Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)

On 7 June 1996, Sintayehu Abate, editor-in-chief of the Amharic- language newspaper “Remet”, was sentenced by the Central High Court to one year in prison for publishing a pornographic photograph and material in the 12 October 1995 issue of the newspaper. He is being held in Central Prison in Addis Ababa. Recommended Action Send appeals […]

**Updates IFEX alerts dated 12 and 4 January 1996, and 22 December 1995** On 12 June 1996, an appeal court confirmed the two-year jail sentences handed down against three journalists of the opposition daily “La Voie” for insulting President Henri Konan Bedie. The three journalists–Abou Drahamane Sangare, director of publications of the Nouvel Horizon group, […]

On 10 May 1996, George Onah, the defence correspondent for the independent newspaper “Vanguard”, was arrested for an article he wrote about the reshuffling of military personnel. He was released later that same day, but re-arrested on 15 May. He is being ordered to reveal his sources. Currently, Onah is being held incommunicado. Recommended Action […]

**Updates IFEX alert dated 12 June 1996** On 13 June 1996, psychiatrist and human rights activist Dr. Eyad Sarraj was ordered by the Palestinian State Security Court in Gaza to remain in detention for 15 more days, on grounds that he allegedly assaulted a police officer while in custody. Neither Sarraj’s family nor his attorney, […]

Bonificacio de Andrada, a member of the Brazilian Congress who serves as the attorney for Congress’s Chamber of Deputies, has begun criminal and civil proceedings against television commentator Arnaldo Jabor for comments he made during a news bulletin on 30 May 1996 on Rede Globo, Brazil’s most popular television network. Jabor likened the Chamber to […]

**Updates IFEX alerts dated 24 May 1996, 16 June and 29 May 1995** On 9 June 1996, the Shura Council (the upper house of the Egyptian parliament) passed a new press bill which failed to adopt any of the major revisions demanded by Egyptian journalists. The foremost of those demands was the repeal of the […]

**For background to previous arrest, see IFEX alert dated 24 May 1996** On 9 June 1996, Palestinian plainclothes policemen arrested Dr. Eyad Sarraj, a respected psychiatrist and head of the Palestine Independent Commission for Citizens’ Rights (PICCR) at his home in Gaza. Attorney General Khaled al-Qidra announced that Sarraj had been detained for interrogation for […]

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has recently written the following letter to Javier Garza Calderon, the Chief Executive of Grupo Domos, a privately owned Mexican telecommunications company based in Monterrey, Mexico. In 1994 it purchased 49 per cent of ETECSA, the Cuban state telephone company, with which it had entered into a joint venture. […]