Democratic Republic of Congo (1)
Democratic Republic of Congo (1)
Patrice
Booto, Le Journal and Pool Malebo
Imprisoned:
November 2, 2005
Security
forces arrested Booto, publisher of the thrice-weekly Le Journal and its sister publication, Pool Malebo. Booto was detained at a police station
in the capital, Kinshasa, according to the local press freedom organization
Journaliste en Danger (JED).
On
November 10, Booto was transferred to the state security court, where he was
charged the following day with publishing "false rumors." He was
questioned about articles published in the two newspapers in mid-September that
claimed the government had given a large sum of money to Tanzanian education
agencies while Congolese teachers were on strike for more pay.
Le
Journal and Pool
Malebo were suspended
for three months in September by the independent but officially sanctioned High
Authority on Media (HAM), over the same reports. Some local sources suspected
that the HAM's action was the product of political pressure.
Representatives
from JED were able to meet with the jailed journalist on November 9. He said he
had been forced at gunpoint to reveal his source for the story and that the
source was arrested, JED reported. The name of the source was not revealed.
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Eritrea (15)
Zemenfes
Haile, Tsigenay
Imprisoned:
January 1999
Haile,
founder and manager of the private weekly Tsigenay, was detained by Eritrean authorities
and sent to Zara Labor Camp in the country's lowland desert. Authorities
accused Haile of failing to complete the national service program, but sources
told CPJ that the journalist completed the program in 1994.
Near the end of 2000, Haile was
transferred to an unknown location. CPJ sources said he was released from
prison in 2002 but was sent to the army to perform national service. CPJ
sources believe that Haile's continued deprivation of liberty is part of the
government's general crackdown on the press, which began in September 2001.
Ghebrehiwet
Keleta, Tsigenay
Imprisoned:
July 2000
Keleta,
a reporter for the private weekly Tsigenay, was kidnapped by security agents on his way to work
sometime in July 2000 and has not been seen since. The reasons for Keleta's
arrest remain unclear, but some CPJ sources believe that Keleta's continued
detention is part of the government's general crackdown on the press, which
began in September 2001.
Amanuel
Asrat, Zemen
Medhanie
Haile, Keste Debena
Yusuf
Mohamed Ali, Tsigenay
Mattewos
Habteab, Meqaleh
Temesken
Ghebreyesus, Keste
Debena
Said
Abdelkader, Admas
Dawit
Isaac, Setit
Seyoum
Tsehaye, freelance
Dawit
Habtemichael, Meqaleh
Fesshaye
"Joshua" Yohannes, Setit
Imprisoned:
September 2001
In
the days following September 18, 2001, Eritrean security forces arrested at
least 10 local journalists. The arrests came less than a week after authorities
abruptly closed all privately owned newspapers, allegedly to safeguard national
unity in the face of growing political turmoil in the tiny Horn of Africa
nation.
International
news reports quoted presidential adviser Yemane Gebremeskel as saying that the
journalists could have been arrested for avoiding military service. Sources in
the capital, Asmara, however, said that at least two of the detained
journalists, freelance photographer Tsehaye and Mohamed Ali, editor of Tsigenay, were legally exempt from national
service. Tsehaye was reportedly exempt as an independence war veteran, while
Mohamed Ali was apparently well over the maximum age for military service.
CPJ
sources said the suspension and subsequent arrests of independent journalists
were part of a full-scale government effort to suppress political dissent in
advance of December 2001 elections, which the government canceled without
explanation.
On
March 31, 2002, the 10 jailed reporters began a hunger strike to protest their
continued detention without charge, according to local and international
sources. In a message smuggled from inside the Police Station One detention
center in Asmara, the journalists said they would refuse food until they were
either released or charged and given a fair trial. Three days later, nine of
the strikers were transferred to an undisclosed detention facility. According
to CPJ sources, Swedish national Isaac was sent to a hospital, where he was
treated for post-traumatic stress disorder, a result of alleged torture while
in police custody.
During
a July 2002 fact-finding mission to Asmara, a presidential official told a CPJ
delegation that only "about eight" news professionals were being held
in detention facilities, whose locations he refused to disclose.
