Cameroon

(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is a 14 July 2005 CPJ press release: CAMEROON: Government lifts two-year ban on private radio station New York, July 14, 2005 – Government officials unsealed the studios of Freedom FM on Tuesday, more than two years after the Communications Ministry shuttered the private radio station just as it was about […]

(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has condemned the 6 July 2005 detention of Joseph Bessala Ahanda, editor-in-chief of the weekly “Le Front”, and accused the authorities of arresting him for investigation corruption. “We support the committee formed to press for Ahanda’s release and call on Prosecutor Abena Protais to free him at once,” the organisation said. Police […]

(RSF/IFEX) – On 26 April 2005, a court sentenced two journalists from the regional weekly “L’Oeil du Sahel” to five months in prison with no parole and a fine of five million CFA francs (approx. US$9,800; 7,600 euros) for defamation. RSF expressed concern over the continuing practice of jailing journalists in Cameroon for press offences. […]

(RSF/IFEX) – On 9 February 2005, the Douala Appeals Court granted a provisional release to Jules Koum Koum, editor-in-chief of the independent bi-weekly “Le Jeune Observateur”. The journalist has spent the past month in very harsh conditions in New Bell prison, serving a six-month sentence for libel. He is expected to be released as soon […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – In a 21 January 2005 letter to President Paul Biya, CPJ expressed deep concern over the recent jailing of Jules Koum Koum, publication director of the private bimonthly “Le Jeune Observateur”, on criminal defamation charges. Two journalists are now imprisoned in Cameroon for their work. On 10 January, Koum was sentenced to six […]

(RSF/IFEX) – On 10 January 2005, Jules Koum Koum, the editor of the twice-monthly privately-owned newspaper “Le Jeune Observateur”, was sentenced to six months in prison with no parole for defamation in an article questioning the management of two insurance companies. Koum has been held in New Bell prison, in the country’s business capital, Douala, […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – In a 7 December 2004 letter to Cameroonian President Paul Biya, CPJ condemned the imprisonment of Eric Wirkwa Tayu, publisher of the small private newspaper “Nso Voice”, which is based in the western town of Kumbo. According to local sources, Tayu has been in prison in Kumbo since 28 July, when he was […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is a 19 July 2004 CPJ press release: CAMEROON: BBC journalists released New York, July 19, 2004-Farouk Chothia and Ange Ngu Thomas, two BBC journalists who were detained last week by Cameroonian soldiers in the disputed Bakassi peninsula and accused of spying, were released without charge on Friday, July 16, according […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is a CPJ press release: CAMEROON: Two BBC journalists under house arrest New York, July 14, 2004 – The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) calls for the immediate release of two BBC journalists arrested on Sunday, July 11, while reporting in the Bakassi peninsula, a disputed territory between Cameroon and Nigeria. […]

(JED/IFEX) – Michel Michaut Moussala, publication director for the Douala-based bi-weekly “Aurore Plus”, has been summoned to appear before the Douala-Bonanjo Court of First Instance’s correctional division on 24 June 2004, to face insult and defamation charges brought by Joseph Antoine Bell, a former goalie for the Lions indomptables du Cameroun soccer team. Douala is […]

(JED/IFEX) – On 18 May 2004, Jean Célestin Edjangué, a journalist with the newspaper “Le Messager” (“The Messenger”), published in Douala, was manhandled by police while covering a demonstration protesting the issuing of entry visas outside the French Consulate. In its 19 May edition, the paper reported that a police officer and six of his […]

(JED/IFEX) – Richard Max Bosoh Mpandjo and Luther Ouandie, publication director and journalist, respectively, of the newspaper “L’Indépendent” (“The Independent”), have been ordered to appear in court on 6 May 2004, to respond to charges of “defamation and spreading false information”, brought by Ndo Ndo Jean Rollin Bertrand, director of pharmaceuticals for the Ministry of […]

Mesmin Kangeulieu and Bonny Philippe, programme director and sportscaster, respectively, of Radiotélévision Siantou (RTS), a private station broadcasting from the capital, Yaounde, were ordered to appear in court on 10 June 2004 to respond to defamation charges brought by former Lions Indomptables junior soccer team trainer Jean-Paul Akono. Akono filed his lawsuit on 22 April. […]

(JED/IFEX) – On 19 February 2004, Health Minister Urbain Olanguena Awono opened an administrative and judicial inquiry into a news story that appeared in the private newspaper “Le Messager”. The minister was angered by the paper’s publication of an article in its 18 February edition (issue 1624), which reported on the administration of a vaccine […]

(JED/IFEX) – On 3 February 2004, a court in the capital, Yaounde, found Delor Magellan Kamgaing and Victor Bosco Kelbakal, publication director and reporter/photographer, respectively, with the Yaounde-based weekly “J’informe”, guilty of “defamation”. The journalists each received a suspended three-month prison sentence and were ordered to pay a symbolic 1 CFA franc in damages and […]

(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has condemned a crackdown on the media in the run-up to the 2004 presidential elections as the authorities ordered about a dozen independent television and radio stations to shut down. “Cameroon is on its way to becoming one of the most repressive countries in central Africa as far as freedom of expression […]