Africa

  

Election Commissioner dismisses petition against editor Najam Sethi

Islamabad, October 6, 1999 – After a two-hour hearing, the Chief Election Commissioner of Pakistan dismissed a petition that sought to exclude embattled editor Najam Sethi from political life by having him declared non-Muslim. The petition was filed on June 24 by legislator Syed Zafar Ali Shah, a member of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s ruling…

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Zimbabwe: Tortured journalists to face trial for reporting on coup plot

Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply dismayed that journalists Mark Chavunduka and Ray Choto of the Harare-based Sunday Standardnewspaper are to face trial in Zimbabwe’s Supreme Court on October 4, despite widespread international outrage over their case.

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CPJ is deeply concerned over the comments made by the Minister of Social Communication, Hendrik Vaal Neto

Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned over the comments made by the Minister of Social Communication, Hendrik Vaal Neto, in an interview carried on state radio on June 1.

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Burundi: Defense minister threatens journalists covering Hutu rebel insurgency

Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is appalled to learn that your government has ordered the Burundian army to treat journalists as legitimate military targets. On September 9, Your Excellency’s Defense Minister, Colonel Alfred Nkurunziza, said in a speech broadcast on state radio that the army should consider all journalists as enemies, and therefore legitimate targets, if they entered the Bujumbura Rurale province near the capital, where the army is fighting ethnic Hutu rebels.

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Cote d’Ivoire: Two journalists jailed for publishing false news

Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a nonpartisan organization dedicated to the defense of press freedom worldwide, is writing to protest in the strongest terms against the continued detention of Raphael Lakpe and Jean Khalil Sylla, publisher and reporter, respectively, at the independent daily newspaper Le Populaire.

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Cote d’Ivoire: Two journalists jailed for publishing false news

Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a nonpartisan organization dedicated to the defense of press freedom worldwide, is writing to protest in the strongest terms against the continued detention of Raphael Lakpe and Jean Khalil Sylla, publisher and reporter, respectively, at the independent daily newspaper Le Populaire.

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Kenya: Accused of corruption, high court judges react harshly against journalist

Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) deeply regrets the six-month jail sentence handed down to Tony Gachoka, publisher of The Post on Sundaymagazine, for contempt of court, and the exorbitant fine imposed on his publishing firm. Not only is the penalty disproportionate to the alleged offense, but the fairness of Gachoka’s trial is also in question.

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Sierra Leone: Peacekeepers make war on local press

Dear Lt. Col. Olokulade, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a non-partisan organization committed to the defense of press freedom worldwide, is deeply concerned about a number of attacks on the press in Freetown in recent days. An ECOMOG officer was directly involved in one attack. In another case, an ECOMOG officer stood by and did nothing to intervene.

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Government cracks down on feisty independent newspaper

Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a nonpartisan organization dedicated to the defense of press freedom worldwide, is writing to protest in the strongest terms against the recent arrest of three journalists from The Independent newspaper.

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Angola: Government cracks down on TV station for airing Savimbi interview

August 16, 1999 His Excellency Pedro Hendrik Vaal Neto Minister of Social Communications Luanda, Angola Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an independent organization of journalists dedicated to the defense of press freedom worldwide, is once again writing to protest your government’s brutal repression of the independent Angolan press. On August 9, 1999,…

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