TOGO
FEBRUARY 14, 2005 Updated: March 10, 2005 Radio Carré Jeunes Télévision Zion CENSORED Togolese authorities shuttered privately owned Radio Carré Jeunes and religious broadcaster Télévision Zion, citing alleged unpaid administrative fees. Togo’s Telecommunication and Postal Services’ regulatory agency claimed that the stations, which are based in the capital, Lomé, owed the equivalent of thousands of…
ZIMBABWE
FEBRUARY 14, 2005 Posted: March 14, 2005 Angus Shaw, freelance Jan Raath, freelance Brian Latham, freelance HARASSED, THREATENED Zimbabwean police repeatedly visited the shared offices of Shaw, Raath, and Latham on February 14, 15, and 16. Threats and intimidation from police and government officials led the journalists, who are Zimbabwean citizens, to flee the country…
THAILAND
FEBRUARY 14, 2005 Posted: February 15, 2005 Pongkiat Saetang, Had Yai Post, KILLED—UNCONFIRMED Unidentified gunmen shot and killed Saetang, editor of the bimonthly newspaper Had Yai Post, near a market in Had Yai, in southern Thailand’s Songkhla Province. The Committee to Protect Journalists is investigating to determine whether he was killed for his journalistic work.
Radio station and news agency suspended
New York, February 14, 2005—Burundian independent radio station Radio Publique Africaine (RPA) today resumed broadcasting after authorities suspended the station on Friday for two days, accusing it of violating the country’s press law. Private news agency Net-Press, which was also summarily banned on Friday for seven days following libel complaints, remained shuttered. Local journalists believe…
CPJ condemns government crackdown on private broadcasters
New York, February 14, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the closures of several private radio stations in the capital, Lomé. On Friday, February 11, Togolese authorities shuttered four stations that have protested the military’s appointment of the son of the late President Gnassingbé Eyadema as leader. Today, two more stations were closed.
CHINA
JULY 2, 2005 Posted: July 22, 2005 Wong Yuk-man, Commercial Radio HARASSED Hong Kong’s Commercial Radio terminated the contract of popular radio host Wong Yuk-man. Local supporters say that political pressure played a part in the decision to fire the host, known for his outspoken criticism of local pro-Beijing politicians.
BURUNDI
FEBRUARY 11, 2005 Posted: February 16, 2005 Radio Publique Africaine CENSORED Burundi’s government-appointed media regulatory body, the Conseil National de la Communication (CNC) ordered independent radio station Radio Publique Africaine (RPA) closed for two days, accusing it of violating the country’s press law.
SIERRA LEONE
FEBRUARY 11, 2005 Posted: February 16, 2005 Olu Gordon, The Peep IMPRISONED Gordon, editor of the semiweekly satirical newspaper The Peep, was summoned to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), where he was held in connection with an article that appeared in The Peep that day, according to local journalists.
TOGO
FEBRUARY 11, 2005 Updated: March 10, 2005 Nana FM Kanal FM Radio Nostalgie TV7 Fréquence 1 CENSORED Security forces accompanied by representatives of Togo’s Telecommunication and Postal Services’ regulatory agency went to the offices of private radio stations Nana FM, Kanal FM, and Radio Nostalgie, as well as to the private television station TV7 and…