UPDATE November 29, 2006Original Alert: November 28, 2006Honoré Kabongo, Radiotélévision Kintuadi (RTK)IMPRISONED Kabongo, the host of a news talk show with the religious TV station, was released without charge after four days in detention, according to local press freedom group Journaliste en Danger (JED) and RTK administrative director Adelin Mboma. He had been arrested in his…
NOVEMBER 28, 2006 Posted December 19, 2006 Robinson Ruz Ruz, Radio Piragua THREATANED After reporting on links between the local government and right-wing paramilitary leaders, Ruz, director and host of the news program “Noticiero del Medio Día” on local Radio Piragua, received condolence cards for his own death in the city of Sincelejo, 613 miles…
November 27, 2006 Posted December 12, 2006 Kalum Express CENSORED Guinea’s National Communications Council (known by its French acronym CNC) suspended the private weekly, which is based in the capital Conakry, for two months over an editorial critical of the government, according to local journalists and the Media Foundation for West Africa.
November 27, 2006 Posted December 12, 2006 Radio France Internationale CENSORED Authorities stopped FM transmission of French broadcaster Radio France Internationale (RFI) after a French judge accused President Paul Kagame, the Tutsi former rebel leader, of involvement in the death of his predecessor in 1994, according to international media reports. Kagame denied any involvement, but…
UPDATED: November 27, 2006 Original Case: August 31, 2006 Ching Cheong, The Straits Times LEGAL ACTION The Beijing Higher People’s Court upheld Ching’s espionage conviction in a closed hearing on November 24. Ching, a Hong Kong reporter for The Straits Times, was sentenced to five years in prison in August.
November 27, 2006 Posted December 13, 2006 Bart Mos, De Telegraaf Joost de Haas, De Telegraaf IMPRISONED An investigating judge in The Hague ordered the detention of Mos and de Haas for not revealing the identity of sources for a story they wrote for the Amsterdam-based independent daily De Telegraaf. On January 21, Mos and…
NOVEMBER 25, 2006 Posted December 19, 2006 Saúl Contreras, El Mundo de Córdoba Rafael Saavedra, El Mundo de Córdoba THREATENED Contreras, photographer for the local daily El Mundo de Córdoba, was threatened at gunpoint by unidentified individuals in Córdoba, a city in the southeastern Veracruz state. The following morning, Saavedra, a police reporter for the…
NOVEMBER 8, 2006 Posted: November 16, 2006 SINDH TV CENSORED Cable operators were ordered to stop delivering the privately owned Sindhi-language channel by the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA). The broadcaster was given no explanation by the government for its decision. The channel’s management said the authority did not say how long the ruling…
UPDATE November 7, 2006 Original Case: October 18, 2006 Norbert Ngoua Mezui, Nku’u Le Messager IMPRISONED Mezui, editor of the private, Libreville-based weekly, was provisionally released after serving a 21-day sentence for defamation. The sentence was suddenly implemented three years after it was handed down. This case has been marked by gross judicial irregularities, according…