TOGO
FEBRUARY 14, 2005 Updated: March 10, 2005 Radio Carré Jeunes Télévision Zion CENSORED Togolese authorities shuttered privately owned Radio Carré Jeunes and religious broadcaster Télévision Zion, citing alleged unpaid administrative fees. Togo’s Telecommunication and Postal Services’ regulatory agency claimed that the stations, which are based in the capital, Lomé, owed the equivalent of thousands of…
ZIMBABWE
FEBRUARY 14, 2005 Posted: March 14, 2005 Angus Shaw, freelance Jan Raath, freelance Brian Latham, freelance HARASSED, THREATENED Zimbabwean police repeatedly visited the shared offices of Shaw, Raath, and Latham on February 14, 15, and 16. Threats and intimidation from police and government officials led the journalists, who are Zimbabwean citizens, to flee the country…
Radio station and news agency suspended
New York, February 14, 2005—Burundian independent radio station Radio Publique Africaine (RPA) today resumed broadcasting after authorities suspended the station on Friday for two days, accusing it of violating the country’s press law. Private news agency Net-Press, which was also summarily banned on Friday for seven days following libel complaints, remained shuttered. Local journalists believe…
CPJ condemns government crackdown on private broadcasters
New York, February 14, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the closures of several private radio stations in the capital, Lomé. On Friday, February 11, Togolese authorities shuttered four stations that have protested the military’s appointment of the son of the late President Gnassingbé Eyadema as leader. Today, two more stations were closed.
BURUNDI
FEBRUARY 11, 2005 Posted: February 16, 2005 Radio Publique Africaine CENSORED Burundi’s government-appointed media regulatory body, the Conseil National de la Communication (CNC) ordered independent radio station Radio Publique Africaine (RPA) closed for two days, accusing it of violating the country’s press law.
SIERRA LEONE
FEBRUARY 11, 2005 Posted: February 16, 2005 Olu Gordon, The Peep IMPRISONED Gordon, editor of the semiweekly satirical newspaper The Peep, was summoned to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), where he was held in connection with an article that appeared in The Peep that day, according to local journalists.
TOGO
FEBRUARY 11, 2005 Updated: March 10, 2005 Nana FM Kanal FM Radio Nostalgie TV7 Fréquence 1 CENSORED Security forces accompanied by representatives of Togo’s Telecommunication and Postal Services’ regulatory agency went to the offices of private radio stations Nana FM, Kanal FM, and Radio Nostalgie, as well as to the private television station TV7 and…
Jailed reporter freed
New York, February 11, 2005—A reporter with the Congolese private daily La Référence Plus jailed on defamation charges has been freed, CPJ has learned. A Kinshasa court granted José Wakadila a provisional release on February 8. He was freed that day after paying bail equivalent to US$200, according to local press freedom group Journaliste en…