MARCH 3, 2008 Posted March 28, 2008 Jacques Blaise Mvié, La Nouvelle PresseKIDNAPPED Director Jacques Blaise Mvié of the private weekly La Nouvelle Presse told CPJ an unidentified man in plain clothes jumped from a gray Toyota Prado 4 x 4 and forced him at gunpoint in the car as he was walking away from…
MARCH 2008 Posted March 12, 2008 “Toronto 17” LEGAL Several news organizations have asked a Canadian appeals court to overturn a publication, broadcast, and Internet ban imposed on the ongoing bail hearings of 17 suspects accused of alleged terrorist activities concerning the Canadian capital of Toronto. Authorities announced the arrest of the suspects, since known…
FEBRUARY 29, 2008 Posted March 5, 2008 ABS-CBN Television CENSORED An ABS-CBN helicopter seeking aerial views of a rally against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was prevented from approaching the area by an Air Transportation Office (ATO) notice declaring the area a no-fly zone for the three-hour duration of the protest, according to a local press…
FEBRUARY 5, 2008 Posted February 29, 2008 Ibrahim Souley, L’Enqueteur Soumana Idrissa Maiga, Director of L’Enqueteur LEGAL The editor and managing director of L’Enqueteur were each sentenced to one month in jail and a CFA 40,000 (US$90) fine by a Niamey court on February 5 for defamation charges made by the minister of finance and…
Newspaper director imprisoned over critical editorials FEBRUARY 26, 2008 Posted March 14, 2008 Aboubacar Gourouza, L’Eveil Plus IMPRISONED, LEGAL Police in the capital, Niamey, arrested Aboubacar Gourouza, director of the bimonthly L’Eveil Plus, and took him into custody over two separate complaints triggered by critical editorials published on January 29, according to news reports…
UPDATE FEBRUARY 23, 2008 Posted March 14, 2008 Original alert: January 29, 2008Faustin Bambou, Les Collines de l’OubanguiIMPRISONEDDirector Faustin Bambou of the private biweekly Les Collines de l’Oubangui was released from prison on a partial presidential pardon, according to news reports and local journalists. Bambou told CPJ he contracted the flu and malaria while sharing a cell…
FEBRUARY 22, 2008 Posted April 22, 2008 Miguel Ramírez, El Comercio THREATENED Ramírez, a well-known investigative journalist for the Peruvian national daily El Comercio, was threatened with death after reporting on a local drug kingpin, the reporter said in an interview with CPJ. Ramírez, who has investigated the kingpin for over a decade, said he…
Government bans critical radio journalist from broadcast FEBRUARY 19, 2008 Posted March 10, 2008 Daniel Lawson-Drackey, Nana FMCENSORED Togo’s Broadcast and Communication High Authority (known by its French acronym, HAAC) summarily banned all editorials and commentary of veteran journalist and media activist Daniel Lawson-Drackey on private station Nana FM, according to local journalists and news…
FEBRUARY 15, 2008 Posted March 5, 2008 Khuon Phlay Vy, aka Sar Keo Virak, Sakal THREATENED, VICTIM OF AUTO ACCIDENT Khuon Phlay Vy, editor of the Khmer language daily newspaper Sakal, received a threat by telephone on February 15 over a story his publication ran on the same day about an illegal gambling den in…