Djibouti

Online journalist Houssein Ahmed Farah spent more than three months in jail in Djibouti before an appeals court finally released him in November--after his defense requested bail three times, Houssein said. His crime? Officially nothing. "It appears to have been an arbitrary arrest because there is still no evidence on file," Houssein told me. He said he was accused of distributing identity cards for the opposition, but he has not been charged with a crime.

Nairobi, August 15, 2012--Authorities in Djibouti must immediately release a journalist for an opposition news website who has been jailed for a week without charge or access to a lawyer or his family, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Two police officers arrested Houssein Ahmed Farah, a contributor to the Europe-based news website La Voix de Djibouti (The Voice of Djibouti), on August 8, according to news reports. Three days later, a local judge ordered him to be remanded to Gabode Prison in Djibouti City, the capital, according to local journalists. Houssein is diabetic, and local journalists believe he has not been granted access to a doctor while in detention. 

As news of Middle Eastern and North African protests swirl around the globe, satellite television and the Internet prove vital sources of information for Africans as governments fearful of an informed citizenry and a free press such as in Eritrea, Equatorial Guinea, and Zimbabwe impose total news blackouts on the developments.

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply troubled that Radio France Internationale's (RFI) FM broadcasts in Djibouti have been cut since January 14. According to RFI and French media reports, Djiboutian authorities silenced the broadcaster because of its report on an ongoing French legal inquiry into the 1995 death in Djibouti of Bernard Borrel, a French judge. RFI reported on January 12 that a French court had summoned the head of the Djiboutian secret services, Hassan Saïd, as a witness in the inquiry. An earlier French inquiry conducted in Djibouti had concluded that Borrel committed suicide.

JANUARY 14, 2005
Posted: February 16, 2005

Radio France Internationale
CENSORED

Officials cut radio France Internationale's (RFI) FM broadcasts in the country.

According to RFI and French media reports, Djiboutian authorities silenced the broadcaster because of its report on an ongoing French legal inquiry into the 1995 death in Djibouti of Bernard Borrel, a French judge. RFI reported on January 12 that a French court had summoned the head of the Djiboutian secret services, Hassan Saïd, as a witness in the inquiry. An earlier French inquiry conducted in Djibouti had concluded that Borrel committed suicide.

(NO COUNTRY SUMMARY)

January 15

Daher Ahmed Farah, Le Renouveau
IMPRISONED
Le Renouveau
CENSORED

Police detained Farah, editor of the opposition weekly Le Renouveau, at his home in Djibouti. He was taken to the Public Prosecutor's Office, charged with defamation and distributing false news, and then released.

AS SPORADIC GUN BATTLES CONTINUED BETWEEN GOVERNMENT FORCES AND REBELS of the United Revolutionary Front (FRUD), state broadcast and print outlets tailored their coverage to the propaganda needs of President Ismael Omar Guelleh's government. The opposition press, led by the weekly papers La Republique, Le Temps, and Le Renouveau, was little more objective.

The civil strife is rooted in tensions between the majority Issa ethnic group, which dominates the government, and the minority Afar group, which dominates the FRUD. The government refuses to release casualty figures and continues to downplay the gravity of the rebellion. Journalists working for state media practice self-censorship in order to avoid accusations of supporting the rebels, and authorities are quick to retaliate against independent and opposition media that try to cover the conflict.