Follow-up

On the eve of the first anniversary of Radio Okapi journalist Didace Namujimbo’s murder in Bukavu, the capital of the eastern province of Sud-Kivu, Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) and Journalist in Danger (JED) have condemned the lack of action on the part of the military officers in charge of the investigation. Namujimbo was killed by a single shot to the head as he was returning home at around 9...

A Lusaka court Monday acquitted the Post editor Chansa Kabwela of a charge of “distributing obscene material” for sending the vice-president photos of a woman giving birth in a hospital car park during a strike by hospital staff, Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. Judge Charles Kafunda dismissed the case on the grounds that there was no evidence that the photos would corrupt...

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has urged Moroccan King Mohammed VI to order the release of a jailed editor and to put an end to the use of the judiciary to silence independent media. Editor Driss Chahtan of the independent weekly Al-Michaal is due to appear before a Rabat appeals court on Tuesday. In mid-October, Chahtan was sentenced by a minor court to a year in prison...

Abdoulaye Tiémogo, editor of the independent Nigerien weekly Le Canard déchaîné, has been released from prison after his sentence was reduced on appeal, Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. The journalist, who is in poor health, had been held in custody since August 1. He had been found guilty of “discrediting a judicial decision”. Tiémogo told RSF after his release on October...

Saudi Arabia King Abdallah has issued a royal decree quashing the sentence of 60 lashes that a court in Jeddah passed last week on journalist Rozanna al-Yami. Responsibility for the Yami case has at the same time been transferred from the courts to the culture and information ministry, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported quoting culture and information ministry spokesman Abdul Rahman al...

A court in the southern city of Taraz has upheld independent newspaper owner and editor Ramazan Esergepov’s three-year jail term and two-year publishing ban, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. The sentence was confirmed at a secret hearing on October 22 which, like his original trial, was marked by irregularities. Except for the first 15 minutes, the appeal hearing was conducted behind...

The European Court of Human Rights Friday rejected by six votes to one Russian journalist Grigory Pasko’s complaint accusing his government of violating his freedom of expression under articles 7 and 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights by sentencing him to four years in prison on a spying charge, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. “We share Pasko’s disappointment as we have...

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on Kyrgyz authorities to make public the findings of their investigation into the murder of Alisher Saipov, the editor of the Uzbek-language newspaper Siyosat, who was shot in Osh two years ago. Continued impunity in the killing, which occurred in early evening in the city’s downtown district, has fostered fear among his colleagues and...

With the release of Newsweek reporter Maziar Bahari on bail, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on Iranian authorities to release the 25 journalists who still remain in prison. Bahari, Newsweek’s Tehran correspondent, was released on $300,000 bail on Saturday after spending almost four months in prison, the magazine reported. Newsweek announced his arrival in...

Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) has hailed Thursday's release of Rodrigo Angue Nguema, the Malabo correspondent of Agence France-Presse (AFP) and Radio France Internationale (RFI), although a court is insisting that the two French news organisations pay 40 million CFA francs (61,000 euros) in connection with a defamation action that was brought against him. “We welcome his release with a great...