Swaziland

CPJ is appalled by the two-year prison sentence, without the option of a fine, imposed today on editor of The Nation Bheki Makhubu and human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko by the Swaziland High Court in Mbabane. The pair was convicted on contempt of court charges on July 17, in connection with separate articles each wrote in the independent newsmagazine criticising the kingdom's chief justice...

The Swaziland High Court on Tuesday convicted Bheki Makhubu, editor of the independent newsmagazine The Nation, and human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko in relation to articles that appeared in February and March criticising Swaziland's chief justice, according to Makhubu's lawyer and a report by The Associated Press. The two have been in custody since April and denied bail throughout. They have not...

Swaziland police on Wednesday re-arrested veteran editor Bheki Makhubu and human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko three days after they had been released from prison, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported quoting news reports. The two, who were first jailed on March 18 and held until Sunday, had written articles that criticised Swaziland's chief justice, the reports said. On...

Reporters Without Borders has condemned the inhuman and degrading treatment of Bheki Makhubu, the editor of The Nation, an independent news monthly, who has been held for the past two weeks on a contempt of court charge for criticizing Chief Justice Michael Ramodibedi. Makhubu was brought into court in leg irons on April 1 on the grounds that he represented a “security risk.” When relatives...

Authorities in Swaziland should immediately release Bheki Makhubu, editor of the independent newsmagazine The Nation, and Thulani Maseko, a human rights lawyer, who were imprisoned earlier this week in connection with articles published in The Nation, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. Swaziland's Chief Justice Michael Ramodibedi issued an arrest warrant for Makhubu and Maseko on...

Authorities in the kingdom of Swaziland should allow the news media to report freely on anti-government protests, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today after security forces harassed at least 10 local and international journalists covering a mass demonstration demanding political and economic reform after more than two decades of rule by King Mswati III. Police stopped reporter Niren...

(MISA/IFEX): The government of Swaziland has and continues to threaten with prosecution people who are expressing themselves using popular social media networks such as Facebook. The government has accused the Facebookers of being too critical of the government and ruling elites in Swaziland. On March 25, Prime Minister Barnabas Sibusiso Dlamini assured Senators in Parliament that his government...

The government of Swaziland has banned the daily live transmission of the BBC Focus on Africa programme after one of the news clips, broadcast on the English channel of the state radio, Swaziland Broadcasting and Information Services (SBIS), was critical of the government. The programme, broadcast daily in the mornings, mid-day and evenings, has been off air for the past week. The state radio has...

Swaziland's Prime Minister, Barnabas Sibusiso Dlamini, has announced his intention to create a law requiring newspaper columnists to seek permission before they write critically about the government, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. Dlamini's statement appeared in the Tuesday edition of state daily Swazi Observer, according to the Media Institute of Southern...

A member of Swaziland’s royal family has made death threats and outrageous claims against local journalists over their critical coverage of the country's leadership. During a July 21 public forum called the Smart Partnership National Dialogue in the central commercial city of Manzini, Prince Mahlaba, brother of Swaziland’s absolute ruler King Mswati III, was quoted by local media as saying: “I...