Africa

  

MUSLIM LEADERS ISSUE FATWA ON JOURNALISTPolice detain editor

New York, November 26, 2002—Islamic authorities in the northern Nigerian state of Zamfara issued a fatwa urging Muslims to kill Isioma Daniel, a writer for the private daily This Day, whose November 16 article about the Miss World pageant sparked deadly riots across the country. According to sources in the southern city of Lagos, the…

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Newspaper’s offices destroyed by fire

New York, November 20, 2002—The Kaduna offices of the Nigerian private daily This Day were burned down today by Muslim protesters who were angered by a news report the paper published about the Miss World pageant, to be held in the country early in December. Local sources said the protesters were reacting to an article…

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Explosion destroys newspaper’s offices

New York, November 20, 2002—On Friday, November 15, an explosion destroyed the offices of the independent weekly National Pilot in Ilorin, the capital of Nigeria’s west central Kwara State. Five people were seriously injured in the blast—which local sources suspected was a politically motivated bomb attack—including the paper’s deputy editor-in-chief, Mudasiru Adewuyi. The explosion occurred…

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Prominent editor jailed and paper banned

New York, November 13, 2002-Paul Kamara, the founding editor of one of Sierra Leone’s leading newspaper, For Di People, was sentenced yesterday to six months in prison for defaming a local judge, said sources in the capital, Freetown. Kamara was taken to Freetown’s Pa Demba Road Prison on November 12 after the High Court convicted…

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CPJ mourns death of award-winning journalist

New York, November 13, 2002-The board of directors and staff of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) are saddened by the death of Zimbabwean journalist Mark Chavunduka. Chavunduka, 37, died on November 11 at West End Hospital in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, according to his relatives. The cause of death is unknown, but friends and family…

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PRESIDENT’S SON TO BE INTERROGATED ABOUT JOURNALIST’S MURDER

New York, November 11, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) welcomes the recent decision by Mozambique’s judicial authorities to extend their investigation into the murder of journalist Carlos Cardoso to Nymphine Chissano, a son of President Joaquim Chissano. Cardoso, Mozambique’s leading investigative reporter, was gunned down, execution-style, on November 22, 2000. Six people were arrested…

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Prosecution of journalist postponedAmended bill could restrict press further

New York, October 31, 2002—Judicial authorities in Zimbabwe have agreed to postpone the prosecution of Lloyd Mudiwa, a reporter with the independent Daily News, after the government acknowledged that the section of the country’s harsh new press law under which Mudiwa is charged violates the constitution. However, rather than dropping the case against Mudiwa, the…

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Military calls jailed editor “prisoner of war.”

New York, October 24, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) deplores the recent recommendation by a five-member military tribunal that editor Hassan Bility, who has been detained since June 24, be treated as a “prisoner of war.” According to a Liberian Defense Ministry statement, Bility, editor of the independent weekly The Analyst, is a prisoner…

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NEWSPAPER OFFICES DESTROYED

New York, October 16, 2002—A group of about 50 people today looted and ransacked the offices of the private Mayama media group, publisher of three Ivory Coast pro-opposition newspapers, said several sources in the capital, Abidjan. The mob smashed computers and other equipment and damaged printing presses while chanting pro-government slogans. The newsrooms of Le…

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Dangerous Assignments: Fall / Winter 2002

Featuring stories on: Eritrea and Ethiopia (cover story) West Bank: Roadblock for Journalists Elusive Justice in the Philippines Interview with Joel Schumacher, director of “Veronica Guerin” Click here to download PDF file (1 mega). Please wait a few minutes for download to begin. Don’t have Acrobat Reader? Click here to download a FREE copy from…

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