JUNE 8, 2006 Posted: June 30, 2006 TBC Radio Station ATTACKED, THREATENED Journalists at the London-based Tamil Broadcasting Corporation (TBC) received death threats from members of the Sri Lankan separatist movement Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). A group of five men attempted to break into the studio while it aired a political discussion program,…
JUNE 1, 2006 Posted August 4, 2006 All foreign journalists CENSORED On June 1, Eritrean authorities tightened restrictions on foreigners seeking to travel inside the country, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported and several CPJ sources confirmed. The new restrictions were at least partly aimed at curtailing foreign journalists from reporting outside the capital, Asmara, the sources…
June 1, 2006 Posted August 1, 2006 Maryan Mohamud Qalanjo, Radio Shabelle ATTACKED, HARASSED, CENSORED Qalanjo, a reporter for the private, Mogadishu-based station Radio Shabelle, was twice assaulted by militias loyal to the Rahanweyn Resistance Army in the city of Baidoa, where the weak transitional government is based, according to the National Union of Somali…
May 29, 2006 Posted: July 10, 2006 Jika Nkolokosa, Blantyre Newspapers Ltd. Maxwell Ng’ambi, Blantyre Newspapers Ltd. LEGAL ACTION Nkolokosa, general manager of the private media group Blantyre Newspapers Limited (BNL), and Ng’ambi, a reporter for BNL, were charged with criminal libel in connection with articles criticizing Malawi’s health minister. BNL publishes the Daily Times…
May 24, 2006 Posted: June 12, 2006 George D. Watkins, Radio Veritas ATTACKED Watkins, a journalist for the Catholic Church-owned Radio Veritas, was assaulted by State Security Services (SSS) agents while reporting on the SSS’s alleged enlistment of a former rebel commander, according to the independent daily The Analyst and the Press Union of Liberia.
May 12, 2006 Original Case: July 13, 2005 Radio France Internationale (RFI) CENSORED On May 12, Ivory Coast’s National Council on Audiovisual Communication (CNCA), a media regulatory agency, lifted a 10-month ban on RFI’s FM broadcasts in Abidjan following negotiations between the two sides. The CNCA had banned RFI on July 13, 2005, accusing the…
UPDATED: May 16, 2006 Original Alert: December 12, 2005 Leykun Engeda, Dagim Wonchif IMPRISONED, LEGAL ACTION CPJ confirmed that Leykun Engeda, who was sentenced on December 9 to 15 months in prison, was released pending a decision in his appeal. The former editor-in-chief and publisher of the Amharic-language weekly Dagim Wonchif was convicted of publishing…
MAY 3, 2006 Posted: May 16, 2006 Sebastiao Canjera, Mabarwe Joao Mascarenhas, Mabarwe Patreque Francisco, Mabarwe IMPRISONED A prosecutor in the western district of Manica ordered three journalists from the community newspaper Mabarwe detained without charge, according to the local chapter of the Media Institute for Southern Africa (MISA) and local news reports. According to…
MAY 16, 2006 Posted: June 30, 2006 Neville De Silva, The Sunday Times, THREATENED A veteran Sri Lankan journalist based in London was threatened after a Web site that supports the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam ((LTTE)) posted his picture and accused him of being a Sri Lankan government spy. Neville De Silva, U.K. correspondent…
May 15, 2006 Posted: June 2, 2006 All Media THREATENED National Security Minister John Michuki warned local journalists that he would use force against local media outlets that criticized the government, according to local and international news reports. Referring to March raids on a prominent newspaper, The Standard, and a television station owned by the…