CPJ engages Bush, Kabila on media violations in Congo
Dear President Bush: In advance of your meeting with the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, President Joseph Kabila, the Committee to Protect Journalists would like to draw your attention to the acute problem of impunity in cases of violence against media workers. CPJ is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to defending press freedom worldwide.
In DRC, TV reporters beaten, 38 broadcasters banned
New York, October 25, 2007—A Congolese government minister invited two television journalists to his office in the capital, Kinshasa, and then ordered police to beat them when they arrived, according to news reports and local press freedom group Journaliste en Danger. The incident came on the heels of a government decree summarily banning 38 private…
In DRC, TV reporters beaten, 38 broadcasters banned
New York, October 25, 2007—A Congolese government minister invited two television journalists to his office in the capital, Kinshasa, and then ordered police to beat them when they arrived, according to news reports and local press freedom group Journaliste en Danger. The incident came on the heels of a government decree summarily banning 38 private…
Journalists protest state media crackdown in Niger
New York, October 22, 2007—Hundreds of journalists marched through the streets of the Niger capital, Niamey, on Saturday to protest the arrests of two prominent journalists in connection with a government crackdown on media coverage of a rebellion of nomadic Tuaregs in northern Niger, according to news reports and local journalists. About 400 marchers carrying…
Radio Shabelle manager assassinated
New York, October 19, 2007—The acting manager of the independent Somali station Radio Shabelle was assassinated outside his home in Mogadishu today by unknown gunmen, according to station employees and local journalists. Bashiir Noor Gedi was attempting to return to his home in the Hamar Jadid neighborhood after he and other Radio Shabelle employees had…
Nigerian publisher charged with sedition over story critical of governor
New York, October 17, 2007— The publisher of a private newspaper in southern Nigeria, arrested last week by men suspected by local journalists to be agents of the State Security Service, was charged with sedition on Tuesday over a story critical of a local state governor, according to news reports. Jerome Imeime of southern Akwa…
Senegalese journalist jailed, another in hiding
New York, October 15, 2007—A story describing purported late-night outings involving President Abdoulaye Wade led authorities in the capital, Dakar, to arrest a journalist last week, according to local journalists and news reports. A reporter involved in the story is wanted by police and has gone into hiding. Papa Moussa Guèye, director of the private…
CPJ urges Ethiopia to disclose information on detained journalists
Dear Prime Minister, We are writing to express our deep concern about the whereabouts, legal status and health of Eritrean journalists Tesfalidet Kidane Tesfazghi and Saleh Idris Gama of Eritrean state broadcaster Eri-TV. Official statements and videotape indicate that your government has been holding them incommunicado after their arrests by Kenyan authorities late last year during fighting in Somalia.
In Niger, newspaper editor jailed without charge
New York, October 11, 2007—The director of a newspaper based in strife-torn northern Niger was arrested late Tuesday in the capital of Niamey on suspicions of links with France-based Radio France Internationale (RFI)—a station targeted by the government in recent months over its coverage of a deadly rebellion of nomadic Tuaregs, according to local journalists…