New York, May 6, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned about official harassment and threats against Sudanese editor Mohamed Taha Mohamed Ahmed. Ahmed is being tried this month on criminal charges of insulting the Prophet Mohammed after publishing an April 21 article in the daily Al-Wifaq. The article, by the well-known Muslim historian Al-Maqrizi,…
MAY 5, 2005 Posted: May 17, 2005 Shacab CENSORED, HARASSED Authorities in the autonomous region of Puntland ordered the closing of the weekly newspaper Shacab for allegedly inciting violence, according to CPJ sources. The decree cited the government’s constitutional responsibility to uphold the unity of Puntland.
New York, May 5, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned this week’s arrest of a newspaper publisher, who was charged with criminal libel after his publication accused First Lady Stella Obasanjo of corruption. Omo-Ojo Orobosa, publisher of the weekly Midwest Herald, has been held since Monday, his lawyer, Festus Keyamo, told CPJ. Orobosa was…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned about attacks on press freedom in the autonomous Puntland region of northeast Somalia, of which you were elected president by the region’s parliament in January. They include the arrests of two journalists from the weekly newspaper Shacab (Voice of the People) in the town of Garowe; threats to close that newspaper; plans to introduce identity cards for all journalists; and attempts to censor radio coverage of sensitive political issues.
MAY 2, 2005 Updated: May 26, 2005 Omo-Ojo Orobosa, Midwest Herald LEGAL ACTION, IMPRISONED Omo-Ojo Orobosa, publisher of the weekly Midwest Herald, was imprisoned for more than two weeks and accused of sedition after his publication accused First Lady Stella Obasanjo of corruption. His lawyer, Festus Keyamo, told CPJ that Orobosa was arrested at the…
New York, April 27, 2005— Sudanese security forces in Darfur, Sudan, detained an American freelance photographer yesterday as he photographed a refugee camp. Hartford-based Brad Clift is under house arrest at a United States Agency for International Development office building after being detained in Nyala in the Darfur region of Sudan, the daily Hartford Courant…
APRIL 26, 2005 Posted: May 17, 2005 Brad Clift, freelance IMPRISONED Sudanese security forces detained Clift while he was taking photographs at an internally displaced persons camp outside Nyala, capital of Darfur’s southern state. Clift works for The Hartford Courant but was in Sudan as a freelancer traveling with the relief group, Hartford Catholic Worker,…
New York, April 22, 2005—An independent radio station in the capital, Lomé, was shuttered on Wednesday by the High Audiovisual and Communications Authority (HAAC)—the same government agency that banned independent broadcasters from covering the campaign for this Sunday’s presidential elections. According to CPJ sources, the HAAC suspended Kanal FM for one month because of an…
APRIL 21, 2005 Posted: May 17, 2005 Mohamed Taha Mohamed Ahmed, Al-Wifaq LEGAL ACTION Al-Wifaq CENSORED Ahmed, an editor, was tried on criminal charges of insulting the Prophet Mohammed after publishing an April 21 article in the daily Al-Wifaq. The article, by the well-known Muslim historian Al-Maqrizi, called into question the Prophet Mohammed’s lineage, according…