CPJ calls for release of two imprisoned journalists
New York, August 14, 2006—Two journalists have been imprisoned in Nigeria’s southeastern Ebonyi state since June 14 on charges of sedition linked to an article criticizing the state governor, the Committee to Protect Journalists has confirmed. Imo Eze and Oluwole Elenyinmi, respectively director and editor of the local bimonthly Ebonyi Voice, have remained in detention…
Newspaper editor goes into hiding
New York, August 9, 2006—The editor of the private newspaper Umuco has gone into hiding following official criticism of articles in his paper and a police summons, according to several local sources. Bonaventure Bizumuremyi also complained of receiving threatening phone calls, the sources said. The incidents come days after another Umuco journalist, Jean-Léonard Rugambage, was…
CPJ condemns jailing of two journalists in Niger
New York, August 7, 2006—The director and editor of the private weekly Le Républicain have been held in police custody since Friday and questioned over a July opinion piece suggesting that Prime Minister Hama Amadou was “deserting the West for Iran.” Director Maman Abou said that he and Editor Oumarou Keita have been accused of…
CPJ condemns harassment of Burundian radio director
New York, August 4, 2006—A prominent radio journalist went into hiding for fear of arrest after police searched his home on Thursday. Alexis Sinduhije, founder and director of Radio Publique Africaine (RPA) and a 2004 recipient of the Committee to Protect Journalists’ International Press Freedom Award, said authorities sought to arrest him in retribution for…
Journalist freed after nine months in jail
New York, August 4, 2006—Patrice Booto, publisher of two Congolese newspapers, was freed on Thursday evening after spending nine months in prison for running stories that said the government had directed millions of dollars to neighboring Tanzania, the local press freedom group Journaliste en Danger reported. “This egregious case highlights the urgent need for the…
Journalists’ driver killed in ambush
New York, August 4, 2006—Unidentified gunmen today ambushed leaders of the National Union of Somali Journalists on the road from Baidoa to Mogadishu, fatally shooting their driver, Madey Garas, according to NUSOJ Secretary-General Omar Faruk Osman. Another NUSOJ official who was in the car, Fahad Mohammed Abukar, was injured in the attack. “Our hearts go…
Rwandan journalist freed after 11 months in jail
New York, July 31, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the provisional release of journalist Jean-Léonard Rugambage, who had been jailed for nearly 11 months by a traditional court trying suspects in the 1994 genocide. Rugambage was freed on Friday on the orders of the national committee overseeing traditional or “gacaca” courts following an investigation…
Mob threatens photographer covering pre-election riot
New York, July 28, 2006—Journalist Emmanuel Makila was surrounded by rioters and threatened with death after an election rally by presidential candidate Jean-Pierre Bemba yesterday in Kinshasa. Makila, who works for private weeklies The Post and Révélateur, told the Committee to Protect Journalists he was saved by a few bystanders who pleaded with the mob…
CPJ condemns dropped charges in Zongo case
New York, July 20, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is outraged by the decision of a judge in Burkina Faso to drop charges against the only suspect in the 1998 murder of a journalist probing criminal allegations against the president’s family. Prosecutors said yesterday an examining magistrate had granted their request to drop the case…
Two Nigerian journalists released after four days in detention
New York, July 20, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is relieved that the Gambian National Intelligence Agency (NIA) has freed two Nigerian journalists, but it’s alarmed that the pair were held for four days without charge or due process. CPJ remains deeply concerned over the state of press freedom in the Gambia. Sam Obi, a…