Committee to Protect Journalists - Angola

Independent Angolan journalist's home robbed in Cabinda

2012-06-13T20:08:32Z

New York, June 13, 2012--Authorities in Angola's enclave of Cabinda must immediately launch an investigation into the robbery at the home of an independent journalist on Sunday, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Unidentified assailants ransacked the house of José Manuel Gimbi, a correspondent of the U.S. government-funded broadcaster Voice of America and a human rights lawyer, at around 4 p.m., when no one was at home, the station reported. The assailants stole items related to the journalist's work, including two computers, an external hard drive, a voice recorder, two USB sticks, and a bag containing important documents related to his work, Arão Tempo, a lawyer and Gimbi's mentor, told CPJ. VOA reported that the assailants also stole some personal items, including books and jewelry belonging to Gimbi's wife.

Angolan police raid weekly's office, seize computers

2012-03-12T21:42:57Z

New York, March 12, 2012--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns today's Angolan police raid at the independent weekly Folha 8, which was conducted in connection with a politicized investigation into the publication of a satirical photo montage. Officers confiscated all of Folha 8's computers, effectively crippling the operations of one of the country's two remaining independent publications.

Attacks on the Press in 2011: Regulating the Internet

2012-02-22T04:36:01Z

Legislation for Internet security can quickly turn into a weapon against the free press. Cybercrime laws are intended to extend existing penal codes to the online world, but they can easily be broadened to criminalize standard journalistic practices. By Danny O'Brien

Attacks on the Press in 2011: Angola

2012-02-21T05:25:00Z

Youth-led and social media-fueled protests demanding reform challenged President José Eduardo Dos Santos, who marked 32 years in power. Parliament, controlled by Dos Santos’ MPLA party, considered legislation to “combat crime” in information and communication technology. The bill, pending in late year, would stiffen penalties for defamation and would criminalize electronic dissemination of “recordings, pictures, and video” of any individual without the subject’s consent. In nationally televised remarks targeting citizen journalists, Dos Santos lashed out at the use of the Internet to organize “unauthorized demonstrations to insult, denigrate, provoke uproar and confusion.” (One YouTube user called Kimangakialo posted more than 150 clips of protests.) In the same April address, Dos Santos claimed journalists enjoyed unfettered freedom to criticize his leadership. But CPJ research shows that security forces assaulted, detained, and obstructed independent journalists covering protests and official functions. Powerful public figures and officials used security forces and the courts to settle scores with reporters investigating allegations of abuse of power, corruption, or misconduct. Two journalists, Armando José Chicoca and William Tonet, were sentenced to prison over their critical coverage; they were free on appeal in late year. José Manuel Gimbi faced intimidation from security forces while reporting from the militarized, oil-rich enclave of Cabinda. Denial-of-service attacks targeted the exile-run websites Club-K and Angola24horas, taking them off-line in October.

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Armed men threaten journalist in Angola's Cabinda

2011-10-31T20:51:04Z

New York, October 31, 2011-- Authorities in the Angolan enclave of Cabinda should take all steps necessary to ensure the safety of independent journalist José Manuel Gimbi, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today following reports that unidentified armed men raided Gimbi's residence Thursday and threatened to harm him.

Angolan editor given one-year suspended prison term

2011-10-12T17:09:02Z

New York, October 12, 2011--An Angolan judge handed a suspended prison term and a fine to the editor of an independent newspaper on Monday in connection with stories that alleged corruption and abuse of power by five senior officials close to President José Eduardo Dos Santos, according to news reports and local journalists.

Judge Manuel Pereira da Silva convicted William Tonet, editor of the private weekly Folha 8, of criminal libel and sentenced him to a year in prison, suspended for two years, and a fine of 10 million kwanza (US$105,000), news reports said. In a highly unusual move, the public prosecutor withdrew the charges in court and demanded the acquittal of the journalist, local journalists told CPJ. The judge ignored the request.

