Articles by Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA)
Journalists barred from press conference
(MFWA/IFEX) – On 22 December 2004, journalists were prevented from covering a press conference address by the head of state, General Lansana Conté. According to MFWA-Guinea, the “red berets” of the Presidential Security Unit’s Autonomous Battalion (Bataillon autonome de la sécurité présidentielle, BASP), a special branch of the army responsible for the president’s security, barred […]
Issue of weekly “Le Témoin” seized, managing editor in hiding
(MFWA/IFEX) – On 20 December 2004, issue 99 of the weekly newspaper “Le Témoin” was seized by police in the capital, Niamey. According to MFWA, four plainclothes police officers went to the Nouvelle Imprimerie du Niger (NIN), the country’s largest private printing press, at about 6:00 p.m. (local time), and asked to see the director. […]
National Assembly passes tough new media registration requirements
(MFWA/IFEX) – On 14 December 2004, the National Assembly, The Gambia’s rubber-stamp Parliament, passed the Criminal Code (Amendment) Act, 2004, in spite of local and international appeals and protests by journalists and human rights bodies. The act amends provisions of the country’s Criminal Code, which previously provided for a fine on conviction for defamation. Under […]
National Media Commission Act repealed but proposed bill poses new threat to independent media
(MFWA/IFEX) – The following is an MFWA press release: THE GAMBIA MEDIA UNDER SIEGE A proposed Criminal Code Amendment Bill, which the government-dominated, and controlled, National Assembly is set to rubber-stamp into law, is perhaps the most ominous evidence yet that the government of President Yaya Jammeh is determined to kill off the independent media […]
Journalist in coma after being assaulted
(MFWA/IFEX) – On 13 November 2004, Mohamed Amara Josiah, a correspondent for “Standard Times” newspaper in Kenema, eastern Sierra Leone, was assaulted by a group of men until he fell into a coma. Amara is currently responding to treatment at a local hospital in the region. According to MFWA sources in Sierra Leone, the attack […]
Journalists attacked by angry youths
(MFWA/IFEX) – On 29 October 2004, rampaging youths in the capital, Monrovia, attacked a vehicle carrying a team of journalists from the independent newspaper “The Analyst”. The journalists had gone to verify news of hostilities that were alleged to have broken out in a Monrovia suburb between Christian and Muslim youths. According to MFWA sources, […]
Editor appeals two-year prison sentence
(MFWA/IFEX) – Paul Kamara, the jailed editor of the independent newspaper “For Di People”, has appealed the two-year prison sentence imposed on him by the High Court. In a 12-point statement filed with the Appeal Court in the capital, Freetown, on 22 October 2004, Kamara stated that the “judgement is against the weight of evidence” […]
MFWA deeply concerned about attacks on newspapers seen to be “pro-rebel”
(MFWA/IFEX) – On 25 October 2004, youth supporters of President Laurent Gbagbo called the Young Patriots seized, tore up and prevented the sale of pro-opposition newspapers in the commercial capital of Abidjan. The Young Patriots warned newspaper vendors in different parts of Abidjan, including Yopugon, Port Bouet, Marcory and Cocody, not to sell newspapers considered […]