Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA)

Articles by Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA)

Link to: Editor detained briefly, released on bail

Editor detained briefly, released on bail

(MFWA/IFEX) – Jonathan Leigh, managing editor of the “Independent Observer”, a Freetown-based newspaper, was arrested and briefly detained in a police cell on 15 February 2008, for allegedly defaming Minister of Transport and Aviation Ibrahim Kemoh Sesay. The journalist was detained following a court order. A Freetown magistrates’ court issued a warrant for the journalist’s […]

Link to: Sierra Leonean freelance journalist flees country following death threats, attacks, prior imprisonment and torture

Sierra Leonean freelance journalist flees country following death threats, attacks, prior imprisonment and torture

(MFWA/IFEX) – Muhamed Oury Bah, a Sierra Leonean journalist and former reporter of the banned Banjul-based “The Independent” newspaper, has fled The Gambia in the face of persecution by agents of the notoriously feared National Intelligence Agency (NIA). He was in the country as a refugee, working as a freelancer. MFWA sources reported that Bah […]

Link to: Appeals court upholds one-year prison sentence for editor accused of defaming businessman

Appeals court upholds one-year prison sentence for editor accused of defaming businessman

(MFWA/IFEX) – On 11 February 2008, an appeals court in Nouakchott confirmed the one-year prison sentence imposed on Abdel Fettah Ould Abeidna, managing editor of the “Al-Aqsa” newspaper, for defaming businessman Mohamed Ould Bouammatou. The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA)’s correspondent reported that the court also set aside the initial 300 million ouguiyas (approx. […]

Link to: Sudanese football players attack Egyptian TV crew

Sudanese football players attack Egyptian TV crew

(MFWA/IFEX) – The crew of TV1, an Egyptian television station covering the ongoing 26th African Cup of Nations in Ghana, was on 25 January 2008 attacked by some players of the Desert Hawks, the Sudanese national team. The crew went to the hotel of the Sudanese team in Kumasi, Ghana’s second largest city, to preview […]

Link to: Ban on RFI broadcasts lifted after 10 days

Ban on RFI broadcasts lifted after 10 days

(MFWA/IFEX) – On 25 January 2008, the Gambian authorities lifted their ban on Radio France International (RFI), a French public broadcaster, transmitting on FM in Banjul. Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) sources reported that after 10 days of absence on the air, RFI is now back. A release issued by the Department of State […]

Link to: RFI broadcasts suspended over airing of “erroneous news story”

RFI broadcasts suspended over airing of “erroneous news story”

(MFWA/IFEX) – On 15 January 2008, The Gambian authorities indefinitely suspended the broadcast of Radio France International (RFI) in Banjul for airing what they referred to as an “erroneous news story”. A release from the Department of State for Communications, Information and Technology, on 21 January, six days after the closure, in explaining government’s action, […]

Link to: Police manhandle journalists and briefly detain them

Police manhandle journalists and briefly detain them

(MFWA/IFEX) – Two journalists of privately-owned Accra-based newspapers were violently attacked by armed policemen on the night of 19 January 2007. Anas Aremeyaw Anas, an investigative journalist for the “Crusading Guide”, and Halifax Ansah-Addo, reporter for the “Daily Guide”, were beaten, paraded alongside suspected criminals, and detained for about twenty minutes at the police headquarters, […]

Link to: Palace official destroys journalist’s camera, orders him to leave premises

Palace official destroys journalist’s camera, orders him to leave premises

(MFWA/IFEX) – A digital camera belonging to Fred J. A. Ibrahim, a Kumasi correspondent of the “Daily Guide”, a privately-owned Accra-based newspaper, was destroyed on 11 January 2008 by Yaw Amankwah, a photographer of Manhyia Palace, the official seat of the Asante Kingdom. A furious Amankwah insulted the journalist, seized his camera and ordered him […]