Around the world, 122 journalists were in prison at the end of 2004 for practicing their profession, 16 fewer than the year before. International advocacy campaigns, including those waged by the Committee to Protect Journalists, helped win the early release of a number of imprisoned journalists, notably six independent writers and reporters in Cuba.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the imprisonment of Paul Kamara, editor and publisher of For Di People newspaper. Kamara was sentenced yesterday to two years in prison stemming from October 2003 articles that criticized Your Excellency.
Although the number of journalists in prison in Africa at the end of 2003 was lower than the previous year, African journalists still faced a multitude of difficulties, including government harassment and physical assaults. Many countries in Africa retain harsh press laws. In the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, some…
Sierra Leone has continued effort to rebuild after a brutal 11-year civil war that officially ended in January 2002. At year’s end, a large international peacekeeping force that has helped stop the fighting, disarm rebels, and retrain the Sierra Leone army remained in place. In 2003, a U.N.-backed Special Court and a Truth and Reconciliation…
New York, November 24, 2003—Heavily armed police this morning confiscated all equipment belonging to the independent For Di People newspaper, in connection with a hefty damages award in a civil libel case. Editor Paul Kamara, who is also facing seditious libel charges in another case, was appearing in court at the time of the raid.…
Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned that criminal charges have been brought against Paul Kamara, managing editor of the For Di People newspaper, and three staff members of the John Love Printing Press, which prints the paper. The charges stem from an October 3 article in the paper implying that Your Excellency is a convict.
Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned that criminal charges have been brought against Paul Kamara, managing editor of the For Di People newspaper, and three staff members of the John Love Printing Press, which prints the paper. The charges stem from an October 3 article in the paper implying that Your Excellency is a convict.
New York, October 8, 2003—Paul Kamara, founding editor of Sierra Leone’s popular For Di People newspaper, has been detained by police three times since Friday, October 3, in connection with that day’s lead story. According to news reports, on October 3, police arrested Kamara, held him for six hours at the Criminal Investigations Department (CID),…
Although the Kenya-based East African Standard, one of Africa’s oldest continuously published newspapers, marked its 100th anniversary in November, journalism remains a difficult profession on the continent, with adverse government policies and multifaceted economic woes still undermining the full development of African media.