New York, December 17, 2007—The manager of the former local branch of the national Comoros Islands broadcaster Radio Télévision des Comores went into hiding on December 1, fearing for his safety. Journalist Kamal Ali Yahoudha told CPJ in a phone interview that he fled from his house in Mutsamudu, the capital of the separatist island…
DECEMBER 14, 2007 Posted January 14, 2008 Nadjikimo Bénoudjita, Notre TempsIMPRISONED, LEGAL Armed policemen on board four pick-up vehicles arrested Bénoudjita, the director of the private weekly Notre Temps, at his home office in the capital, N’Djamena, shortly after 5 a.m., according to local journalists and news reports.
UGANDA: Government authorities accused of blocking new publication DECEMBER 14, 2007 Andrew Mwenda, The Independent CENSORED The founder and director of a new weekly private newspaper, The Independent, said Ugandan authorities ordered several printing companies on December 14 not to publish the first edition of the publication.
DECEMBER 14, 2007 Posted January 10, 2008 Nadjikimo Bénoudjita Notre Temps IMPRISONED, LEGAL Armed policemen on board four pick-up vehicles arrested Bénoudjita, the director of the private weekly Notre Temps, at his home office in the capital, N’Djamena, shortly after 5 a.m., according to local journalists and news reports.
Mr. President, The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes your recent directive to Nigeria’s federal police to renew investigations into all unresolved criminal cases, particularly assassinations. As an organization of journalists dedicated to defending our colleagues worldwide, we would like to draw your attention to a pattern of impunity in the violent murders and disappearances of at least five Nigerian journalists since 1986.
DECEMBER 6, 2007 Posted December 28, 2007 Sarl George Baryamwisaki, The New Times ATTACKED Baryamwisaki, a photographer for the pro-government daily The New Times, was beaten up by a policeman and was later detained for two hours at the Remera police station along with his colleague, reporter Ignatius Ssuuna. The policeman handcuffed Baryamwisaki and…
New York, December 5, 2007–CPJ condemns the Somaliland authorities’ decision to expel 24 Somali journalists from Hargeisa, the capital of the northern breakaway republic. The group had recently fled there to escape ongoing persecution in Mogadishu, Somalia. Yesterday, Somaliland Police Chief General Mohammed Saqadhi Dubad and the head of the Criminal Investigations Department, General Ahmed…
Dear Secretary Rice, In advance of your meeting with Ethiopian officials in Addis Ababa, the Committee to Protect Journalists would like to draw your attention to our concerns regarding press freedom conditions there. You may know that 15 Ethiopian journalists were recently released from prison, but this development belies the country’s sustained record of contempt for independent media, which manifests itself in a variety of legal and administrative restraints. The 15 jailed journalists were sentenced on trumped-up charges such as genocide in connection with the media’s coverage of Ethopia’s 2005 post-election unrest.