TUNISIA
AUGUST 24, 2005 Posted: August 29, 2005 Lotfi Hajji, Tunisian Journalists Syndicate Tunisian Journalists Syndicate HARASSED Security officials in Tunis interrogated Lotfi Hajji, head of the Tunisian Journalists Syndicate (SJT), for five hours, the journalist told CPJ. A security official told Hajji that the government had decided to bar the SJT from holding its first…
Media council lifts ban on independent radio station
New York, August 24, 2005—Chad lifted a ban on Tuesday on Radio Brakos which was taken off air three months ago for reports critical of government and military officials, station director Tchanguis Vatankah told CPJ. He said the station would resume broadcasting in the remote southern town of Moissala shortly but would join this week’s…
Imprisoned journalist on hunger strike
New York, August 24, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply worried about the health of imprisoned journalist Adolfo Fernández Saínz, who began a hunger strike last week to protest the mistreatment of another imprisoned dissident. Fernández Saínz began the strike on Friday, after learning that imprisoned dissident Arnaldo Ramos Lauzurique had been beaten by…
Newspaper distributor detained, released on bail
New York, August 24, 2005—A prominent newspaper distributor was released on bail Tuesday after four days in police detention in the capital, Addis Ababa. Fikre Gudu was arrested in connection with an interview he gave to the private Amharic-language weekly Asqual about his one-month imprisonment in June, according to local sources who spoke to him…
Reuters Journalist Held without Charge by U.S.
New York, August 24, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists demands that the U.S. military explain why it is holding a freelance Iraqi photojournalist working for Reuters news agency or release him immediately. “U.S. officials must credibly explain the basis for the detention of Ali Omar Abrahem al-Mashhadani and other journalists being held without charge, or…
Journalist sentenced to five years in prison camp released
New York, August 24, 2005—A court in the central Russian city of Smolensk has released independent journalist Nikolai Goshko who was sentenced in June to five years in a prison camp for criminal defamation. Goshko told CPJ today that he was surprised by the August 19 release order, which came after the prosecution agreed to…
ETHIOPIA
AUGUST 23, 2005 Posted September 8, 2005 Fikre Gudu HARASSED, IMPRISONED A prominent newspaper distributor in the capital Addis Ababa, Gudu was arrested and detained for four days by police. The detention was in connection with an interview he gave to the private Amharic-language weekly Asqual about his one-month imprisonment in June, according to local…
YEMEN
AUGUST 23, 2005 Posted: August 29, 2005 Jamal Amer, Al-Wasat ASSAULTED Four men seized Amer, editor of the weekly Al-Wasat, as he returned home from his office at 5:30 a.m. Amer told CPJ that the men bundled him into a waiting car, blindfolded and bound him, and, after changing cars, drove him to a desolate…
Sindh bans three newspapers, editor jailed
New York, August 23, 2005—The government of the southern province of Sindh banned three Karachi-based weekly newspapers last week accusing them of creating “sectarian extremism and hatred.” Officials withdrew the publication permits of the three weeklies on August 15 because they published “objectionable material” that caused “danger to public safety/order.” Police had already raided the…