi, the secretary-general of Ivory Coast’s National Broadcasting Council, accused the station of unethical coverage of the country, citing “several cases of unbalanced information and analysis often out of touch with reality.” He declined to provide specific examples, adding that the government could no longer tolerate such practices. RFI, he said, had failed to appoint a permanent correspondent in the country by a Thursday deadline set by the council in December 2007.

SEPTEMBER 11, 2007Posted October 5, 2007  

Nando Dapa, Le RebondHARASSED, THREATENED

Laure Gozo, Le RebondAssouan N’Gueeta, Le RebondCoulibaly Seydou, Le Jour PlusAlexis Noumé, Le Jour PlusHARASSED

AUGUST 27, 2007
Posted September 7, 2007

L’Intelligent
HARASSED

About 40 militants of pro-government student group FESCI invaded the offices of private daily L’Intelligent in the capital, Abdijan, sequestering journalists for two hours, seizing newsroom equipment and knocking down the door of editor Laurent Okoué, according to news reports and local journalists.

New York, February 28, 2007—Stories critical of President Laurent Gbagbo led authorities this week to charge four journalists working for two private newspapers in the commercial capital, Abidjan, with offending the head of state, according to news reports and local journalists.

“We are concerned by this apparent crackdown on critical reporting,” said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon. “We call on the authorities to drop these charges and allow our colleagues to carry out their duties of holding the government to account in a democratic society.”

AUGUST 27, 2007 Posted September 7, 2007

L’IntelligentHARASSED

About 40 militants of pro-government student group FESCI invaded the offices of private daily L’Intelligent in the capital, Abdijan, sequestering journalists for two hours, seizing newsroom equipment and knocking down the door of editor Laurent Okoué, according to news reports and local journalists.

September 12, 2006
Posted: September 22, 2006

Seydou Coulibaly, Le Jour Plus
Edouard Gonto, Le Jour Plus
Frédéric Koffi, Le Jour Plus
HARASSED, LEGAL ACTION

Coulibaly and Gonto were summoned on September 12 and detained overnight over a September 11 article titled “Toxic waste: Mrs. Gbagbo at the heart of the scandal,” according to Patrice Pohe, head of a local media directors’ organization, and a source at the newspaper.