Online journalist finally released in Burundi
May 17, 2011 6:43 PM ET
New York, May 17, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release of online editor Jean-Claude Kavumbagu of Net Press on Monday but still questions the original charges placed against him. The High Court dropped charges of treason on May 13 but sentenced Kavumbagu to eight months in prison and...
Arsonists burn Ugandan journalist's home
May 13, 2011 5:47 PM ET
New York, May 13, 2011--Investigators in Kabale must thoroughly investigate an arson attack on the home of Goodluck Musinguzi, contributor to the state-owned daily, New Vision, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Someone poured gasoline on the house and set it on fire while Musinguzi, his wife, and...
Ugandan journalists targeted during Entebbe march
May 13, 2011 5:44 PM ET
New York, May 13, 2011--Security and military personnel attacked local and foreign journalists and confiscated their equipment on Thursday as they covered the return of opposition leader Kizza Besigye to Uganda. Besigye returned to Uganda Thursday from Nairobi, where he was treated for injuries received when security forces assaulted...
New Ivory Coast president must improve press freedom
May 9, 2011 11:15 AM ET
Dear President Ouattara: We are writing to ask that you uphold press freedom now that you have taken office. We ask that you ensure that journalists and media outlets close to former president Laurent Gbagbo are allowed to report freely, and take all necessary steps to solve the disappearance since 2004 of French-Canadian journalist Guy-André Kieffer.
Ethiopia censors UNESCO World Press Freedom Day event
May 5, 2011 4:36 PM ET
New York, May 5, 2011--Officials in Ethiopia hijacked a local UNESCO-sponsored World Press Freedom Day event, installing government-backed journalists as speakers and nixing independent journalists slated to speak. There was no discussion, as originally planned, of this year's global theme on new media and the Internet at the Tuesday...
Suspicious break-in at Zimbabwe newspaper
April 29, 2011 4:35 PM ET
New York, April 29, 2011--The Zimbabwe Republic Police should consider all possible leads, including a political motive, in investigating a break-in at the offices of leading independent daily NewsDay on Monday in which computer hard drives of senior editorial staff were stolen, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. ...
Year after Ngota death, CPJ calls for justice, reform
April 22, 2011 9:47 AM ET
Dear President Biya: A year ago this week, journalist Germain Cyrille Ngota Ngota died in his cell in Nkondengui prison in the capital Yaoundé while in pre-trial custody on criminal charges based on his activities as the editor of the monthly Cameroon Express. We hold the government responsible for Ngota's death, and we call on you to initiate reforms so that no other Cameroonian journalist is thrown in prison in retaliation for reporting on issues of public interest. We urge you to implement reforms referring press offenses to civil courts, not criminal courts, in line with democracy, transparency and accountability.
Senegalese editor Coulibaly convicted in defamation case
April 14, 2011 4:53 PM ET
New York, April 14, 2011--A magistrate in the Senegalese capital, Dakar, found investigative journalist Abdou Latif Coulibaly guilty of criminal defamation today in connection with 2010 stories alleging fraudulent transactions between an agricultural business and the government, according to local journalists. Coulibaly is already appealing a suspended prison term in...
Burundi seeks life sentence for Kavumbagu
April 14, 2011 3:25 PM ET
New York, April 14, 2011--A Burundi state prosecutor asked a panel of judges on Wednesday to hand journalist Jean-Claude Kavumbagu, who has been imprisoned since July 2010 over a column critical of the country's security forces, the maximum life sentence on a charge of treason, according to local journalists....