07 Feb 12 | Africa, Index Index, minipost
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.”
21 Apr 11 | Index Index, minipost
Vietnamese authorities have dropped charges against a female blogger who was detained for :infringing on the interests of the state”. She was arrested for defamation after describing a senior official’s son as a womanizer. Le Nguyen Huong Tra, who blogged under the pseudonym Co Gai Do Long, was arrested last October and released on bail this January. Authorities have declared her actions to be “less serious” than first thought.
14 Oct 10 | Index Index, minipost, News and features
A Congolese journalist who was arrested on 7 October has been charged with defamation. Kasereka Taipa, who works for local radio station Moto Oicha, and also reports for radio Victoire Horizon, had accused the national intelligence agency (ANR) of levying a tax on anyone wanting to build a permanent structure. After being detained at ANR regional headquarters for four days, Taipa has now been released. His trial begins on 15 October.
19 Apr 10 | Index Index, minipost
Geovanni Acate, director of Radio Televisión Oriente, is facing a 10-year prison sentence after being charged with disrupting public tranquility and instigating the public to commit the crime of rebellion. Geovanni Acate, as Radio La Voz and other radio stations in the region, has been persecuted after reporting on the protests that took place in Bagua Grande in 2009.