Swedish
diplomats have worked to win Isaac's freedom. He was released for a medical
checkup on November 19, 2005, and allowed to phone his family and a friend in
Sweden. Isaac was returned to jail two days later, according to CPJ sources.
Selamyinghes
Beyene, Meqaleh
Imprisoned:
Fall 2001
Beyene,
a reporter for the independent weekly Meqaleh, was arrested sometime in the fall of
2001. CPJ was unable to confirm the reasons for his arrest, but Eritrean
sources believe that his detention was part of the government's general
crackdown on the press, which began in September 2001. In 2002 he was taken to
do military service, and was still performing his national service requirement,
according to CPJ sources.
Hamid
Mohammed Said, Eritrean
State Television
Saleh
Aljezeeri, Eritrean
State Radio
Imprisoned:
February 15, 2002
During
a July 2002 fact-finding mission to the capital, Asmara, CPJ delegates
confirmed that around February 15, Eritrean authorities arrested Said, a
journalist for the state-run Eritrean State Television (ETV); Saadia Ahmed, a
journalist with the Arabic-language service of ETV; and Aljezeeri, a journalist
for Eritrean State Radio. Ahmed was released, according to CPJ sources,
although the date is unclear.
The
reasons for their arrests are unclear, but CPJ sources in Eritrea believe that
their continued detention was related to the government's general crackdown on
the press, which began in September 2001.
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Ethiopia (13)
Dawit
Kebede, Hadar
Feleke
Tibebu, Hadar
Imprisoned:
November 2, 2005
Zekarias
Tesfaye, Netsanet
Dereje
Habtewolde, Netsanet
Fassil
Yenealem, Addis Zena
Wosonseged
Gebrekidan, Addis Zena
Andualem
Ayle, Ethiop
Nardos
Meaza, Satanaw
Mesfin
Tesfaye, Abay
Wenakseged
Zeleke, Asqual
Imprisoned:
November 9-14, 2005
Serkalem
Fassil, Menilik,
Asqual and Satanaw
Iskinder
Nega, freelance
Imprisoned:
November 27, 2005
Sisay
Agena, Ethiop and the Ethiopian Free Press Journalists
Association
Imprisoned:
November 29, 2005
In
a massive crackdown on the private press following antigovernment protests,
authorities arrested at least 13 editors and publishers in the capital, Addis
Ababa. Police prevented most private newspapers from publishing; raided
newspaper offices, confiscating computers, documents and other materials; and
forced much of the remaining press into hiding. The journalists were jailed
along with dozens of opposition and civil society leaders. On November 9, Prime
Minister Meles Zenawi threatened to charge detainees with treason, which is
punishable by death in Ethiopia.
The
crackdown began amid clashes between security forces and opposition supporters
who accused Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of rigging polls in May that returned
him to power. More than 40 people were killed in a week of violence, which
began on November 1.
Starting
on November 5, the government released a list of people it planned to prosecute
for attempting to "violently undermine the constitutional order in the
country." The list identified 17 publishers and editors of eight private,
Amharic-language weekly newspapers, in addition to opposition leaders, the
heads of the Ethiopian Teachers' Association, and local representatives of the
international charity Action Aid. It also included the president of the
Ethiopian Free Press Journalists' Association (EFJA), Kifle Mulat. State media
distributed photographs of many of these journalists and called on the public
to tell police their whereabouts.
Security
and intelligence agents arrested nine of the targeted journalists, many of whom
were in hiding. Four more turned themselves in after their names were listed.
The
detained journalists were not immediately charged. Several appeared in court,
along with dozens of detained opposition leaders, trade unionists, and others
arrested in the crackdown. They were denied bail, and their detention was
extended while police investigated their supposed activities, according to local
and international news reports.
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Niger (1)
Salifou
Soumaila Abdoulkarim, Le
Visionnaire
Imprisoned:
November 12, 2005
Abdoulkarim,
director of the private newspaper Le Visionnaire, was placed in "preventive
detention" at police headquarters in the capital, Niamey, after State Treasurer Siddo Elhadj
brought a criminal defamation suit against him. Abdoulkarim was transferred to
prison on November 17 and denied bail pending his trial.
Abdoulaye
Massalaki, president of Niger's journalist union, told CPJ that preventive
detention for journalists charged with defamation is allowed under Niger's 1999
press law.
