Sudan: Newspapers confiscated for publishing statements by Islamist opposition leader

The entire print-run of two Sudanese newspapers were seized by The National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) yesterday. Al-Tayar and Al-Youm Al-Tali newspapers Monday (20 February) editions were confiscated after they published statements made by Hassan al-Turabi the leader of the Popular Congress Party (PCP). Turabi alleged that his office had been wiretapped by security services, and showed journalists some of the listening devices he found. Security agents arrived after midnight at the newspaper’s Khartoum offices and seized the Monday edition. Twenty newspaper reporters protested the confiscation in front of the National Press Council, which licenses newspapers.

Djibouti: Radio journalist threatened and tortured for 24 hours

A radio journalist was abducted and tortured by police last week in Djibouti, Africa. Farah Abadid Hildid of radio station La Voix de Djibouti, was forced into a car by one uniformed police officer and one plain clothed officer on Thursday morning. The journalist was blindfolded and taken to a cell, where he was forced to remove his clothes, and was beaten with pieces of rubber. Hildid’s abductors told him: “We’ve had enough of you. You must stop broadcasting information about us. You must stop bothering the police and the Department for Investigation and Documentation. It will be the worse for you if you continue.”

Sudan: Publisher stops press to protest censorship

The publisher of an independent Sudanese newspaper has withheld an edition of the paper to protest censorship. National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) raided the offices of independent newspaper Al-Jaridah on Sunday, seizing all copies of the first edition of the paper since it was forced to close in 2011. Before the closure, the government had warned the publisher against columns by journalists who previously worked with Ahjras Al Hurriya, another independent newspaper that was banned. As a result of the confiscation, the newspaper’s publisher withheld the Monday edition of the paper in protest against the censorship.

Somalia: Media network director gunned down outside home

The director of a media group has become the first journalist to be killed in Somalia in 2012. Shabelle Media Network director Hassan Osman Abdi was shot outside his home in Mogadishu at 6.30pm on Saturday. Five gunmen shot the father of three in the head and chest as he returned from work. The shooting is believed to be connected to the network’s recent radio coverage of government corruption. Abdi is the first journalist to be killed in 2012 in Somalia, and the third Shabelle Media Network director to be murdered, following Bashir Nur Gedi in 2007 and Mukhtar Mohamed Hirabe in 2009.

Ethiopia: Jailed dissident blogger may face death penalty

Jailed Ethiopian dissident blogger Eskinder Nega will stand trial in March for terrorism charges, a federal high court judge ruled this week. He could face the death penalty if convicted. Nega and five other journalists were last November charged with providing support to Ginbot 7, a banned opposition movement that the government formally designated a terrorist entity under the 2009 anti-terrorism law last year. At this week’s hearing, the judge confirmed all six charges for two of those accused and dismissed all but one charge against three others.

Uganda: Photojournalist shot at by security forces

A Ugandan photojournalist was shot at by security forces on Tuesday as he covered their attack on the motorcade of opposition leader Kizza Besigye. Isaac Kasamani, a photojournalist with the independent Daily Monitor, said men in plainclothes shot at him from a blue police van some 10 metres away as he kneeled to take a photo of an exploding tear gas canister thrown by the agents. He wrote that the bullet narrowly missed him

Senegal: Suspended prison sentences for journalists

Two Sengalese journalists have been given suspended prison sentences after been convicted of criminal libel. Editor Mamadou Biaye and reporter Mamadou Ticko Diatta of private daily newspaper Le Quotidien were given a three month suspended sentence after the publication of an article alleging that Bakary Diémé, deputy mayor of the district of Goudomp, had links to armed separatists of the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC). Le Quotidien told the court their information came from military sources, but Diémé rejected the allegations. Diémé was awarded 2 million CFA francs (US$3,500).

Ethiopia: Journalists and blogger convicted of terrorism

Two journalists and a US-based blogger (tried in absentia), were convicted on charges of terrorism in Addis Ababa yesterday. They may face the death penalty. Reeyot Alemu, a columnist with the independent weekly Feteh, deputy editor Woubshet Taye of the now-defunct weekly Awramba Times, and Elias Kifle, exiled editor of the Washington-based opposition website Ethiopian Review, were charged with lending support to an underground network of outlawed opposition groups.