New York, April 23, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the one-month prison sentence handed down by a Sudanese criminal court on April 10 to Islam Salih, Al-Jazeera’s bureau chief in Sudan. Salih’s lawyer, Abdel Salam Al-Gizouly, told CPJ that Salih was found guilty of several charges, including spreading false news and obstructing a…
New York, April 21, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply troubled by the disappearance of French-Canadian freelance journalist Guy-André Kieffer, one of the few foreign investigative reporters still based in Ivory Coast. Kieffer had been receiving death threats in recent weeks, according to his family and friends, who fear that he has been…
New York, April 19, 2004—Mathurin Constant Momet, publication director of the independent daily Le Confident, and Le Confident Editor-in-Chief Patrick Bakwa, were granted provisional release from police custody on April 17 after being held for about 24 hours. However, the two were today charged with criminal defamation, after Pierre Ouadda-Diale, a local lawyer, filed suit…
New York, April 16, 2004—Mathurin Constant Momet, publication director of the independent daily Le Confident, and Le Confident Editor-in-Chief Patrick Bakwa were detained today by police in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic (CAR), and held for questioning. Local sources said the two were summoned to the police station at about 11 a.m.…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to renew our demand that imprisoned journalist Jude Zossé be immediately and unconditionally released. We are also concerned that Zossé remains jailed despite Your Excellency’s March 15 pardon for non-violent prisoners.
New York, April 13, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns today’s early-morning arson attack on the printing press of the private, Banjul-based biweekly The Independent. According to local sources, at around 3 a.m. this morning, six armed men stormed the building housing The Independent’s printing press in Kanifing, a suburb of the capital, Banjul.…
New York, April 8, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has learned that journalist Gaston Bony, publication director of Le Venin weekly newspaper and a host at the radio station La Voix de l’Agnéby, has been sentenced to six months in prison on criminal defamation charges. On March 24, a court in Agboville, a town…
New York, April 6, 2004-The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about the recent jailing of an Ethiopian journalist, after he was unable to pay bail in a criminal defamation case. On Friday, April 2, Ethiopian authorities jailed Merid Estifanos, former editor-in-chief of the private, Amharic-language weekly Satanaw. According to local sources, Estifanos…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is disturbed by a series of recent attacks against journalists by security forces during recent mass opposition demonstrations in the Ivory Coast. While more than half a dozen Ivoirian journalists have reported being physically attacked by officials, many more were arrested, intimidated, and harassed while covering the protests.
New York, March 29, 2004—Jean-Denis Lompoto, editor of the satirical biweekly Pili-Pili, was released March 27 from a Kinshasa prison on bail of US$100. Lompoto, who had been held just over a week, was detained on March 19 on charges of defaming Mining Minister Eugène Diomi Ndongala, according to local press organization Journaliste en danger…