Elhadj
brought the suit over an article in Le Visionnaire that accused him of embezzling
17
billion CFA francs (US$30 million) in government funds. On December 2, a Niamey court sentenced Abdoulkarim to two
months in jail.
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Nigeria (1)
Owei
Kobina Sikpi, Weekly
Star
Imprisoned:
October 11, 2005
Sikpi,
publisher of the tabloid Weekly Star in the southern city of Port Harcourt, was arrested by
agents of the State Security Service (SSS) over an article in the previous
week's edition that accused a local official of money laundering, the paper's
editor, Obinna Ahiaidu, told CPJ.
Sikpi
was arrested along with four printing press staff as the Weekly Star was going to press, according to
Ahiaidu. The four were released the same day, but Sikpi was held at the SSS
office in Port Harcourt. He was later transferred to the city's central prison.
Security agents who raided the newspaper's premises also impounded its
4,000-copy print run.
On
October 17, Sikpi was brought before Port Harcourt High Court and charged with
several counts of publishing false information, according to international news
reports and a CPJ source. He was denied bail.
Sikpi was charged in relation to an article that accused
the state governor of involvement in money laundering. He was also charged over
articles published in May and June relating to separatist militia in the
oil-rich Niger delta and the presence of former Liberian president Charles
Taylor in Nigeria.
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Rwanda (1)
Jean
L้onard Rugambage, Umuco
Imprisoned:
September 7, 2005
Rugambage,
a reporter for the twice-monthly newspaper Umuco, was jailed in the central town of
Gitarama and accused of participating in the 1994 genocide, although several
local sources told CPJ they believe he was jailed for his journalistic work.
His arrest came soon after he wrote an article for the August 25 edition of Umuco that accused officials of the
semi-traditional "gacaca" courts in the Gitarama region of
corruption, mismanagement, and manipulating witnesses.
Gacaca
courts, in which suspects are judged by their peers with no recourse to a
defense lawyer, were set up to try tens of thousands of genocide suspects who
have been languishing in overcrowded jails since 1994. The genocide left some
800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus dead in less than three months. Human
rights activists and independent observers have raised concern that the courts
have given rise to false accusations in some cases.
CPJ
sources said accusations that Rugambage participated in the genocide were based
on contradictory and vague testimony by a small number of witnesses. They said
the testimony was not given until after Rugambage's articles appeared. One
witness testified to a gacaca court in Rugambage's home village that he took
part in a murder; other witnesses said he may have participated in looting and
distributing arms, the sources said. Rugambage was not present at these hearings.
A prisoner has written a letter stating that Rugambage was not present during
the murder for which he was accused.
In
November, Rugambage was found in contempt of a gacaca court and sentenced to a
year in prison after he protested that the presiding judge was biased.
Rugambage said the judge refused to consider defense evidence or testimony,
according to CPJ sources. The underlying charges were still pending.
Umuco, which is based in Kigali and publishes
mainly in Kinyarwanda, has been targeted for its criticism of the authorities.
In August, its editor Bonaventure Bizumuremyi was twice held by police for
questioning following an article on police corruption, and a story that called
for the release of jailed opposition leader and former president Pasteur
Bizimungu. In mid-September, police seized copies of Umuco and summoned Bizumuremyi several times
for questioning.
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Somalia (1)
Ahmed
Mohammed Aden, Gedonet
Online and Jubba FM
Imprisoned: November 28, 2005
Reporter
Aden was jailed in the southern city of Kismayo following an online story
claiming that the Jubba Valley Alliance had been importing arms in violation of
a U.N. arms embargo, the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) reported.
The
Jubba Valley faction, which controls Kismayo, accused him of posting
"false information" in an article on the Gedonet Online Web site, according to NUSOJ. Aden also
works for private radio station Jubba FM in Kismayo and is a prominent member
of NUSOJ.
Somalia
has had no functioning central government since the collapse of the Siad Barre
regime in 1991. A Transitional Federal Government (TFG) established under a
2004 peace accord remains divided between factions based in the town of Jowhar
and the capital, Mogadishu. Jubba Valley Alliance leader Barre "Hirale"
Aden Shire is reconstruction minister in the TFG.
Aden
was freed without charge on December 2, NUSOJ reported.
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