Attacks on the Press 2000: Zimbabwe
JOURNALISTS IN ZIMBABWE FACED INCREASING DIFFICULTIES IN 2000, as President Robert Mugabe’s government tried to extend its control over the news in the face of serial political crises. Mugabe’s problems included a faltering economy, an unpopular military intervention in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a contentious election, and a controversial move to seize white-owned land.…
Police arrest key suspects in Cardoso murder
New York, March 14, 2001 — Police in Mozambique arrested two businessmen and a former bank manager accused of ordering the murder of investigative journalist Carlos Cardoso, according to international news reports and CPJ sources. The three suspects, who are being held in a maximum security prison in the capital, Maputo, include Momade Abdul Assife…
CPJ protests espionage charges against four local journalists
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the arrest and imprisonment of four Liberian journalists from the Monrovia daily The News on espionage charges. The four journalists have now been in jail for nearly three weeks.
Four jailed journalists freed
New York, April 2, 2001 –Four journalists from the Liberian daily The News were released on March 30 after being jailed on espionage charges for over a month. International news sources reported that the government’s action came in response to an appeal by the Press Union of Liberia in addition to a written apology that…
Journalist jailed for defamation
New York, March 8, 2001 — Ethiopian journalist Tilahun Bekele, editor of the defunct Amharic-language weekly Fetash, was charged with criminal defamation by an Addis Ababa court and jailed, CPJ sources reported. Bekele has been in government custody since February 7, when he was arrested in connection with an article he had published more than…
Editor of Amharic weekly released on bail
New York, February 28, 2001 – Befekadu Moreda, editor of the private Amharic-language weekly Tomar, was released on bail on February 27, after spending two weeks in jail for refusing to reveal sources for a story on a secessionist movement. Kifle Mulat, the president of the Ethiopian Free Press Journalists Association (EFJA), said the relative…
Yet another journalist detained for reporting on separatist movements
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is appalled at the deplorable treatment of independent journalists and news outlets in Ethiopia, Africa’s foremost jailer of journalists in recent years. We are particularly concerned about the recent arrest and detention of Befekadu Moreda, editor of the private Amharic-language weekly Tomar.
Government orders expulsion of foreign correspondent
New York, February 15, 2001 — Mercedes Sayagues, Harare correspondent for the South African weekly Mail and Guardian, has been ordered to leave Zimbabwe within 24 hours, according to the government-owned Herald newspaper. The decision to expel Sayagues came as the government of President Robert Mugabe announced a clampdown on permits for foreign journalists seeking…
Côte d’Ivoire: Journalists harassed for covering coup attempt
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the continued harassment of independent journalists in your country under the pretext of investigating the failed coup attempt of January 8, 2001. Most recently, on February 10, as many as thirty armed men and three uniformed police officers broke into the printing press where the independent Abidjan daily Le Jour is produced. The intruders forced a security guard to lie prone while they searched the premises for “arms and mercenaries.” A police helicopter hovered over the factory while the search was being performed. The men all claimed to be law enforcement officers, but did not have a search warrant. They claimed to be acting on an anonymous phone tip, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.