(CPJ/IFEX) – Fernando Quinova, Cabo Delgado province correspondent for the state-owned Mass Communications Institute, has been rearrested in Cabo Delgado after escaping in January 1999 from an illegal 23-day detention, during which police demanded that the journalist pay money in return for “the privilege of seeing the sun.” **Updates IFEX alerts of 3 February and […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – Fernando Quinova, Cabo Delgado province correspondent for
the state-owned Mass Communications Institute, has been rearrested in
Cabo Delgado after escaping in January 1999 from an illegal 23-day
detention, during which police demanded that the journalist pay money in
return for “the privilege of seeing the sun.”
**Updates IFEX alerts of 3 February and 28 January 1999**
Background Information
According to local press reports, in December 1998, Radio Mozambique
broadcast a report by Quinova, in which he criticized police conduct in
the arrest of Cabral Manica, a larceny suspect who died in police
custody, allegedly after being tortured. After the broadcast, police
detained Quinova at a local jail, and held him incommunicado. No charges
were filed. Police reportedly stole 400,000 meticais (US$32) from him
while he was in detention, and demanded that Quinova pay them 100,000
meticais (US$8) in return for “the privilege of seeing the sun.” Quinova
escaped from the jail, and walked through the bush for two weeks before
reaching Pemba, the provincial capital, on 25 January 1999.
Appeals To
His Excellency Joaquim Alberto Chissano
President
Avenida Julius Nyerere 2000
Caixa Postal 285
Maputo, Mozambique
Fax: +258 492 068In the United States:
Ambassador Marcos Namashuluh
Embassy of Mozambique
199 M Street NW
Washington, DC 20036
Fax: +202 835 0245
