Africa

Reporter Aweys Sheikh Nur was attacked on Wednesday last by security guards during a court session in Bosaso, in Puntland, a semi-autonomous region of Somalia, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. Five security guards beat the reporter with their AK-47 rifle butts after he took photographs in Bosaso Court, he told CPJ. Puntland officials in the court, including Judge Mohamed...

Two European journalists were fined on Friday by a court in Namibia for filming the annual seal hunt along the coast of the southern African nation, Agence France-Presse (AFP) has reported quoting their lawyer. From the AFP report: [ Link] British investigative journalist Jim Wilckens and South African cameraman Bart Smithers were found guilty of violating the Marine Resources Act by entering a...

Two foreign reporters were arrested Thursday by Namibian police for filming the annual clubbing to death of small seal pups for their fur along the coast, Agence France-Presse (AFP) has reported. British investigative journalist Jim Wilckens and South African cameraman Bart Smithers were arrested by police whilst documenting the controversial Namibian seal cull. Details: [ Link] "The two have been...

Canal Plus Bénédiction (CB Plus), a faith-based television station broadcast from Brazzaville, was reauthorised to broadcast on July 3 following a five-month suspension, Journaliste en danger (JED) has reported. CB Plus was suspended on February 12 on orders from the state-run national media regulator, the High Council on Freedom of Communication (CSLC), after it aired archival footage of a 1991...

Sudanese reporter Lubna Ahmed Al-Hussein is on trial for "dressing in a sensational manner." The "general discipline" police considered Al-Hussein's style of dress to be a threat to Sudanese societal values and virtues, the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) has reported. This crime is subject to only one punishment, 40 lashes in public, according to article 152 of the Sudanese...

Zambian journalist Chansa Kabwela has been arrested on bogus charges of circulating obscene materials, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. Kabwela, news editor for the Post, was arrested on Monday for circulating two photographs of a woman giving birth without medical aid outside the University Teaching Hospital, which was involved in a health care worker strike at the time...

Two French government security advisors who were abducted in Mogadishu Tuesday morning had been posing as journalists. Gunmen abducted them from the Sahafi Hotel, located in the safest part of the capital. No group has so far claimed responsibility for their abduction. “Being a journalist is not a cover, it is a profession,” Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) reacted. “We hope these two...

The six journalists who were returned to Banjul’s Mile Two prison on July were 3 released again July 7 morning on bail of 400,000 dalassi (10,800 euros). The court did not immediately demand payment of the bail but it asked fellow-journalists to act as guarantors. All six have been told to report to the Banjul high court again at 9 a.m. on July 8. “We hope they are being released for good this...

A Radio IQK journalist in somalia, Mohamud Mohamed Yusuf, was shot twice in the stomach on Saturday in the capital, Mogadishu, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. Yusuf, commonly known as "Ninile," was hit by stray bullets after leaving the station in Afarta Jardin, northern Mogadishu, local journalists told CPJ. According to local journalists and the National Union of Somali...

Several journalists have been harassed in Madagascar in recent weeks, a website was mysteriously blocked and a radio journalist was held for two weeks after being the victim of a heavy-handed arrest. “We are alarmed by the current climate of mistrust towards journalists,” Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) said. “The political tension does not justify the often shocking methods used by the police and...