Dear Prime Minister, We are writing to express our great concern about the government’s denial of publishing licenses to five independent Ethiopian journalists freed last year from prison. We are calling on you to use all your influence to remove such administrative restraints, which contradict the government’s public assurances last year that former prisoners would be allowed to resume their work.
New York, January 29, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Monday’s six-month prison sentence given by the Bangui Magistrates’ Court to the editorial director of a private weekly in the Central African Republic. The editor of Les Collines de l’Oubangui, Faustin Bambou, was found guilty of inciting revolt, abuse, and defamation.
New York, January 29, 2008—Authorities in Nigeria’s southern Akwa Ibom State sent a journalist to prison on Monday on sedition charges, according to local journalists and news reports. The move was part of a crackdown launched by the state government in response to a story alleging corruption by the state governor. The newspaper’s distributor was…
Dear Prime Minister, As a nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization of journalists committed to supporting our colleagues around the world, we are concerned about an ongoing pattern of arbitrary arrests and threats by government officials against Somali journalists. It is within your power to put an end to this harassment, which is contrary to international standards of press freedom. As you recently expressed, it is time to end these abuses.
CPJ mourns the death of Somali reporter New York, January 28, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists mourns the death of Somali National News Agency reporter Hassan Kafi Hared today. Hared died in a landmine explosion and subsequent gunfire in Siyad Village in the southwestern port town of Kismayo. A remote-controlled mine blew up a Medecins…
New York, January 25, 2008—A court in Nigeria’s southern Akwa Ibom State today lodged criminal charges against a newspaper distributor over a story not-yet published. The article was critical of the state governor, according to local journalists. The court in Uyo sent the distributor, Essien Asuquo Owoh, to prison. Owoh, the owner of Ezedom Enterprise,…
New York, January 22, 2008–Gambian authorities have shut down Radio France Internationale (RFI) broadcasts in Banjul, local journalists and the Gambian Press Union told CPJ. The RFI relay transmitter was blocked by Gambian authorities after the Paris-based station reported that three suspected murderers of four French tourists in Mauritania had fled south through The Gambia…
New York, 17 janvier 2008–La police de la capitale tchadienne, N’djamena, a fermé mercredi par la force une station de radio et a arrêté son directeur sur des allégations de diffamation, suite à la diffusion d’un communiqué de presse d’une association qui milite pour la défense des consommateurs, selon les journalistes locaux et les médias.