CPJ condemns harassment of journalists covering opposition protests
New York, June 30, 2005—Security forces today harassed and detained several journalists covering opposition protests in the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, and at least one camera operator was still being held at the end of the day, according to local sources. A presidential spokesperson told the Committee Protect Journalists that any journalists detained while doing their…
ZAMBIA
JUNE 29, 2005 Posted: July 22, 2005 Fred M’membe, The Post HARASSED Police questioned M’membe, editor-in-chief of Zambia’s leading daily The Post, and threatened to charge him with defaming the president in editorial commentaries published by the newspaper. According to local sources, The Post had published a recent series of editorials accusing President Levy Mwanawasa…
ETHIOPIA
JUNE 28, 2005 Posted: June 30, 2005 Befekadu Moreda, Tomar Zelalem Gebre, Menilik Dawit Fassil, Asqual Tamrat Serbesa, Satenaw HARASSED, LEGAL ACTION Police arrested four editors of private Amharic-language newspapers in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, CPJ sources said. The editors were charged with defaming the military, Ethiopian officials confirmed to Agence France-Presse (AFP) and Reuters.
2005 PROTEST LETTER
Your Excellencies, We, the undersigned local and international press freedom and human rights organizations, call for the immediate release from prison of Abdi Farah Nur, editor of the weekly newspaper Shacab in Somalia’s self-declared autonomous region of Puntland. Local journalists believe his detention is linked to critical articles in Shacab about the Puntland leadership and Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG).
CPJ protests wave of attacks on the press
New York, June 28, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed at a recent wave of attacks on the press in Tshikapa, a town in southern Democratic Republic of Congo where authorities have detained two journalists and harassed several more. One journalist has gone into hiding after the provincial governor called publicly for his arrest,…
Four editors arrested, released on bail
New York, June 28, 2005—Police arrested four editors of private Amharic-language newspapers today in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, CPJ sources said. The arrests stem from reports in the weeklies about Ethiopian air force pilots who allegedly defected during a training program in Belarus last week, one source said. That source said the Defense Ministry ordered…
CPJ joins five groups demanding editor’s release
New York, June 28, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists joined five local and international press freedom and human rights groups today in writing to Somali leaders to demand the immediate release of Abdi Farah Nur, editor of Puntland’s leading independent newspaper Shacab (Voice of the People). Farah was arrested on June 19 and later transferred…
CPJ concerned over harassment of radio host
New York, June 27, 2005—Police in Zambia have threatened to charge radio host and commentator Anthony Mukwita with sedition after a June 10 broadcast on privately owned Radio Phoenix in which he read an anonymous fax criticizing the government. The fax, signed “Annoyed Zambians,” criticized President Levy Mwanawasa’s administration for allegedly failing to crack down…
Police occupy journalists’ union in Kogi State
New York, June 24, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the actions of police in Nigeria’s central Kogi State, where officers have occupied the local chapter of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, harassed local journalists, and detained the local union chairman, according to local journalists and the Lagos-based press freedom group Media Rights…
In Burundi, journalist who said president depressed is freed on bail
New York, June 23, 2005—Radio and online journalist Etienne Ndikuriyo was released on bail today after spending more than a week in jail for writing a story about the health of President Domitien Ndayizeye. Criminal charges are pending, and he has been ordered to report to a judge once a week, according to his lawyer,…