A public transport motorcylist drives past a mosque in central Maiduguri, in 2010 (AFP/File, Pius Utomi Ekpei) |
- Ethiopia steps up terrorism allegations against journalists
- Liberian media outlets targeted in post-election violence
- In Puntland, fourth radio station hit by grenade attack
Nigerian
journalist shot dead / Islamist group claims responsibility
Authorities
in northeastern Nigeria
must urgently take steps to ensure the safety of media workers, the Committee
to Protect Journalists said Tuesday, October 25 following Saturday’s
assassination of a journalist in a shooting claimed by Islamist militants.
Zakariya
Isa, 41, a reporter and cameraman with the state-run Nigeria Television
Authority (NTA), was shot dead in front of his residence in Maiduguri, capital
of the Northeastern state of Borno, on Saturday around 7:30 p.m. local time,
Sale Mahdi, news manager of the local NTA bureau, told CPJ. Moments before the
murder, the gunman and another man had approached Isa to borrow a water kettle,
supposedly to perform ritual Islamic ablutions before prayer, Mahdi said. Isa
had been on vacation since Friday, he added.
Today,
Boko Haram, a militant Islamist group which seeks the imposition of Shariah law
in the predominantly Muslim states of northern Nigeria, disclosed it was behind
the killing, according to local journalists and Agence France-Presse.
AFP
cited an email statement in the local Hausa language from Boko Haram spokesman
Abul Qaqa, in which the militants said they “killed [Isa] not because he was a
journalist but for his personal misconduct.” The statement added: “We killed
him because he was spying on us for Nigerian security authorities,” according
to AFP. “We have ample evidence … that he was giving vital information to
security agencies on our mode of operation that led to the arrest of many of
our members.”
Local
journalists and Nigerian authorities rejected the accusations, according to
AFP. The Boko Haram statement also warned that the group would not hesitate to
“kill anybody that steps on our toes” and follows a statement in Maiduguri in September in
which the group threatened to attack media organizations over what it described
as misrepresentation of its activities, press reports said.
“We
condemn the murder of Zakariya Isa and deplore the targeting of journalists by
Boko Haram,” said CPJ Africa Advocacy
Coordinator Mohamed Keita. “We call on Nigerian authorities to counter
near-impunity in the murders of journalists by ensuring that Isa’s killers are
brought to justice.”
According
to Mahdi, threatening text messages from Boko Haram members and supporters
prompted three journalists from the local NTA station to flee the region in
recent weeks. NTA journalists also come under pressure from security forces
over their coverage of Boko Haram, he said.
Boko
Haram, which means “Western education is forbidden,” has claimed responsibility
for a series of bombings and assassinations in the country, including the
August 26 suicide bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Nigeria.
Isa
started his career at NTA in 1992 and left behind two wives and two children,
according to Mahdi.
Ethiopia steps up terrorism allegations against journalists
Ethiopian
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi last week accused journalists in the country of
being “messengers” with “terrorist” groups, while a state newspaper accused the
chief editor of an independent publication of having terrorist ties and called
on security forces to “take action” against him.
The
America-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on October 25 said it
condemns this campaign of intimidation against the private press.
In
comments Thursday to Ethiopia’s
ruling party-controlled Parliament, Zenawi said many journalists in Ethiopia
are working with “terrorist” groups as “messengers.” He claimed the government
has evidence linking imprisoned journalists to terrorist acts and is aware of
other journalists working in Ethiopia with terrorist ties, local journalists
told CPJ.
Since
June, government authorities have arrested six independent journalists on
alleged terrorism charges including Awramba Times Deputy Editor Woubshet Taye,
Feteh columnist Reyot Alemu, freelance journalists Eskinder Nega and Sileshi
Hagos and two Swedish journalists, Johan Persson and Martin Schibbye. Referring
to Ethiopia’s
private press as “vagabonds,” Zenawi accused the private press of not
understanding their profession, according to local reports.
Earlier
this month in an interview with Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten, Zenawi said
Persson and Schibbye were accomplices to terrorists and “are not journalists.”
Zenawi’s
remarks to parliament came one day after state-run daily Addis Zemen (“New
Era”) published a scathing attack against independent weekly Awramba Times in
what appears to be part of prolonged smear campaign against the paper and its
chief editor, Dawit Kebede. The Amharic-language daily published an opinion
piece entitled “How long shall we tolerate violence-mongers,” that urged
security forces to “take action” against Kebede, according to a translation of
the article commissioned by CPJ.
The
paper accused Kebede, a CPJ international press freedom award winner, of
working with “terrorist groups” and called on the government to revoke the
conditional pardon that led to his release in 2007 after 21 months in prison –
a stint that followed the 2005 post-election crackdown on Ethiopia’s private press. The
recent Addis Zemen comments are the latest installment in a series of articles
critical of the independent weekly, according to local journalists. In July,
Judge Muluken Teshale dismissed a defamation lawsuit brought by Kebede and his
Blue Earth PLC media company against Addis Zemen Editor-in-Chief Anteneh Haylu
and the paper’s publisher, the Ethiopian Press Agency, according to CPJ
research.
