In Somalia, death threats force prominent press freedom activist into hiding
New York, September 4, 2007—A prominent press freedom activist and freelance journalist was forced into hiding on Monday after gunmen went looking for him at his office in the war-torn capital Mogadishu, according to the National Union of Somali Journalists. Ali Moallim Isak, Organizing Secretary of the union and a correspondent of Baidoa-based private Radio…
CPJ expresses concern about HAAC’s actions
Dear Mr. Evegno, We are concerned by a growing trend by the High Authority for Audiovisual and Communication (HAAC) to suspend media outlets in Togo, citing violations to journalist ethics as a basis for suppression. Two newspapers, The Republic Courier and The Trumpet, are currently suspended for articles deemed unprofessional and against journalistic ethics by your institution.
In Niger, government bans live broadcasts on Tuareg rebellion
New York, August 30, 2007—Niger’s state-run High Council on Communications has banned the broadcast of live debates on an armed rebellion of nomadic Tuaregs in the north of the uranium-rich West African nation, according to local journalists. Attacks by Tuareg fighters have killed at least 45 soldiers since February, according to Reuters. The ruling on…
SOMALIA:In Somaliland, TV journalist assaulted by mayor, held three days
JUNE 28, 2006 Posted August 10, 2007 Abdirahman Muse Omar, Somaliland Television IMPRISONED Omar, a news editor for private broadcaster Somaliland Television in the northern breakaway republic of Somaliland, was assaulted on June 28 by Mayor Hussein Muhammud Jiir after seeking official comments about the police’s expulsion of a family and the destruction of their…
Cameroonian publisher sentenced to jail in absentia
New York, August 28 2007— A court in Cameroon’s northwestern town of Kumbo sentenced in absentia, on August 13, the publisher of a small English-language newspaper to a year in prison, according to the national secretary of the Cameroon Journalists’ Trade Union. The sentence was related to alleged press offenses by the newspaper, which published…
IVORY COAST: Students raid newspaper
AUGUST 27, 2007 Posted September 7, 2007 L’Intelligent HARASSED About 40 militants of pro-government student group FESCI invaded the offices of private daily L’Intelligent in the capital, Abdijan, sequestering journalists for two hours, seizing newsroom equipment and knocking down the door of editor Laurent Okoué, according to news reports and local journalists.
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Intelligence agents question four TV journalists over interview
AUGUST 26, 2007 Posted September 5, 2005 Stéphane Kitutu O’Leontwa, Canal Congo Télévision Thierry Musenepo, Business Radio Télévision Christian Ali, Business Radio TélévisionTutu Kazadi, Business Radio TélévisionHARASSED
In Somalia, reporter killed in vehicle ambush
New York, August 24, 2007—A young reporter returning from a journalism training workshop in the Somali capital of Mogadishu was shot dead today in southwestern Somalia when clan militiamen ambushed his vehicle, according to the National Union of Somali Journalists. Abdulkadir Mahad Moallim Kaskey, a correspondent of the private, Mogadishu-based station Radio Banadir, was the…
In Kenya, president dismisses bill compelling disclosure of sources
New York, August 23, 2007— The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes President Mwai Kibaki’s rejection Wednesday of a bill that would have forced editors to name their sources if their stories led to court cases. Kibaki declined to sign Kenya’s Media Bill after calling an amendment within it “a great inhibition of press freedom” that…