Burkina Faso

(MFWA/IFEX) – Abdoul Salam Quarma, a correspondent for the Agence d’Information de Burkina (AIB), a newswire service in Titao in the province of Lorum, 230 km north of Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, was threatened with death on 24 May 2007 by a group of irate youths over a news report they were not […]

(MFWA/IFEX) – Thierry Nabyoure, a journalist with the privately-owned, Ouagadougou-based newspaper “San Finna”, faces a possible prison sentence if found guilty of charges resulting from an article he published in early 2007. On 4 June 2007, a Ouagadougou court will hear a request by the State Prosecutor to give the journalist a 15-day jail term […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is a 26 April 2007 CPJ press release: In Burkina Faso, an e-mail warns, ‘You will be gunned down’ New York, April 26, 2007 – Authorities in Burkina Faso must fully investigate a death threat against outspoken journalist and free speech activist Karim Sama, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. […]

(MFWA/IFEX) – Sam K. Le Jah, a presenter at Ouga FM, a privately-owned radio station in Ouagadougou, received death threats on 18 April 2007 for allegedly criticising the administration of President Blaise Compaoré of Burkina Faso. The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) correspondent reported that the threat was communicated to the presenter in an […]

(MFWA/IFEX) – On 26 March 2007, Thierry Nabyoure, a journalist with the privately-owned, Ouagadougou-based newspaper “San Finna”, was detained by police for allegedly defaming Colonel Mamadou Traoré, chief of staff of the National Gendarmerie. Thierry was forced to disclose his source of information and explain his motive. MFWA’s correspondent reported that Nabyoure was released on […]

(RSF/IFEX) – Reporters Without Borders has voiced stupefaction at the two-month suspended prison sentences and fines of 300,000 CFA francs (450 euros) which a court in Ouagadougou on 22 January 2007 passed on Germain Bitiou Nama, the publisher of the privately-owned fortnightly L’”Evénement”, and Newton Ahmed Barry, its editor, for linking the president’s brother, François […]

(RSF/IFEX) – Reporters Without Borders has voiced its support for the Ouagadougou-based bi-monthly “L’Evénement”, which is accused of libelling the president’s brother, François Compaoré, by linking him to the 1998 murder of journalist Norbert Zongo. The trial is due to start on 8 January 2007 in Ouagadougou. “After last year’s outrageous decision to dismiss all […]

(RSF/IFEX) – Reporters Without Borders has said it was stunned by the Burkina Faso public prosecutor’s refusal to reopen the investigation into the 1998 murder of journalist Norbert Zongo and three companions on the grounds that the document the organisation gave him on 20 October 2006 did not constitute new evidence as defined by article […]

(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has asked the Burkina Faso state prosecutor to reopen the investigation into the 1998 murder of journalist Norbert Zongo and three other persons, after providing him with new evidence implicating the president’s brother, François Compaoré, and businessman Oumarou Kanazoé. As a member of the Independent Commission of Enquiry that was set up […]

(RSF/IFEX) – On 16 August 2006, the Ouagadougou Court of Appeal upheld an investigating judge’s decision to dismiss all charges against Marcel Kafondo and “X” (meaning “other undetermined persons”) in the 1998 murder of journalist Norbert Zongo. A judicial source told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that the appeal court refused to consider the Zongo family’s appeal […]

(RSF/IFEX) – Reporters Without Borders has pledged to continue campaigning for justice in the 1998 murder of leading independent journalist Norbert Zongo after learning that the judge in charge of the investigation, Wenceslas Ilboudo, has dismissed the case against the only person ever charged. “This is an outright scandal, a disgrace,” the press freedom organisation […]

(ARTICLE 19/IFEX) – The following is a 12 December 2005 ARTICLE 19 letter to Burkina Faso Prime Minister Blaise Compaore: Blaise Compaore, President of Burkina Faso 12 December 2005 Dear Mr. President, ARTICLE 19 would first like to congratulate you on your reelection to the Burkina Faso presidency on 13 November 2005. Reaffirmed by the […]

(RSF/IFEX) – Six years have passed since newspaper editor Norbert Zongo and three of his companions were found dead in their car on a southern Burkina Faso road, on 13 December 1998. The investigation remains stalled and one of the leading suspects in the case, François Compaoré, President Blaise Compaoré’s brother, has never been detained […]

(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has called on the Burkina Faso police to announce the charges against Mathieu N’Do, managing editor of the weekly “San Finna” and one of the leaders of the opposition party National Union for Democracy and Development (Union nationale pour la démocratie et le développement, UNDD). N’Do has been held incommunicado at a […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is an 8 November 2004 CPJ press release: BURKINA FASO: CPJ troubled by editor’s detention New York, November 8, 2004 – The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by the detention of Mathieu N’do, managing editor of the pro-opposition weekly San Finna. Local sources say N’do was arrested November 5 […]

(RSF/IFEX) – Until recently, the investigation into the 13 December 1998 murder of journalist Norbert Zongo was at a standstill. Now, however, new testimony could see Examining Judge Wenceslas Ilboudo reopen his investigation. Although six suspects were named by the independent commission of inquiry set up the day after the death of the editor, only […]