“This
latest outburst by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi is part of a systematic campaign
to use allegations of terrorism to wipe out critical journalism in Ethiopia.
The smear campaign by state media contributes to the climate of fear,” said CPJ
East Africa Consultant Tom Rhodes. “Through
this intimidation of the private press, Ethiopia is sacrificing its
legitimacy as a democratic government.”
The
entire staff of the former leading independent paper, Addis Neger, fled into
exile in 2009 after Addis Zemen accused the paper of promoting
anti-constitutional groups by covering the banned political party Ginbot 7.
Liberian media
outlets targeted in post-election violence
The
Committee to Protect Journalists, CPJ condemns Monday’s (October 17) arson
attack against a Liberian radio station and threats made against another radio
station’s journalists in response to their coverage of Liberia’s presidential elections.
At
around 3 a.m. on Monday, unidentified assailants in a red pickup threw a
Molotov cocktail at Love FM, a station favorable to main opposition party
Congress for Democratic Change, Jallah Griefield, news director of the
station’s parent company Love Media Group, told Agence France-Presse. The
station went off the air for three hours and resumed broadcasting since the
technical studios were damaged but not the station’s transmitters, said Paul
Mulbah, the station’s owner, according to press reports.
CPJ
said on October 19 that Griefield told them that “the station had received
threatening text messages and phone calls over its favorable coverage of the
Congress for Democratic Change, the party contesting incumbent President Ellen
Johnson Sirleaf’s bid for a second five-year term in this month’s polls.”
Nine
opposition parties have contested the official results of the October 11 first
round of voting that placed Sirleaf, a 2011 Nobel Peace Laureate, ahead of
Congress’ candidate, Winston Tubman, on the basis of allegations of
poll-rigging, according to news reports. A run-off was scheduled for November
8.
In
a Monday press statement, the Press Union of Liberia also expressed alarm at
the harassment and intimidation of two talk-show hosts of pro-Sirleaf station
Truth FM over their coverage of the elections. Unidentified assailants
attempted to break into the home of Truth FM journalist Smith Toby early
Monday, according to news reports, while his colleague, Patrick Honnah,
reported receiving threatening phone calls and text messages, Press Union
President Peter Quaqua told CPJ.
“Liberians
have a right to hear reports and commentary on the full range of political
opinions in the country,” said CPJ Africa
Advocacy Coordinator Mohamed Keita “We condemn attempts to restrict that right
through violence and intimidation against journalists. We urge the police to
conduct a timely and transparent investigation into these attacks and threats
and bring the perpetrators to justice.”
Liberia
National Police spokesman George Bardue told CPJ on Wednesday that one suspect
for the arson attack on Love FM was in custody. Monday’s attack followed a
Saturday arson attack on the headquarters of Johnson Sirleaf’s Unity Party,
according to news reports.
In Puntland, fourth
radio station hit by grenade attack
The
Committee to Protect Journalists, CPJ condemns Tuesday’s (October 18) grenade
attack on a Puntland radio station and calls for authorities to take immediate
steps to identify and prosecute the perpetrators.
This
was the third local radio station hit with a blast in three months, CPJ
research showed.
On
Tuesday evening, a grenade was hurled into the studios of Radio Galkayo, a
community radio station covering local news and current affairs based in the
city of Galkayo
in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland. The blast destroyed the back wall
and a window to the office of Managing Director Abdullahi Hersi, local reports
said. No one was hurt in the attack, but the station’s staff was working in
fear, the reports said.
In
January 2010, Radio Galkayo was damaged by a grenade that destroyed one studio
and a roof, local journalists said.
“This
is the second grenade attack against Radio Galkayo since last year and
represents a clear attempt to intimidate the station into silence,” said CPJ East Africa Consultant Tom Rhodes. “Authorities must make
genuine efforts to look into this string of attacks and bring the perpetrators
to justice.”
A
total of four grenade attacks against Puntland-based radio stations have
occurred since 2010, according to CPJ research. In October 2010, unknown
assailants threw a grenade at the private broadcaster Horseed FM. In August,
unidentified assailants threw a grenade at Radio Daljir. Earlier in May, an
unexploded bomb was found in front of Radio Daljir’s gate, the Somali
journalists’ union reported.
Working
conditions for journalists in Puntland have been extremely dangerous recently,
CPJ research shows. On September 14, unknown assailants shot Radio Galkayo
journalist Horroyo Abdulkadir four times after she left the station. On
September 22, unidentified gunmen shot Radio Codka Nabdda (Voice of Peace)
reporter Hassan Mohamed Ali twice at a tea shop just outside the station, local
journalists told CPJ. Both journalists are receiving treatment for severe
injuries.
In
a September press release, Puntland’s Ministry of Security blamed a wave of
assassinations and bombings gripping the region since 2006 on the hard-line
Islamist militant group Al-Shabaab. More than 30 public figures, including
community leaders, intellectuals, and officials, have been assassinated in the
violence since 2008, according to local news reports.
The
Committee to Protect Journalists is a New York-based, independent, nonprofit
organization that works to safeguard press freedom worldwide.
- Distributed via Africa Press Organisation, APO
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