Articles by Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
Telecommunications cabinet minister fired
Dr. Pallo Jordan, Minister of Posts, Telecommunications and Broadcasting, was dismissed from his cabinet post on 28 March 1996 after a series of conflicts with President Nelson Mandela and other senior African National Congress (ANC) members. Jordan was a strong opponent of state interference in the broadcasting services and regularly opposed Mandela and fellow cabinet […]
Newspaper “Evrensel” ordered shut down; paper’s editor sentenced to two years in prison
On 9 April 1996, Istanbul State Security Court ordered the leftist daily “Evrensel” shut down for one month for having published two articles on 30 August 1995. The first one, entitled “Special Forces Execution in Midyat,” was ruled to have incited racism, which is in violation of Article 312 of the Penal Code. The second […]
Newspaper vendor arrested
In early March 1996, Jude Sinnee, a newspaper vendor in Bori, an Ogoni settlement in Rivers State, was arrested at his newsstand by armed agents of the Rivers State Internal Security Task Force. The agents, led by a Major Obi, also confiscated 500 copies of various publications, including 100 copies of the daily newspaper “National […]
Six journalists and media workers arrested at printing press
On 26 March 1996, State Security police arrested approximately six editors, reporters and clerical employees of the newspapers “Ethiop” and “Tekwami” as copies of the newspapers were being printed in the city of Bole. Police seized the newspapers’ galleys and transported the journalists to Ma’ekelawi prison. Family members confirmed that Dereje Haile, a journalist for […]
Supreme Court upholds sentences of two journalists and media worker
**Updates IFEX alerts dated 18 March, 26 January 1996, 29 November, 1 September 1995 and others** During the last week of March 1996, the Indonesian Supreme Court upheld the three-year sentences of Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) members Ahmad Taufik and Eko Maryadi, as well as the 20-month sentence of AJI office assistant Danang Wardoyo. […]
Six journalists beaten
On 10 August 1995, plainclothes police, youth-wingers from the ruling Kenyan African National Union (KANU) party, and riot police beat six journalists and two other travellers. The journalists were attacked while covering a visit by Richard Leakey, Secretary General of the soon-to-be SAFINA party, to the Nakuru magistrate’s court where detained human rights activist Koigi […]
BBC news items censored by KBC
Reports indicate that the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) on several occasions has tampered, without authorization, with British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) news items about Kenya that Minister of Information Johnstone Makau claims discredit the government. The BBC contracted with the KBC to re-broadcast its world television news on KBC stations. The contract between the BBC and […]
AJI worker sentenced to 20 months in prison
**Updates IFEX CH alert of 16 June. For background on arrests, see IFEX alerts dated 15 June and 28 March 1995** On 24 August 1995, the Central Jakarta District Court sentenced Danang Kukuh Wardoyo, an office assistant for the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), to 20 months in prison for helping distribute the AJI magazine, […]