Africa

NOVEMBER 27, 2006
Posted: December 29, 2006

Christopher Andu Ezieh, The Heron
ATTACKED

Police in the southwestern town of Buea dragged Ezieh, publisher of the private English-language weekly, from his home and subjected him to a brutal beating. Local journalists linked the attack to his newspaper's critical coverage of the police response to student protests at Buea University.

NOVEMBER 21, 2006
Posted: December 27, 2006

Maka Gbossokotto, Le Citoyen
Jacob Guilio Kamandoko, Le Centrafriqu’Un,
Mathurin Constant Nestor Momet, Le Confident
Michel Alkhaly Ngady, Les Temps Nouveaux

New York, December 27, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by the criminal convictions on Tuesday of two Sudanese journalists in connection with a column critical of government perks.

A criminal court in the capital, Khartoum, ordered Zuhayr al-Sarraj, former columnist for the private daily Al-Sahafa, to pay a fine of 5 million Sudanese pounds (US$2,500) or spend one year in jail, according to the newspaper’s former editor, Noureddin Madani. Madani was also convicted in the case and ordered to pay a fine of 2 million Sudanese pounds (US$950) or spend six months in prison.

New York, December 27, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by the criminal convictions on Tuesday of two Sudanese journalists in connection with a column critical of government perks.

A criminal court in the capital, Khartoum, ordered Zuhayr al-Sarraj, former columnist for the private daily Al-Sahafa, to pay a fine of 5 million Sudanese pounds (US$2,500) or spend one year in jail, according to the newspaper’s former editor, Noureddin Madani. Madani was also convicted in the case and ordered to pay a fine of 2 million Sudanese pounds (US$950) or spend six months in prison.

New York, December 26, 2006-The Committee to Protect Journalists mourns the December 22 killing of veteran Nigerian journalist Godwin Agbroko in the commercial city of Lagos. Agbroko, editorial board chairman of the private daily ThisDay, was found shot to death in his car, according to local and international media reports. Three police officers and two others were also found dead at the scene.

The circumstances of the killing remained unclear. Several initial reports said Agbroko was slain when he encountered the scene of a robbery, but those reports offered few other details. Local journalists told CPJ that Agbroko was killed by a single shot to the neck, and that his valuables were untouched. A police investigation is under way.

Majority are murdered; worldwide death toll rises

 UPDATE 

December 19, 2006
Original Alert: December 18, 2006

Mohamed Amin Adan Abdulle, Global Broadcasting Corporation
IMPRISONED

New York, December 18, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by an upsurge in arrests and the harassment of journalists by rival groups battling for control of Somalia. Both the Islamists who hold Mogadishu and the U.N.-backed transitional government based in Baidoa, northwest of the capital, have cracked down on the press this month.

On December 17, the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) in Mogadishu detained leaders of the respected National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) at the airport. They prevented NUSOJ Secretary-General Omar Faruk Osman from boarding a plane for Dubai, and also detained the union’s Organizing Secretary Ali Moalim Isak who had accompanied Osman to the airport, local journalists said. Both men were held without charge for nearly 12 hours in a police station where officials pressed Osman to reveal the passwords to his e-mail accounts, and questioned him about the purpose of his trip, he later told CPJ. Officials seized the journalists’ passports, cell phones, a laptop, and other documents. They have not been able to leave the country.

New York, December 14, 2006—Three private radio journalists returned to prison today after their one-day trial in the capital, Bujumbura, according to local journalists. The three have been jailed for more than two weeks while a fourth journalist went into hiding after receiving a judicial summons. Since September, the government has cracked down on three prominent independent stations for their critical reporting of a disputed coup plot.

December 8, 2006

Dominic Mahlangu, Sunday Times
Carlos Litulo, freelance
HARASSED

Police in the southeastern village of Xicumbane detained investigative reporter Mahlangu and freelance photographer Litulo for 14 hours without charge and confiscated their notebooks, cell phones, and a camera, according to CPJ interviews and news reports. A police official ordered the arrests after Mahlangu questioned him about the activities of the notorious Mozambican criminal Annanias Mathe, the journalist told CPJ. Xicumbane is home to Mathe, who is jailed in South Africa on more than 50 charges that include murder and rape, according to international news reports.