Cameroon

There has been a series of attempts to intimidate Jules Koum Koum, eeditor of Le Jeune Observateur, a Cameroonian weekly based in the southwestern city of Douala, according to Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF). “In recent weeks, this respected journalist has published several detailed and well-researched reports on corruption implicating a number of prominent people,” RSF said. “In so doing, he has...

Paramilitary police have summarily sealed the studios of Sky One Radio, based in Cameroon capital Yaoundé, the station's president, Joseph Angoula Angoula, has told the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The station was accused of "recurring violations of legal and administrative regulations" of media laws, according to a statement on the Web site of Cameroon's Communications...

[Updates earlier story] Five-year prison sentences have been handed down by a military court in Cameroon to Jacques Blaise Mvié and Charles René Nwé, respectively deputy managing director and editor of weekly La Nouvelle for publishing “defence secrets," Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. To date, neither of the two journalists has actually been arrested. “The sentence...

A military tribunal in Yaoundé sentenced Jacques Blaise Mvié and Charles René Nwe, general manager and editor-in-chief, respectively, of La Nouvelle newspaper, to five years in prison and a 500,000 FCFA (approx. US$1,066) fine at the end of a closed-door hearing. No appeal was permitted on June 3; the journalists were only informed of the hearing after the fact, Journaliste en Danger (JED) has...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has demanded the release of four journalists imprisoned in Cameroun on libel charges. The four Cameroonian journalists have been in prison since last September following allegations of "critical reports" against President Paul Biya and the Cameroonian authorities. "We demand the immediate release of the detained journalists and the...

A three-year prison sentence has been handed down to Lewis Medjo, managing editor of Cameroonian weekly La Détente libre, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. He has been in Douala central prison in the west of the country since September 22, 2008. Medjo was found guilty on January 7 of “spreading false news” and sentenced by the Douala court to three years in prison and a fine of two...

Cameroonian authorities have lifted a ban on three private broadcasters summarily closed in connection with their critical coverage in February, but police are withholding equipment seized from one station, according to local journalists and news reports. Equinoxe Télévision, sister radio station Radio Equinoxe, and Magic FM were authorized to return to air on July 4 by Communications Minister...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has urged the Cameroonian government to end the intimidation of journalists reporting on corruption scandals in the country after five journalists and media industry leaders were interrogated by police in connection with the publication of articles on a defective aircraft bought for President Paul Biya. "Police harassment of our colleagues is...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has expressed concern at a crackdown against the media which criticised the Cameroon government following an outbreak of rioting in Douala in the southwest part of the country. As the communications minister called on newspapers to be “responsible”, the unrest has left the privately-owned press in crisis after security forces raided the studios of Magic FM radio...

The police in the Cameroon's capital, Yaoundé, Thursday forced a popular radio station off the air and confiscated its equipment over commentary critical of the government during a call-in programme, according to local journalists, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. Magic FM is the third broadcaster summarily closed by authorities within a week in response to...