A court in the Kigali district of Nyarugenge Monday imposed jail sentences on Charles Kabonero, the publisher of the weekly Umuseso, Didas Gasana, its editor, and Richard Kayigamba, one of its reporters, after finding them guilty of invading privacy in one of their articles. Kabonero got 12 months, while the other two got six months. “We firmly condemn these sentences, which deprive the newspaper...
Eritrean journalist and essayist Yirgalem Fisseha Mebrahtu has been held in solitary confinement for the past few weeks in May Srwa prisons, to the north of Asmara, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. It is not known why she is being given this treatment. Employed by Asmara-based Radio Bana, Yirgalem Fisseha was arrested when the authorities raided the station on February 22, 2009 and...
Zimbabwean authorities are still harassing and intimidating the Zimbabwean, a privately-owned newspaper that is edited in Britain and printed in South Africa. In the latest instance, criminal charges of “publishing falsehoods” have been brought against the directors of Adquest, the company that distributes it inside Zimbabwe. No date has yet been set for their trial, according to Reporters sans...
Simon Hervé Nko’o and Serge Sabouang, two journalists who were arrested by members of the General Directorate for External Investigation (DGRE) on February 5 without any reason being given, were finally released on the evening of February 12, according to Reporters sans Frontières (RSF).
Mallam Tukur, the editor-in-chief and publisher of the independent weekly, Desert Herald, based in Kaduna State of Nigeria has been arrested for defamation, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Two plainclothes police arrested Tukur on defamation charges at his office in Kaduna on February 8 and took him to a police station in Bauchi State. He was released on bail the following...
Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has called on Cameroon's National Security Chief Emmanuel Edou to immediately explain what has happened to two journalists, Simon Hervé Nko’o and Serge Sabouang, who were arrested by members of the General Directorate for External Investigation (DGRE), an intelligence agency, on February 5. There has been no news of them since then. “The unacceptable manner in which...
A two-year jail sentence was passed by a court passed Thursday on Hanevy Ould Dehah, the editor of the website Taqadoumy, at the end of an incomprehensible and arbitrary trial, according to Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). Dehah, who was not freed in December on completing a six-month sentence of a charge of violating public decency, was convicted this time on charges of violating public decency...
Umuseso, one of Rwanda’s leading independent weeklies, could be closed down as a result of case brought by the public prosecutor’s office accusing it of libel and invasion of privacy for reporting that a government minister was having an extra-marital affair with the mayor of Kigali, according to Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). A neighbourhood court in Nyarugenge is due to issue its verdict on...
An opinion column in Uganda’s leading independent newspaper suggesting parallels between President Yoweri Museveni and former Philippine leader Ferdinand Marcos led to criminal libel charges against two journalists Wednesday, the Committee to Protect Journalists has said quoting local media reports. A magistrate in the capital, Kampala, charged Angelo Izama, a senior reporter, and Henry Ochieng...
An Ethiopian judge sentenced a journalist to prison on Friday in connection with a January 2008 column that criticised Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s statements about religious affairs in Ethiopia, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported quoting local journalists. Federal High Court Judge Mohammed Omar sentenced Editor Ezedin Mohamed of the Muslim-oriented newspaper Al-Quds to one...
