New York, September 16, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists demanded today that Eritrea, the worst jailer of journalists in Africa, account for 15 journalists who have been held, some in secret prisons, since the government crushed private media and independent reporting four years ago this month. “Holding these journalists incommunicado without due process is a…
15 Journalists imprisoned in Eritrea Zemenfes Haile, Tsigenay Imprisoned: January 1999 Sometime in early 1999, Haile, founder and manager of the private weekly Tsigenay, was detained by Eritrean authorities and sent to Zara Labor Camp in the country’s lowland desert. Authorities accused Haile of failing to complete the National Service Program, but sources told CPJ…
New York, September 15, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned the arrest of Jean Léonard Rugambage, a reporter for the twice-monthly newspaper Umuco who accused judges of a traditional court in Rwanda of corruption. Rugambage has been held without charge since his arrest on September 7 in the central town of Gitarama. He has…
SEPTEMBER 10, 2005 Posted: September 21, 2005 Mpoki Bukuku, The Sunday Citizen ATTACKED A group of prison wardens and prisoners acting on their orders assaulted Bukuku, chief photographer for the private Sunday Citizen, as he attempted to cover the eviction of families from houses that were being repossessed by the Tanzanian Prisons Department. The houses…
New York, September 8, 2005—Ngaradoumbé Samory, one of four Chadian journalists jailed since July in connection with their work, was granted a provisional release from prison today pending a decision on his appeal. As editor of the private weekly L’Observateur, Samory was sentenced to three months in prison on July 18 for allegedly defaming the…
SEPTEMBER 2, 2005 Posted September 8, 2005 Laïssou Bagamala, freelance IMPRISONED Authorities in the capital N’Djamena jailed Bagamala, a former journalist for the private weekly L’Observateur, for three days in connection with an article published in the newspaper about a local property dispute, according to CPJ sources. Bagamala was accused of defamation but it is…
New York, September 1, 2005—Journalist Michaël Didama, speaking from his prison cell in the Chadian capital N’Djamena, today denounced his detention as illegal and called on local and international journalists to keep up pressure for the release of all four reporters jailed by the government since July. “This is a crackdown on the press. There…
New York, August 31, 2005—A magistrate in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, acquitted a journalist today on criminal charges of working without accreditation for the now-banned Daily News, according to his lawyer. Observers say the ruling in favor of Kelvin Jakachira could set an important precedent for several other former Daily News journalists facing the same charge.…
JULY 28, 2005 Posted August 31, 2005 Harry Yansaneh, For Di PeopleKILLED – UNCONFIRMED An attack on newspaper editor Harry Yansaneh contributed to his death from kidney failure two months later, a judicial inquest found on August 26. A magistrate ordered the arrest of Member of Parliament Fatmata Hassan, three of her children, and two…