Nairobi, December 31, 2012–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on authorities in Zambia to thoroughly investigate accusations that a well-known rhumba musician attacked a freelance photographer on Friday at a concert in Lusaka, the capital.
Eritrean Information Minister Ali Abdu Ahmed, government spokesman and censor-in-chief of the Red Sea nation, has been invisible in the past few weeks. The total absence of any independent press in Eritrea has allowed the government to maintain complete silence in the face of mounting questions and surging Internet rumors of his defection. It was…
Online journalist Houssein Ahmed Farah spent more than three months in jail in Djibouti before an appeals court finally released him in November–after his defense requested bail three times, Houssein said. His crime? Officially nothing. “It appears to have been an arbitrary arrest because there is still no evidence on file,” Houssein told me. He…
New York, December 26, 2012–Sudanese authorities have detained without charge since Monday two Eritrean journalists, Abdalal Mahmoud Hiabu and Haroun Adam, from the Sudan-based Eritrean Centre for Media Services, according to local journalists, family, and news reports.
Abuja, Nigeria, December 26, 2012–Nigerian authorities must immediately release two journalists who have been detained since Monday and allow a third journalist who has fled into hiding to return to his home and work freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. In pre-dawn raids on Monday, about 40 armed security agents arrested Aliyu Saleh,…
Exiled Somali journalists living in Nairobi were struck with disbelief this week when daily newspapers published a statement by the Department of Refugee Affairs ordering all Somali refugees to move to refugee camps. “The refugees, particularly those living in urban centers, are contributing to insecurity in the country,” the statement read. The acting commissioner for…
On December 18, 16 members of the European Parliament (MEPs) wrote an open letter to Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn calling for the immediate release of the independent journalist and blogger Eskinder Nega, who was condemned in July to 18 years in prison under the country’s tough 2009 anti-terrorism legislation.
Abuja, Nigeria, December 18, 2012–State security agents in Southeast Nigeria blocked a reporter from filing a story Saturday evening about the status of a governor who hasn’t been seen for several months. The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned this act of crude censorship. At about 11:30 p.m. local time Saturday, seven plainclothes men accosted…