MAURITANIA
MARCH 13, 2005 Posted: March 17, 2005 Mohamed Ould Lamine Mahmoudi, freelance IMPRISONED According to press reports and a Mauritanian source, police detained freelance journalist Mahmoudi after he interviewed a woman in the southern town Mederdra who claimed that she was kept as a slave by a family in another small Mauritanian town.
ZIMBABWE
MARCH 7, 2005 Posted: March 17, 2005 SW Radio Africa CENSORED The shortwave transmission of SW Radio Africa, a private broadcaster based in the United Kingdom and founded by exiled Zimbabwean journalists, was jammed in Zimbabwe during the run-up to March 31 parliamentary elections, the station and other news media reported. According to the South…
LIBERIA
MARCH 4, 2005 Posted: March 28, 2005 Forum CENSORED A court in the capital, Monrovia, ordered the offices of the privately owned weekly Forum shuttered for “contempt of court” after the paper’s managing editor allegedly missed several earlier summonses in connection with an ongoing civil libel case. The court also issued an arrest warrant for…
Sixteen journalists remain in secret jails
New York, March 3, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists has learned that Voice of America (VOA) correspondent Aklilu Solomon has been released after almost 18 months in jail. He was freed on December 31, 2004, and is said to be in poor health. Solomon was arrested in July 2003, after the VOA broadcast his report…
CPJ writes to president about detained journalist
The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned about the continued detention of Abdirisak Ahmed Absuge, editor of www.guulane.com, the official Web site of faction leader Mohamed Dhere. According to local sources, Absuge was arrested on March 5 in the district of Jawhar, where Dhere is chairman of the self-appointed administration.
MADAGASCAR
MARCH 1, 2005 Posted: April 14, 2005 Lola Rasoamaharo, La Gazette de la Grande IleRolly Mercia, La Gazette de la Grande Ile LEGAL ACTION Rasoamaharo, publication director of the private daily La Gazette de la Grande Ile, was sentenced to prison in connection with three separate defamation charges. He was not taken into custody, pending…
After just eight weeks, an independent newspaper is shuttered
New York, February 28, 2005—Zimbabwe’s Media and Information Commission (MIC) has closed the independent regional newspaper Weekly Times after just eight weeks of publication, saying the newspaper violated the country’s media legislation, according to news reports. Local journalists believe the closing is part of a systematic clampdown on critical media in the run-up to parliamentary…
ZIMBABWE
FEBRUARY 25, 2005 Posted: March 17, 2005 The Weekly TimesCENSORED The government-controlled Media and Information Commission (MIC) shuttered the independent regional newspaper The Weekly Times after just eight weeks of publication, saying the newspaper violated the country’s media legislation. Local journalists told CPJ the closure was part of a systematic clampdown on critical media in…
Suspect detained in connection with murder of veteran journalist
New York, February 23, 2005—Gambian authorities yesterday arrested a Lebanese businessman in connection with the murder of veteran journalist Deyda Hydara, according to local press reports. Wally Mahmoud Hakim was detained after officials found arms in his house, and he remained in custody today. Authorities gave no details about whether they had specifically linked any…
CPJ protests journalists’ harassment in run-up to elections
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is outraged at your government’s harassment and intimidation of three Zimbabwean journalists working for international news agencies, which has forced them to flee the country in fear for their security. Last week’s police action against freelance reporters Angus Shaw, Brian Latham, and Jan Raath seems aimed at silencing these senior journalists in the run-up to Zimbabwe’s general elections on March 31. CPJ is also disturbed to learn of police accusations against another freelance journalist, Cornelius Nduna, who has been forced into hiding.