Africa

A detailed indictment used to charge leading journalist Moussa Kaka with “complicity in a conspiracy against state authority” is being seen as “inconsistent and absurd.” The manager of privately-owned Radio Saraouniya and correspondent of Radio France Internationale and Reporters sans Frontières (RSF), Kaka was arrested on 20 September. “The details of the case against him are

An unidentified man tried Monday to murder privately-owned Radio Shabelle’s acting manager, Jafar “Kukay” Mohammed, the latest target of a wave of political killings that seems to be aimed at demonstrating that the transitional federal government is unable to guarantee security in the Somali capital. Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) protested against the failure of federal and local

The Zimbabwean intelligence service has compiled a blacklist of 15 journalists working for independent news media who are to be subjected to “strict surveillance” and other unspecified “measures” in the run-up to next year’s presidential and parliamentary elections. “The Zimbabwean government’s paranoia is accompanied by systematic repression,” Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) said

The decapitated body of a Sudanese newspaper editor accused of insulting Islam was recovered Wednesday, a day after he was kidnapped by masked gunmen. MOURNERS ALL: Sudanese mourners carry the body of the chief editor of a Sudanese independent daily, Mohammed Taha Mohammed Ahmed, who provoked a furore by publishing an article denounced as blasphemous and was found dead a day after being abducted

Two prominent Somali radio journalists were killed in Mogadishu on Saturday, the first by gunmen in the morning and the second, the radio station's co-owner, in an explosion hours later as he returned from the reporter's funeral, according to news reports. The killings targeted Horn Afrik radio, which has been criticised by the Ethiopian-backed Somali government as well as hardline members of an...

Ethiopia's High Court has imposed heavy prison sentences on four journalists jailed in connection with their coverage of deadly post-election unrest in 2005, after the journalists waived their defence and pleaded guilty in anticipation of a pardon, according to the Comittee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). All of them worked for now-defunct Amharic-language weeklies. Editors Dawit Kebede of Hadar and...

On 19 July 2007, police in Lusaka prevented Q-FM, a private radio station, from mounting their Outside Broadcasting (OB) equipment to cover live a demonstration organised by the OASIS forum and Collaborative Group on the Constitution, outside the gates of Parliament. Police said that the permit issued to the conveners of the demonstration did not include mounting the OB unit for live coverage of...

Reporters Without Borders voiced relief on learning that, on 20 July 2007, the Ethiopian government heeded international pleas and pardoned 38 opposition members, including four journalists, who had been given jail terms ranging from six months to life on 16 July. The four journalists to receive pardons were: "Ethiop" editor Andualem Ayele, "Abay" editor Mesfin Tesfaye, "Asqual" editor Wonakseged...

Ethiopia’s High Court has handed down harsh criminal penalties, including life prison sentences, to six journalists and three publishers on anti-state charges in connection with critical coverage of the government during the deadly unrest in the aftermath of disputed parliamentary elections in 2005, according to local journalists. At least 200 people Monday packed the courtroom in the capital...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today called on an Ethiopian court to reject the prosecutor's demand for the death penalty for four journalists who have been convicted, along with opposition members and activists, of attempting to overthrow the government, treason and inciting violence. "We condemn this cruel and unreasonable demand by the prosecution who wants journalists...