FEBRUARY 8, 2005 Posted: February 11, 2005 Radio France Internationale CENSORED FM broadcasts of Radio France Internationale (RFI) were cut at around noon, according to RFI and international news reports. Communications Minister Pittang Tchalla told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that RFI had gone off air because of a “technical fault.” But AFP quoted a source close…
In Togo, journalists are skeptical but see opportunity in the regime’s bid to shed sanctions. By Adam Posluns with reporting by Alexis Arieff With 37 years in power, Togolese President Gnassingbé Eyadéma is Africa’s longest-serving head of state. Even after the country introduced multiparty elections more than a decade ago, Eyadéma and his ruling party,…
By Ann CooperIn real-time images, the war in Iraq splashed across television screens worldwide in March, with thousands of journalists covering the U.S.-led war against Saddam Hussein and his regime. The conflict and its aftermath had a far-reaching impact on the press and its ability to report the news, with the reverberations felt in some…
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…
With a press code that imposes sentences of up to five years in prison and a hefty fine for “insulting the Head of State,” and as much as three years in jail for defaming the courts or the armed forces, Togo earned a spot on CPJ’s list of the “World’s Worst Places to Be a…
New York, July 24, 2003—Dimas Dzikodo, editor-in-chief of the independent weekly L’Evenement, was released from prison this morning after his lawyers paid his 500,000 CFA franc (US$864) fine for “attempting to publish false information,” sources in the capital, Lomé, told CPJ today. Dzikodo was arrested at a cybercafé in Lomé on June 14 while he…
New York, July 23, 2003—Two of three journalists who have been imprisoned in Togo for more than a month were released early this morning from custody. Philip Evégnon, publication director of the private weekly L’Evenement, and Jean de Dieu Kpakpabia, journalist at the private weekly Nouvel Echo, were acquitted of “attempting to publish false information…
New York, July 15, 2003—Three imprisoned Togolese journalists announced yesterday morning that they would begin a 48-hour hunger strike to protest their continued detention on charges of “publishing false information and disturbing public order.” Dimas Dzikodo and Philip Evégnon, editor-in-chief and publication director, respectively, of the private weekly L’Evenement, and Jean de Dieu Kpakpabia, journalist…