In Niger, RFI summarily suspended after correspondent threatened
New York, July 20, 2007–The Niger government suspended broadcasts of France-based Radio France Internationale (RFI) on Thursday, accusing the station of “broadcasting false news” related to a recent armed rebellion of nomadic Tuaregs in northern Niger, according to local journalists and news reports. The move came less than a week after the army chief threatened…
In DRC, journalist in hiding after sentenced to prison without notice
New York, July 19, 2007—Authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, convicted a journalist in secret and ordered him to report to prison immediately. He had never been told that he was charged with a crime. On July 5, Pold Kalombo, an editor of the private weekly Le Soft International received a notice…
Editor of independent weekly imprisoned in Mordoviya
New York, July 19, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists expressed concern today at the imprisonment of Anatoly Sardayev, founder and editor-in-chief of the independent weekly newspaper Mordoviya Segodnya (Mordoviya Today) in the city of Saransk, the capital of the central Russian republic of Mordoviya. The Lenin District Court in Saransk found Sardayev guilty on June…
Morocco: Two journalists detained
New York, July 18, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply troubled by the detention of two Moroccan journalists who are being held for publishing secret government documents. Abderrahim Ariri, publisher of the Moroccan weekly Al-Watan Al An, and Mostafa Hormatallah, a journalist for the paper, were summoned for questioning by police in Casablanca yesterday…
In Somaliland, reporter jailed without charge
New York, July 18, 2007—In the northern breakaway republic of Somaliland, authorities jailed without charge on Saturday a journalist at a private newspaper in connection with a story about the anointment of a clan leader, according to news reports and local journalists. Abdirahman Mohammed Habane, a correspondent of the Somali-language daily Jamhuuriya, was still detained…
In the Philippines, new anti-terror law threatens journalists
New York, July 18, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists expresses its grave concern about new anti-terrorism legislation recently enacted in the Philippines. A top justice ministry official has said that in certain circumstances it would allow the government to wiretap journalists. While the Human Security Act (HSA) specifically prohibits the surveillance and interception of communications…
Missing radio journalist found 17 months after vanishing
New York, July 16, 2007—A Paraguayan radio reporter resurfaced last week in the Brazilian city of São Paulo, almost a year and a half after he went missing in northern Paraguay. The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomed the news that Enrique Galeano was found alive, and it called on Paraguayan and Brazilian authorities to fully…
In Ethiopia, High Court sentences six journalists to prison, four to life
New York, July 16, 2007—Ethiopia’s High Court today handed down harsh criminal penalties, including life prison sentences, against six journalists and three publishers on anti-state charges in connection with critical coverage of the government during the deadly unrest in the aftermath of disputed parliamentary elections in 2005, according to local journalists.
Warnings issued for U.S. reporters working along Mexican border
New York, July 13, 2007—A San Antonio Express-News reporter has been temporarily reassigned from his posting in the border city of Laredo after a U.S. law enforcement source warned that an unspecified American journalist is on the hit list of a Mexican criminal group, the newspaper’s editor said today. The Association of Foreign Correspondents in…
Government cracks down on coverage of rebel attacks
New York, July 13, 2007—Coverage critical of the government’s handling of deadly attacks by an armed group of nomadic Tuareg rebels in northern Niger has led authorities in the uranium-rich West African nation to close a private newspaper and warn others to censor their reporting, according to news reports and local journalists. The bimonthly Aïr…