2005
ZIMBABWE
AUGUST 12, 2005 Posted September 12, 2005 Willie Mponda, The Sun LEGAL ACTION Mponda, editor of community newspaper The Sun in the central town of Gweru, was convicted of publishing false information “prejudicial to the state” under the repressive Public Order and Security Act (POSA), according to local sources. He was fined Zimbabwean $100,000 (U.S.…
SRI LANKA
AUGUST 12, 2005 Posted October 31, 2005 Relangi Selvarajah, Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corp. KILLED—UNCONFIRMED Popular Tamil broadcaster Relangi Selvarajah and her husband, a political activist, were killed by unidentified gunmen in Colombo on the same day that Lakshman Kadirgamar, Sri Lanka’s foreign minister, was assassinated. Political leaders blamed the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam…
A day after station is shut, Ugandan talk show host is arrested
New York, August 12, 2005—An independent radio and print journalist was arrested today in connection with a talk show focusing on the July helicopter crash that killed southern Sudanese leader John Garang. Andrew Mwenda, a journalist with Monitor Publications, was still in custody late this evening, according to sources at the news organization.
Russian journalist detained upon arrival; held incommunicado
New York, August 12, 2005—Uzbek authorities at the airport in the capital, Tashkent, detained Russian journalist Igor Rotar on Thursday and were holding him today, according to his news organization and international press reports. Rotar, a Central Asia correspondent for several Russian newspapers and Western Web sites, was detained by border guards after arriving at…
Journalist for banned newspaper goes on trial
New York, August 12, 2005—The trial of a journalist accused of working without accreditation for the banned Daily News opened yesterday in a Harare court, according to his lawyer and the Media Institute for Southern Africa (MISA). Kelvin Jakachira faces up to two years in prison in what is seen as a test case for…
PHILIPPINES
JULY 8, 2005 Posted: August 9, 2005 Mei Magsino-Lubis, Philippine Daily Inquirer THREATENED Lubis, Batangas correspondent for the Philippine Daily Inquirer, went into hiding after a caller told her that two prisoners from the provincial jail had been released with orders to kill her. The caller suggested that she leave Batangas, the provincial capital of…
UGANDA
AUGUST 11, 2005 UPDATED: September 8, 2005 KFM Radio CENSORED Ugandan authorities shut the prominent independent radio station a day after it aired a talk show about the July helicopter crash that killed southern Sudanese leader John Garang. The action came a day after President Yoweri Museveni threatened to shut down any news outlet that…
UZBEKISTAN
AUGUST 11-12, 2005 Posted: August 18, 2005 Igor Rotar. Forum 18 HARASSED, EXPELLED Russian journalist Igor Rotar, who was detained by Uzbek authorities in Tashkent on August 11 and put on a plane bound for Almaty, Kazakhstan, late the next day, according to local and international press reports.
Two years after an Egyptian editor’s disappearance, no answers and few details
New York, August 11, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists expressed its dismay today that an Egyptian editor is still missing two years after his disappearance in central Cairo. CPJ urgently called on Egypt’s government to locate Reda Helal, deputy editor for the semi-official daily Al-Ahram. Colleagues said Helal left Al-Ahram’s Cairo offices early the afternoon…
CPJ welcomes court decision in favor of FM station
New York, August 11, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes a Nepalese judge’s decision on Wednesday to block a government order that could have shut Nepal FM 91.8. Authorities have sought to close the station for defying a government ban on broadcasting news. Buoyed by the preliminary court ruling, several FM stations in Nepal have…