Journalists attacked while covering protest in Angola

2011-09-06T19:18:10Z

New York, September 6, 2011--Angolan security forces attacked journalists covering an anti-government protest on Saturday in the capital, Luanda, news reports said. At least two dozen people were arrested and several others injured as police blamed the violence on protesters.

Angola denies entry to Mozambican journalists

2011-08-16T22:17:18Z

New York, August 16, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists is troubled that Angolan immigration authorities barred Joana Macie and Manuel Cossa, two Mozambican journalists, from entering the country on Thursday, claiming they lacked the proper entry visas.

Angola detains journalist over report on mass fainting

2011-08-05T19:23:23Z

New York, August 5, 2011--Angolan authorities should explain Tuesday's arrest and incommunicado detention of a radio journalist for reporting on a nationwide wave of mass fainting of people, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Angola's ruling MPLA obstructing independent reporting

2011-03-16T21:39:32Z

New York, March 16, 2011--Angola's ruling MPLA government must allow the press to freely cover public events, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today after a number of recent incidents in which authorities barred journalists from covering public events related to the country's opposition party.

Angolan journalist gets year in prison for defamation

2011-03-03T20:52:44Z

New York, March 3, 2011--A court in Angola's southwestern province of Namibe sent a journalist to prison today without due process over his coverage of a sexual harassment scandal that implicated the province's top judicial official, according to local journalists and news reports.

Judge Manuel Araujo sentenced Armando José Chicoca, a freelancer who reports for U.S. government-funded broadcaster Voice of America (VOA) and private Angolan newspapers such as Folha 8, Agora, and O Apostolado, to one year in prison and a fine of 200,000 kwanza (US$2,100), according to news reports.

Attacks on the Press 2010: Africa Analysis

2011-02-15T05:55:00Z

Across Continent, Governments Criminalize
Investigative Reporting

By Mohamed Keita

Across the continent, the emergence of in-depth reporting and the absence of effective access-to-information laws have set a collision course in which public officials, intent on shielding their activities, are moving aggressively to unmask confidential sources, criminalize the possession of government documents, and retaliate against probing journalists. From Cameroon to Kenya, South Africa to Senegal, government reprisals have resulted in imprisonments, violence, threats, and legal harassment. At least two suspicious deaths--one involving an editor, the other a confidential source--have been reported in the midst of government reprisals against probing news coverage.

Attacks on the Press 2010: Angola

2011-02-15T05:49:00Z

Top Developments
• Legislation criminalizes coverage that insults president, state institutions.
• Three top papers purchased by mysterious corporation. Coverage grows timid.

Key Statistic
2: Journalists killed in 2010, one a Togolese sports reporter, killed in soccer team ambush.

President José Eduardo dos Santos led one of the world's fastest-growing economies, but he faced criticism over social inequalities, corruption, and press freedom violations. Capitalizing on booming oil production and diamond mining, his government invested a reported US$1 billion to host the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations in January. But the soccer tournament, which the government saw as an opportunity to enhance its international image, was marred when separatist guerrillas ambushed the Togolese national team, killing two people, including a journalist, and exposing the precarious security situation in the restive enclave of Cabinda. Dos Santos, in power since 1979, and his ruling Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) sought to tamp down on independent reporting of the ambush. By mid-year, a corporate entity whose principals were not disclosed had purchased three of the country's leading independent newspapers and toned down their coverage.

In Angola, radio commentator injured in stabbing

2010-10-22T17:26:24Z

New York, October 22, 2010--A popular Angolan radio commentator, whose satirical broadcasts have been critical of the government, was injured in a stabbing this morning in the capital city of Luanda, according to local journalists and news reports.

Angolan radio presenter gunned down

2010-09-08T21:37:57Z

New York, September 8, 2010--Following Sunday's murder in Angola of Alberto Graves Chakussanga, a radio journalist with a station critical of the ruling MPLA government, authorities must conduct a thorough and transparent investigation exploring all possible leads and bring those responsible to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.