22 Mar 12 | Africa, Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost
A Zimbabwe court on Monday fined six activists 500 USD (315 GBP) each and ordered them to carry out 420 hours of community service for conspiring to commit public violence during a meeting at which they watched video footage of Egyptian mass uprisings. Harare magistrate Kudakwashe Jarabini ordered former opposition politician Munyaradzi Gwisai and five others to do community service or face a year in jail. He said that, although watching a video was not a crime, the “manner and motive” of the meeting showed bad intent, ruling that showing the footage that included “nasty scenarios” was intended to arouse hostility towards Zimbabwe’s government.
22 Mar 12 | Africa, Index Index, minipost
Soldiers in Mali stormed the state TV and radio station in central Bamako yesterday, announcing they had seized control of the country hours after attacking the presidential palace. In a video clip circulating online, spokesman for the National Committee for the Restoration of Democracy and State (CNRDR), Captian Amadou Haya Sanogo, announced an immediate curfew, the suspension of the constitution and dissolving of democratic institutions. The soldiers have claimed the government is not giving them enough arms to tackle a northern rebellion by ethnic Tuareg separatists, in a conflict that has seen 195,000 people displaced since mid-January.
21 Mar 12 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost
A Syrian journalist has been beaten, arrested and detained whilst covering a protest in Damascus. Rudy Othman, a prominent freelance journalist, was arrested by security forces during a protest on Thursday, but his whereabouts, legal status, or condition have not been released by the Syrian government. This is the third occasion on which Othman, who has covered the Syrian uprising for a number of regional news outlets, has been detained.
21 Mar 12 | Africa, Index Index, minipost
A private television station in the Democratic Republic of Congo was stormed by unidentified men yesterday morning. Radio Télévision Kindu Maniema (RTKM) who broadcast from the capital of Maniema province was attacked by a group of men, who set fire to the station’s satellite antenna, and damaged the station’s offices. Programme presenter Mira Dipenge went into hiding five days ago, fearing he would be arrested following orders from the governor of the province, Tutu Salumu. In early February, Salumu ordered station management stop broadcasting call-in programmes in which callers could criticise his management of the province.
