JANUARY 15, 2006 Posted: March 8, 2006 Bonaventure Bizumuremyi, Umuco ATTACKED Four unidentified intruders carrying clubs and knives came to the Kigali home of Bizumuremyi, editor of one of Rwanda’s few independent newspapers, Umuco. CPJ sources said the intruders broke the door, awakening neighbors who intervened before the intruders could get inside. Bizumuremyi, who had…
February 28, 2006 Original Alert: February 16, 2006 Elham Afroutan and six other journalists, Tammadon-e Hormozgan IMPRISONED Elham Afroutan, one of seven journalists jailed after publishing a satirical article that criticized the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, has been transferred from prison in Bandar Abbas to Tehran’s Evin Prison after she attempted suicide in custody, according to…
FEBRUARY 7, 2006 Mario Vallejo, Univisión Channel 23 ATTACKED, HARASSED Osvaldo Duarte, Univisión Channel Alberto Tavares, Telemundo Channel 51 Lázaro Abreu, Telemundo Channel 51 HARASSED A guard at an immigration jail in Nassau attacked Vallejo, and police detained Abreu, Duarte, and Tavares as the four Miami-based journalists were covering the story of seven Cubans rescued…
APRIL 18, 2006 Posted: April 25, 2006 Arthur Tshimanga Kaputu, Lubilanji Expansion IMPRISONED Kaputu, director of the small private newspaper Lubilanji Expansion was detained for three days without charge by the public prosecutor in the capital, Kinshasa. According to the Kinshasa-based press freedom organization, Journaliste en Danger (JED), which sent a representative to meet with…
FEBRUARY 23, 2006 Posted: June 16, 2006 Vladimir Voronov, Novoye Vremya ATTACKED Voronov, an investigative reporter for the Moscow weeklies Novoye Vremya and Ezhenedelny Zhurnal, was attacked near his Moscow home in the early hours by two unidentified assailants who escaped, according Russian press reports.
FEBRUARY 16, 2006 Posted March 20, 2006 Gift Phiri, formerly of The Zimbabwe Independent ATTACKED, THREATENED Phiri, a former reporter for the private weekly The Zimbabwe Independent, was attacked by unidentified assailants who accused him of working for foreign media, including the U.S. government-funded Voice of America. Local sources told CPJ that Phiri believed that…
February 15, 2006 Original Alert: January 31, 2006 Radiotélévision La Colombe CENSORED Radiotélévision La Colombe (RTC) began broadcasting again on February 10, almost two weeks after shutting down over security fears, the Congolese press freedom group Journaliste en Danger (JED) reported. The station is based in the eastern town of Rutshuru, where fighting broke out…
February 15, 2006 Original Alert: November 9, 2005 Fred M’membe, The Post HARASSED, LEGAL ACTION The Zambian state declined to prosecute award-winning journalist M’membe for criticizing President Levy Mwanawasa. M’membe, editor of Zambia’s leading daily The Post, was charged with insulting the president in November 2005. He was released on bail after six hours in…
FEBRUARY 10, 2006 Moustapha Sow, L’Office LEGAL ACTION Sow, director of the private newspaper L’Office, was sentenced to six months in prison for defaming businessman Bara Tall in articles about a high-profile corruption scandal. Sow, who was not immediately taken into custody, told CPJ that he planned to appeal.