New York, July 9, 2007—A prominent broadcaster covering public reaction to a large-scale government security crackdown in the commercial district of the capital, Mogadishu, was raided four times over the weekend by Somali government troops, according to news reports and the National Union of Somali Journalists. In four separate raids since Friday, troops searched the…
New York, July 5, 2007—A freelance Gambian reporter went into hiding last week after being harassed by several individuals, including an executive of the pro-government daily and suspected security agents, about his alleged links to the regional press freedom group Media Foundation of West Africa (MFWA), according to the group and CPJ sources. Ghana-based MFWA…
New York, July 3, 2007 —An editorial critical of Gabonese President Omar Bongo, Africa’s longest-serving head of state, has led authorities in the capital, Libreville, to arrest a publisher and suspend his newspaper, according to news reports and local journalists. Guy-Christian Mavioga, director of the private periodical L’Espoir, has been in police custody since Thursday…
New York, July 3, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the criminal prosecution and unreasonable bail conditions facing Sierra Leonean journalist Philip Neville, the editor of The Standard Times who is being held at the Central Prison in Freetown on libel charges. Defense lawyer J.B. Jenkins Johnston told CPJ that a Freetown court set bail…
New York, June 29, 2007—Three rooms in the headquartersof Shacab, an independent newspaper in northeast Somalia’s semi-autonomous region of Puntland, were damaged Wednesday night after assailants threw gasoline-fueled bombs, according to local news reports and the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSJ). One man was arrested after being identified by a security guard and other…
UPDATE JUNE 28, 2007 Thabo Thakalenkoala, Harvest FM IMPRISONED Chief Magistrate Molefi Makara reduced an initial charge of high treason against Thabo Thakalenkoala and allowed the radio journalist to be released on US$140 bail. The treason charge carried a possible death penalty. The new charge is subject to a prison sentence of up to 20…
JUNE 28, 2007 Posted July 17, 2007 Charles Kabonero, Umuseso Gasana Didas, Umuseso HARASSED Director Kabonero and editor Didas, of the leading independent newspaper Umuseso, were interrogated for three hours in a police station in the capital, Kigali, local journalists told CPJ. They were pressed to reveal their sources in connection with three articles reporting…
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…
JUNE 27, 2007 EventsCENSORED Fifteen armed men stormed the printing plant of the private weekly Events in the capital city of Uyo and seized about 5,000 copies of the newspaper, according to local journalists and news reports. The attack occurred in the morning, just before the distribution and sale of the paper, publisher Jerome Imeime…