New York, September 22, 2003—Four directors of the Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ), the company that owns Zimbabwe’s only independent daily, the Daily News, were arrested today and charged with violating the repressive Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), according to ANZ Chief Executive Sam Sipepa Nkomo. Earlier today, Nkomo and three…
New York, September 19, 2003—Today, the Ministry of Communications lifted the ban against Radio Publique Africaine (RPA), which was ordered shut “for an indefinite period” on Tuesday, September 16. The order stemmed from an interview the station aired with Pasteur Habimana, a spokesman for the rebel National Liberation Forces, about the government’s closure of the…
New York, September 19, 2003—Yesterday evening, police again occupied the offices of the Daily News and prevented journalists from putting out a Friday edition of the paper. The move was in defiance of a High Court ruling that same day allowing the newspaper to reopen and directing police to return confiscated equipment. Journalists at the…
New York, September 18, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) today marked the second anniversary of the Eritrean government’s crackdown on the country’s political opposition and the private press by calling for the release of 17 jailed journalists.[See list of jailed journalists.] With the journalists in prison and no domestic independent media, Eritrea has earned…
New York, September 18, 2003—Zimbabwe’s High Court ruled today to allow the Daily News, the country’s only independent daily, to resume publishing after being closed for seven days. A High Court judge also ordered authorities to immediately return computers and other equipment confiscated by the police during a Tuesday, September 16, raid on the newspaper’s…
New York, September 17, 2003—In a widening crackdown in Burundi, authorities yesterday closed Radio Publique Africaine (RPA) indefinitely, only days after closing another station, Radio Isanganiro. The shutdown of RPA came after the station broadcast an interview with a rebel spokesman. On September 13, Radio Isanganiro was ordered closed for one week for airing a…
New York, July 14, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the arrest of Eritrean journalist Aklilu Solomon, Asmara-based stringer for the U.S. governmentfunded Voice of America (VOA) news service. Eritrean security officers arrested Solomon at his home on Tuesday, July 8, and took him to an undisclosed location. Ten days earlier, authorities had stripped…
New York, September 16, 2003—This morning, detectives, security agents, armed paramilitary members, and riot police raided the offices of the Daily News, Zimbabwe’s only independent daily, according to The Associated Press (AP). Officials also seized computers and other equipment belonging to the newspaper. The raid came after the newspaper was closed on September 12. On…
New York, September 12, 2003—Zimbabwean authorities have shuttered the offices of the Harare-based Daily News, the country’s only independent daily. A Daily News staffer who answered the phone at the newspaper’s offices this evening said that “our operations are being ceased.” According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), a Daily News reporter said today that “about 20…