Authorities seize independent publisher’s passport
New York, December 9, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the seizure of the passport of Trevor Ncube, owner and director of Zimbabwe’s two remaining independent newspapers and of South Africa’s Mail and Guardian. Ncube was ordered to hand over his passport on Thursday when he landed in Zimbabwe at Bulawayo airport from South Africa…
CPJ calls on Obasanjo to free jailed journalist
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply troubled by the continued imprisonment of Owei Kobina Sikpi, publisher of the small, privately owned Weekly Star. He was arrested by agents of the State Security Service (SSS) in the southern city of Port Harcourt on October 11. He was later transferred to the central prison in Port Harcourt, where he remains. Sikpi has been imprisoned for his work longer than any other journalist since Your Excellency was first elected in 1999, according to CPJ records.
Jailed journalist sentenced to eight months in prison
New York, December 7, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the eight-month jail sentence for criminal libel handed down by the Federal High Court to a journalist already in prison as part of Ethiopia’s ongoing crackdown on the independent media. On Tuesday, the court convicted Wosonseged Gebrekidan, former editor of the Amharic-language weekly Ethiop, of…
A freed’ journalist is sent back to jail
New York, December 5, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is outraged by news that Eritrean journalist Dawit Isaac was returned to jail just two days after being released in mid-November. Isaac is one of 15 Eritrean journalists who have been jailed incommunicado and without charge or forced into extended military service following a September 2001…
A freed’ journalist is sent back to jail
New York, December 5, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is outraged by news that Eritrean journalist Dawit Isaac was returned to jail just two days after being released in mid-November. Isaac is one of 15 Eritrean journalists who have been jailed incommunicado and without charge or forced into extended military service following a September 2001…
Two months in prison for defaming the State Treasurer
New York, December 5, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply troubled by the continued imprisonment of Salifou Soumaila Abdoulkarim, director of the private weekly Le Visionnaire. Abdoulkarim was sentenced on Friday to two months in jail and a symbolic one-franc CFA fine for allegedly defaming State Treasurer Siddo Elhadj. “Jailing journalists for critical reporting…
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
DECEMBER 2, 2005 Posted December 8, 2005 Patrice Booto, Le Journal and Pool Malebo IMPRISONED Security forces arrested Patrice Booto, publisher of the thrice-weekly Le Journal and its sister publication, Pool Malebo. Booto was detained at a police station in the capital, Kinshasa, according to local press freedom organization Journaliste en danger (JED). On November…
Journalist imprisoned for report on alleged arms dealing
New York, December 1, 2005—A Somali reporter has been jailed since Monday following his recent online story claiming that a faction known as the Jubba Valley Alliance has been importing arms in violation of the 2004 peace agreement and a United Nations arms embargo, the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) reported. The faction, which…