New York, May 22, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists today reiterated a call to Senegalese authorities to end a pattern of criminal defamation prosecutions against the press after a court in the capital, Dakar, sentenced a journalist on Tuesday to a suspended prison term on a charge of “publishing false news,” according to news reports…
New York, May 22, 2008–Three men accused of killing Congolese journalist Serge Maheshe in 2007 were convicted and sentenced to death, while two others were acquitted in a retrial that ended Wednesday. The trial failed to establish a clear motive for the crime, according to news reports and local journalists.
New York, May 15, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns criminal defamation convictions handed to two Senegalese journalists on Tuesday. The two were convicted for reporting on the contents of an anonymous letter critical of top security officials. A criminal court in the capital, Dakar, sentenced Director Jules Diop and Editor-in-Chief Serigne Saliou Samb of…
New York, August 5, 2008—Ethiopian police in the capital, Addis Ababa, threatened on Monday to block distribution of an independently owned newspaper if it continues its leading coverage of a new political opposition movement, according to local journalists. The Amharic-language weekly Awramba Times reported today that it had received two separate phone warnings from top…
New York, May 9, 2008—In separate cases today, a magistrate court in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare, released from police custody a top newspaper editor and a leading lawyer working in defense of journalists. Both were formally charged, however, according to local sources. Davison Maruziva, editor of Zimbabwe’s leading Sunday newspaper, The Standard, was charged with…
MAY 8, 2008 Posted June 6, 2008 Unity Radio CENSORED On May 8, 2008, the opposition-run Unity Radio station in Freetown was ordered shut down by the presidential press secretary, Sheka Tarawalie. Tarawalie said the station had installed an antenna that exceeded frequency regulations and was interfering with the airwaves of other radio stations. The…
New York, May 8, 2008—Zimbabwean police arrested a top newspaper editor today and released a photographer jailed since Monday, according to local journalists and news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists remains concerned about the well-being of a leading media lawyer following reports of his hospitalization after his arrest on Wednesday. Davison Maruziva, deputy editor…
UPDATE May 7, 2008 Original alert: May 5, 2008 Alemayehu Mahtemework, Enku IMPRISONED Deputy Editor and owner Alemayehu Mahtemework and three media workers of the private entertainment monthly magazine Enku were released on bail without charge after five days in police custody, according to local journalists. Police indefinitely withheld 10,000 copies of an edition carrying…
New York, May 7, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by reports that a leading Zimbabwean lawyer working in defense of journalists was arrested today in the capital, Harare. Harrison Nkomo remained in police custody late today after his arrest this afternoon for allegedly “undermining the authority or insulting the president,” according to his…