Radio station damaged in arson attack
New York, January 4, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by an arson attack on private Cameroonian radio station Freedom FM. Fire broke out in the building housing the station on Tuesday evening, according to Freedom FM’s founder Pius Njawe, who received CPJ’s International Press Freedom Award in 1991. He told CPJ that police…
NIGERIA
DECEMBER 23, 2005 Updated: January 19, 2006 Klem Ofuokwu, Rhythm 93.7 FM Cleopatra Taiwo, Rhythm 93.7 FM IMPRISONED, LEGAL ACTION On January 3, two radio journalists were released from prison after paying bail in the southern city of Port Harcourt. Ofuokwu and Taiwo, both of whom work for the private radio station Rhythm 93.7 FM,…
Two journalists jailed for airing “false information”
New York, December 23, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the indictment of two Nigerian radio journalists for airing an erroneous report of a bridge collapse, which their station retracted. Klem Ofuokwu and Cleopatra Taiwo, journalists for the private radio station Rhythm 93.7 FM in the southeastern city of Port Harcourt, were remanded…
CPJ delegation meets with Ethiopian ambassador to the U.S.
Washington, December 22, 2005—A delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists that met today with the Ethiopian ambassador to the United States expressed outrage at the jailing of at least 16 journalists and demanded their immediate release. “Ethiopia and Eritrea are by far Africa’s worst jailers of journalists in 2005,” CPJ Africa Program Coordinator, Julia…
Ethiopians face antistate charges; VOA staffers among those named
New York, December 21, 2005—Twenty-one Ethiopian journalists and the president of the Ethiopian Free Press Journalists’ Association were charged today with involvement in an alleged attempt to overthrow the government, according to CPJ sources. Among those charged were five journalists of Ethiopian descent who work in Washington, D.C., for the Voice of America’s Amharic-language service,…
Voice of the People director arrested; three others freed
New York, December 19, 2005—Three staff members of the independent news production company Voice of the People (VOP) were released this morning after three days in jail, but VOP Director John Masuku was detained and could be charged with broadcasting without a license, local sources told the Committee to Protect Journalists. The broadcast charge carries…
Police bar journalists from site of editor’s murder on 1st anniversary
Statement prepared by the Committee to Protect Journalists in New York on December 15, 2005, to be read by Tidiane Sy on behalf of CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper, Africa Program Coordinator Julia Crawford, and the CPJ board of directors.