Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is extremely concerned about the whereabouts and the safety of Hassan Bility, editor-in-chief of The Analyst newspaper, which is based in Liberia’s capital, Monrovia. He has been held incommunicado in state custody for almost two months.
New York, August 15, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is pleased to announce that a Kenyan journalist who was serving a six-month sentence in a maximum-security prison just outside the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, was released yesterday by presidential decree. Njehu Gatabaki, an opposition member of Parliament and the publisher and editor-in-chief of Finance magazine,…
New York, August 13, 2002—A journalist who was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment for publishing an “alarming report” was transferred yesterday to a maximum-security prison outside the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. On August 9, 2002, Njehu Gatabaki, an opposition member of Parliament and the publisher and editor-in-chief of Finance magazine, was found guilty of publishing an…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is concerned that the constitution of the new African Union (AU) does not protect the right to press freedom. In fact, the language of this new constitution marks a significant setback for press freedom and freedom of expression in Africa, both of which were enshrined in the constitution of the Organization of African Unity, the precursor to the AU.
New York, August 9, 2002—Three journalists who had been sentenced to 30 days of “preventative detention” were released on Wednesday, August 7, on the condition that they remain in the capital, Kigali, and report regularly to the police. However, it is unclear whether the charges against them have been dropped. Robert Sebufirira, Elly MacDowell Kalisa,…
New York, August 6, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) today confirmed that Eritrean journalist Simret Seyoum, a writer and general manager at the banned private weekly Setit, has been in Eritrean government custody since early January. This puts the total of jailed Eritrean journalists at 14, although government sources recently acknowledged holding only “about…
New York, August 2, 2002—During a recent fact-finding mission to Eritrea, a presidential official told a delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) that eight independent journalists are currently imprisoned and held incommunicado. Although the official, presidential spokesperson Yermane Gebremesken, cited eight journalists, CPJ puts the total number of journalists jailed in Eritrea at…