New York, May 9, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by attacks on radio stations in the Comoros in the run-up to May 14 federal elections in the Indian Ocean state. Unidentified assailants armed with machetes stormed two radio stations on the island of Grande Comore on May 5, forcing them off the air…
APRIL 27, 2006 Posted: May 8, 2006 Abraham Reta Alemu, Ruh IMPRISONED Alemu, former editor of the now defunct Amharic-language weekly Ruh, was sentenced on April 24 to one year in jail for defamation, and imprisoned the same day. The charge stemmed from an article published in Ruh several years ago, which accused senior government…
May 8, 2006 Rob Jamieson, The Chronicle Arnold Mlelemba, The Chronicle Dickson Kashoti, The Chronicle HARASSED, LEGAL ACTION Three journalists working for the private weekly newspaper The Chronicle were detained and charged with criminal libel in connection with an article alleging that Malawi’s then-attorney general was involved in the theft of a computer. Attorney General…
Could you pick out Equatorial Guinea on the world map? Or Turkmenistan, or Eritrea? Probably not at the first attempt. These countries are usually below the radar of the international media, and the autocrats who run them like it that way. It helps them crush press freedoms and keep their population in the dark. That is why the Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based press freedom group, has drawn up a league table of the world’s 10 most censored countries. We hope that the list, issued on World Press Freedom Day, will shine a light into the dark corners of the world where governments and their political cronies decide what people will read, see, and hear.
New York, May 5, 2006—Initial proceedings in the treason trial of 14 Ethiopian journalists have reinforced concerns that the defendants may not get a fair trial, the Committee to Protect Journalists said. Prosecutors are due to start presenting evidence on May 8 against the journalists and dozens of opposition leaders accused of conspiring to overthrow…
New York, May 5, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Thursday’s attack on Pape Cheikh Fall, a correspondent for the private radio station RFM in the central Senegalese city of Mbacké. RFM’s parent group Futurs Médias linked the attack to a report criticizing a local religious leader’s foray into politics. Fall was beaten with metal…
New York, May 4, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the recent suspension of the twice-monthly private newspaper L’Enquêteur by Guinea’s National Communications Council after it published an article critical of President Lansana Conté’s government. Council Chairman Boubacar Yacine Diallo confirmed to CPJ via e-mail that the paper was suspended for two months on April…
New York, May 4, 2006—The case against prominent journalist Madiambal Diagne was dropped on Tuesday on a procedural issue, ending a legal saga that spanned nearly two years and galvanized the Senegalese press. But the Committee to Protect Journalists expressed concern that the criminal charges used to jail Diagne for more than two weeks in…
New York, May 3, 2006—Two journalists from Botswana’s state broadcaster were arrested by Zimbabwean police on April 30, held for two days, and charged with violating Zimbabwe’s draconian Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), Botswana’s director of broadcasting services, Bapasi Mphusu, confirmed today. Botswana Television (BTV) reporter Beauty Mokoba and cameraman Koketso…