Attacks on the Press - Committee to Protect Journalists

attacks on the press in 2009africa: snapshotsweeks, which included the four-day voting period in May, the station’s lawyer,Jonathan Kara, told CPJ. The charge stemmed from the rebroadcast ofa 2008 political program questioning government claims about the country’sfood supply. In June, a magistrate in Blantyre ordered police to allowthe station to re-open, according to local reports. A magistrate acquittedthe journalists of all charges in September.MOZAMBIQUE»»»»Ildefonso Muanantatha, governor of Tete province, issued public threats inMarch against Bernardo Carlos, a reporter for the private daily Noticias, accordingto news accounts. The threats, which included references to the 2000murder of journalist Carlos Cardoso, were apparently linked to stories criticalof the provincial government, news reports said. No charges were filed inconnection with the threats.South African police arrested convicted killer Anibal dos Santos Jr. in Johannesburgin August. The fugitive, convicted in the 2000 murder of investigativereporter Carlos Cardoso, had escaped from a Mozambican prison inDecember 2008. Dos Santos, better known as Anibalzinho, was returned toMozambique to complete his 30-year sentence. He had escaped from prisonand been recaptured twice before.REPUBLIC OF CONGO»»Bruno Jacquet Ossébi, a Franco-Congolese online journalist, died in a Brazzavillemilitary hospital in February, 12 days after being severely burned ina mysterious fire that killed his girlfriend and her 8- and 10-year-old childrenin their home, according to news reports and CPJ research. Ossébi wasknown for his critical coverage of alleged government malfeasance and forpublicizing an international lawsuit questioning the private wealth of the rulingfamilies of Congo and other African nations. Two successive magistrateswere appointed to investigate the cause of the fire, but no report or findingshad been released by late year.»»In February, the state-run High Council on Freedom of Communication orderedthe private TV station Canal Bénédiction Plus off the air shortly afterit ran footage of a 1991 national political convention that marked a transitionfrom one-party rule to a multiparty democracy, according to local journalists.Council President Jacques Banaganzala accused the station of airing violentand abusive statements. The suspension was lifted in July, according to thepress freedom group Journaliste en Danger.RWANDA»»»»The government suspended the BBC’s Kinyarwandan-language service inApril, citing what it called bias in a program that was to be aired on the1994 Rwandan genocide, the BBC reported. The weekly program “Imvon’imvano” (Analysis of the Source of the Problem) was to have featured adebate on forgiveness concerning the genocide, according to the RwandanNews Agency. Program Director Ally Mugenzi said the government objectedto the comments of a former presidential candidate, Faustin Twagiramungu.The ban was lifted two months later on the condition that thestation comply with government-set content guidelines, the InformationMinistry said.President Paul Kagame signed a new media law in August. An earlier versionpassed by parliament had been rejected by Kagame, who heeded mediaconcerns that it contained education requirements for journalists, accordingto the Association of Rwandan Journalists. The final version, although seenas an improvement, contained repressive clauses, CPJ research showed. Thelaw included vague language that allows authorities to prosecute journalistscriminally for publishing material considered in “contempt to the head ofstate” or that “endangers public decency.” Journalists may still be prosecutedunder the existing penal code, which continues to include provisions on defamationand privacy infringement that can lead to prison sentences.SENEGAL»»»»In April, President Abdoulaye Wade pardoned imprisoned editor El MalickSeck of the daily 24 Heures Chrono. Seck was serving a three-year prison sentenceover an editorial alleging the involvement of Wade and his son, Karim, ina money-laundering scandal, according to defense lawyer Demba Ciré Bathily.Seck served eight months of his sentence. Wade also pardoned 12 other individuals,including a driver and two bodyguards for former Transport MinisterFarba Senghor, who were convicted of vandalizing the offices of 24 HeuresChrono and the newspaper L’As in August 2008, according to news reports.In June, a criminal court judge sentenced editor Papa Samba Diarra andreporter Mame Sèye Diop of the newsweekly Weekend to three months in5 65 7