New York, May 30, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by a bill before Zimbabwe’s parliament that would give the government free rein to monitor telephone calls, letters and electronic mail in the name of national security and crime prevention. Media and civil society groups say the Interception of Communications Bill is a further…
May 29, 2006 Posted: July 10, 2006 Jika Nkolokosa, Blantyre Newspapers Ltd. Maxwell Ng’ambi, Blantyre Newspapers Ltd. LEGAL ACTION Nkolokosa, general manager of the private media group Blantyre Newspapers Limited (BNL), and Ng’ambi, a reporter for BNL, were charged with criminal libel in connection with articles criticizing Malawi’s health minister. BNL publishes the Daily Times…
New York, May 26, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is issuing an urgent call for the acquittal of jailed journalist Patrice Booto, who awaits a verdict, expected Monday, on charges of publishing false information, offending the head of state, and “insulting the government.” The state prosecutor has asked a Kinshasa judge for a three-year jail…
New York, May 26, 2006—Police in the Gambia on Monday summoned contributors and sources for the U.S.-based Web site Freedom Newspaper(http://www.freedomnewspaper.com). Local sources told the Committee to Protect Journalists today that at least one local journalist was detained in connection with the summonses, and that others may have been picked up by security forces. Calls…
May 24, 2006 Posted: June 12, 2006 George D. Watkins, Radio Veritas ATTACKED Watkins, a journalist for the Catholic Church-owned Radio Veritas, was assaulted by State Security Services (SSS) agents while reporting on the SSS’s alleged enlistment of a former rebel commander, according to the independent daily The Analyst and the Press Union of Liberia.
New York, May 24, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by reports that Web sites critical of the government have been inaccessible in Ethiopia since late last week. Several blogs have reported that the authorities are blocking sites, although the information minister denied this. An Ethiopian blogger who goes by the alias Ethio-Zagol reported…
New York, May 23, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed at a spate of attacks on the press in the run-up to the July 30 elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo. On Monday, armed assailants smashed and looted equipment at Kinshasa-based broadcaster Radiotélévision Message de Vie (RTMV), forcing it off the air for…
New York, May 19, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomed the release today of radio journalist Tchanguis Vatankah after three weeks of arbitrary detention. Vatankah, who went on hunger strike in early May, told CPJ by telephone from the capital, N’Djamena, that he was “very happy” to be back home with his wife, and that…
May 12, 2006 Original Case: July 13, 2005 Radio France Internationale (RFI) CENSORED On May 12, Ivory Coast’s National Council on Audiovisual Communication (CNCA), a media regulatory agency, lifted a 10-month ban on RFI’s FM broadcasts in Abidjan following negotiations between the two sides. The CNCA had banned RFI on July 13, 2005, accusing the…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply troubled by the deterioration of press freedom in the Gambia. Authorities in your country have held a journalist without any official explanation since April 10 and have prevented his newspaper, The Independent, from operating for more than seven weeks.