Sudanese security service officers on Sunday February 19, 2012 raided the printing sections of two Arabic dailies, Al-Tayar and Alyoum Altali, and confiscated all copies of the two publications that were due for distribution. According to the Sudanese Journalists Union (SJU), which is the local affiliate of the Eastern Africa Journalists Association (EAJA), editors of the two publications were not told the reason for the confiscation of the newspapers. The Sudanese government has a history of seizing critical newspapers and harassing editors. [..]
A journalist with the Standard Media Group, the second largest daily, has received threats after he wrote a story which exposed massive corruption involving the police and other state officers manning an entry point with Uganda. The journalist, Sammy Jakaa, early this week wrote an expose on how local police and customs officials at the border town of Malaba were involved in massive corruption racket which slowed transit traffic and frustrated regional trade. Jakaa said he had received threatening telephone messages and had been trailed by strange people since the story was published. [..]
Eastern Africa Journalists Association (EAJA) today expressed concern over the arrest and detention of a senior Tanzanian journalist during a public demonstration to pressurize the government to resolve an ongoing doctor’s strike. EAJA Secretary General Omar Faruk Osman said the arrest, on Thursday, of the director of the Tanzania Media Women's Association (Tamwa), Ananilea Nkya in Dar es Salaam, was uncalled for and a violation of media freedom. [..]
A journalist with the Nation Media Group’s television channel in Uganda, NTV, has been sacked over absence from duty to attend to his wife who was admitted with labour pains at a Kampala hospital. Bernard Opwonya was sacked on February 7, 2011 for allegedly “absconding duty” after he rushed his expectant wife to hospital at dawn on January 27. [..]
Eastern Africa Journalists Association (EAJA) has praised a Ugandan court for dismissing a state instigated forgery case against two senior editors with the Daily Monitor, which has dragged on since 2009. Makindye Court Chief Magistrate, Joyce Kavuma, today ruled that the two, Daniel Kalinaki, the Managing Editor, and Henry Ochieng', the Political Editor, had no case to answer as no sufficient evidence had been adduced to sustain the case against them. [..]
Eastern Africa Journalists Association (EAJA) has condemned last Saturday’s killing of a senior journalist and trade unionist in Somalia, Hassan Osman Abdi, by gunmen in Mogadishu and demanded that the matter be investigated by an independent team and not the Transitional Government’s security agencies. Abdi, who was the director of Shabelle Media Network and also an official of the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) within Mogadishu, was shot dead on Saturday 28 January 2012 as he arrived home in the Madina district in Mogadishu at 18:30 local time. [..]
Prison authorities in Burundi yesterday transferred Hassan Ruvakuki, a journalist working for Bonesha FM radio, who is also a correspondent for Radio France International (RFI), to another prison facility –Muramvya, in Central Burundi in a move that has sparked off protests from his lawyers and the Union of Burundi Journalists (UBJ). Ruvakuki, who has been held in police cells in Cankuzo in Eastern Burundi since his arrest on November 28, 2011, was first transferred to Ruyigi Prison along with other co-defenders amid protests and fears over their safety on January 6, 2012. [..]
Eastern Africa Journalists Association (EAJA) has condemned the arrest and detention of 25 journalists by the authorities in Somaliland and called for their immediate release. EAJA President Dr. Muheldin Ahmed Idris described the move as “cruel and uncalled for assault on the media by security guards”. Presidential guards on Sunday, 15 January 2012, beat up journalists from HornCable TV, Jamhuuriya Newspaper, Waaheen Newspaper, Geeska Afrika newspaper, Bulsho TV and Sahan newspaper who were holding a peaceful protest in front of Somaliland presidential palace. [..]
Sudanese Security Service on Thursday January 14, 2012 shut down Alwan, an Arabic daily based in Khartoum, a day after the security officers confiscated all the copies due for distribution. Sudanese Journalists Union (SJU), an affiliate of Eastern Africa Journalists Association (EAJA), said the security officers did not give any reason for the closer of the newspaper. The editor, Husain Khojaly, told SJU that the security personnel stormed into the paper’s premises and ordered the closure without giving any reason. [..]
Burundian radio journalist Hassan Ruvakuki, who has been in police cells since November 2011, appeared at the Cankuzo High Court for the third time Wednesday January 11, 2012 with 22 others but declared lack of confidence in the court saying they were unlikely to get a fair trial. The journalist and co-defendants requested the Court of Appeal of Gitega, to transfer them to another court with similar jurisdiction for trial saying they doubted the impartiality of the Cankuzo High Court. Their trial was postponed to January 15, 2012. [..]