New York, November 27, 2006—Niger’s highest court, the Supreme Court of Appeals in Niamey, today ordered the provisional release of two journalists serving prison sentences for an article criticizing the prime minister. Director Maman Abou and editor Oumarou Keita of the private weekly Le Républicain were freed pending the court’s decision on the merits of…
New York, November 22, 2006–Two journalists for the prominent independent radio station Radio Publique Africaine (RPA) were arrested today in Burundi over a story about an alleged coup plot, according to several local sources. Editor Serge Nibizi and journalist Domitile Kiramvu were summoned for questioning, served with an arrest warrant, and imprisoned on charges which…
UPDATE November 7, 2006 Original Case: October 18, 2006 Norbert Ngoua Mezui, Nku’u Le Messager IMPRISONED Mezui, editor of the private, Libreville-based weekly, was provisionally released after serving a 21-day sentence for defamation. The sentence was suddenly implemented three years after it was handed down. This case has been marked by gross judicial irregularities, according…
October 27, 2006 Posted: December 8, 2006 Evariste Ngaralbaye, Notre Temps IMPRISONED Ngaralbaye, a journalist for the private weekly Notre Temps, was arrested when he answered a police summons in the capital N’djamena. He told CPJ that he was held incommunicado in a cell 12 feet by 9 feet (four by three meters) with 19…
New York, October 25, 2006—Security agents for Somalia’s transitional federal government arrested three radio journalists on Tuesday near the southern city of Baidoa, where the government is based. Transitional government security services were still holding Fahad Mohammed Abukar of Baidoa-based Warsan Radio, Mohammed Adawe Adam of Mogadishu-based Radio Shabelle, and Muktar Mohammed Atosh of Mogadishu-based…
New York, October 18, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls for the release of a Gabonese journalist who was imprisoned today on defamation charges even as his appeal was still pending. The jailing comes three years after the sentence was first imposed—which a defense lawyer said contravenes Gabonese law—and follows a politically charged debate over…