Eight newspaper publishers were interrogated by the Niamey police on August 1 at the behest of the President’s son for publishing a document accusing him and another person of taking kickbacks, Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. After being questioned, two of the publishers were taken into custody in connection with another case and were due to appear before prosecutors on August 5....
Two Nigerien editors whose weekly newspapers reported on corruption charges involving the national human rights commission have been in police custody since Saturday, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported quoting local journalists and news reports. Abdoulaye Tiémogo of the Le Canard Dechainé and Ali Soumana of Le Courrier were being held at the main police station in the capital...
Zimbabwe has allowed the BBC and CNN to resume operations in the country. This development is the outcome of meetings held by representatives of the organisations with the Minister of Media, Information and Publicity, Webster Shamu and his Permanent Secretary, George Charamba, the Zimbabwe Standard has reported. The details: [ Link] The BBC last officially covered in Zimbabwe in 2001 five weeks...
The Democratic Republic of Congo government has shut down local FM retransmission of the French public radio station Radio France Internationale (RFI) throughout the country since July 26, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) and Journalist in Danger (JED) have reported. JED has confirmed from various sources that RFI’s broadcasts on the FM waveband have been cut since July 26 in Kinshasa (the country...
The government in the breakaway republic of Somaliland has launched a crackdown on the independent press as September presidential elections near. On July 13, Somaliland police arrested private Radio Horyaal Director Mohamed Osman and News Editor Ahmed Suleiman at the station, accusing them of inciting violence, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reported. The two were remanded in custody...
Niger's privately owned press on Monday started a week-long strike to protest a presidential decree that allows sanctions against the media without warning, Agence France-Presse (AFP) has reported. "The strike is on and it is being well followed," Boubacar Diallo of the Niger Association of Independent Press Editors (ANEPI) told AFP. The three main dailies — L'Enqueteur, Le Canard Dechaine and la...
Unlawful arrests, detention, torture and unfair trials are increasing in the Gambia, repressing already restricted freedom of expression in the country, say journalists and human rights organizations. "Since 2004 the situation has been getting worse and worse," Amnesty International's Gambia researcher Tania Bernath told IRIN, "with unlawful detention, torture, arrests, journalists being targeted
Below is a timeline outlining the arrests and detention of prominent journalists in Gambia over recent years, as reported by Reporters without Borders and Amnesty International. 2009 June- July On 12 June seven reporters - The Point’s Pap Saine, Pa Modou Faal and Ebrima Sawaneh; the Gambia Press Union’s Abubacarr Saidykhan, Bai Emil Touray, and vice-president Sarata Jabbi Dibba, and Sam Sarr of...
Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has expressed outrage at the arrest of two journalists and the closure of a TV station in the northwestern breakaway territory of Somaliland and the beatings which several journalists received from police in the northeastern semi-autonomous region of Puntland. “While the international community’s attention is focused on the abduction of two French government...
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has expressed alarm by the harassment of international journalists covering last week's disputed presidential elections in Republic of Congo. On Wednesday, police smashed the camera of videographer Marlène Rabaud of France 24 while she was filming the dispersal of an opposition demonstration in the capital, Brazzaville, according to local journalists and...
