In Algeria, Hafnaoui Ghoul, a correspondent for the weekly newspaper El-Youm, was provisionally released from prison on 25 November 2004. Ghoul was convicted of defamation on 26 May 2004 and sentenced to six months imprisonment. On 9 June 2004 he was fined 300,000 dinars and sentenced to a further two months imprisonment on additional defamation charges. Two days later this was increased to three months. Ghoul faced yet another increase in his sentence, bringing his total sentence to twelve months, and an additional fine of 50,000 dinars on 8 August 2004.

  In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the publication director of the Kinshasa-based newspaper Tapis Rouge, Feu D’or Bonsange Ifonge, was released from prison on bail on 24 December. Bonsange was arrested and detained on 18 December over an article that was published in the 16 December edition of his newspaper alleging that public funds were being mismanaged and misappropriated at the Taxation Department. The article was signed by Thony Héritier, which is believed to be a pseudonym. Bonsange refuses to name the actual journalist who wrote the article.

  In Egypt, Ahmed Ezz Eldin Ahmed, editor of the twice-weekly Al-Shaab, was released on 1 January after almost three months in Tora Prison, in the capital city of Cairo. The editor was arrested on 5 October and sentenced to two weeks in prison on a charge of "belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood movement". He was brought before the same court every two weeks for nearly three months and each time his two-week sentence was renewed.

  In Ethiopia, a federal high court decision reversed a 13-month-old government ban on the Ethiopian Free Press Journalists’ Association (EFJA) on 24 December, 2004. The court declared the Justice Ministry’s November 2003 ban on the EFJA to be "illegal". It also dissolved an organisation created by the ministry to replace the EFJA and ordered the ministry to pay the organisations legal costs. The court also annulled a system for electing the EFJA leadership that had been imposed by the ministry, making only EFJA members eligible to form the organisation’s governing body. Also in Ethiopia, Wosonseged Gebrekidan, editor of of private Amharic-language publication "Ethiop was released from prison on 31 December 2004 after one week of detention. Gebrekidan had been charged with defamation following an article that appeared in March 2001, in which the Justice Ministry was reported to have prematurely dropped a case against a businesswomen accused of demolishing her neighbours’ house without legal permission. Unable to pay his bail, the editor spent a week in jail before financial contributions from the newly re-instated EFJA and international NGOs secured his release. This is not the only legal charge against Ethiop; on 2 December, Harqa Haroye, justice minister in the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front government, brought a libel suit against Gebrekidan, editor Andualem Ayele and deputy editor Tesfa Tegegne Tadesse, over an article that appeared in the newspaper about political developments within the army and an international court in The Hague’s arbitration of a border dispute with Eritrea.

  In Gambia, Deyda Hydara, a veteran journalist and press freedom advocate was shot dead by unidentified attackers as he drove home from his office in the capital city of Banjul on 16 December 2004. Hydara, who also also the owner of The Point newspaper, had been an outspoken opponent of the National Media Commission Act, and was a leading member in a group of independent media who challenged the constitutionality of the Act in the Supreme Court. The controversial Act was repealed in parliament on 13 December only days before the Supreme Court was to issue a decision on the case. Also in the Gambia, two pieces of media legislation have been introduced in parliament, which, if approved by President Jammeh, threaten to severely set back the gains in press freedom achieved by the repeal of the National Media Commission Act. The first piece of legislation, an amendment to the Criminal Code, imposes mandatory prison sentences of six months to three years for media owners or journalists convicted of publishing defamatory or seditious material, without the option of a fine. The amendment also calls for prison sentences of at least six months for those found guilty of publishing or broadcasting false news. In addition, the legislation allows the state to confiscate without judicial oversight any publication deemed seditious. The second piece of legislation is an amendment to the Gambias Newspaper Act. The original law required all print media owners to register with the government, and to sign a statement known as a bond that they own enough money or assets to ensure payment of any penalties imposed by a court for press offences, including libel or sedition. The latest amendment raises this bond from 100,000 dalasis (US$3,348) to 500,000 (US$16,740). The legislation also extends this requirement to broadcast media owners and renders all existing registration null. Media owners will have to re-register within two weeks if the law goes into effect, with the presidents approval, on 2 February.

  In Nigeria, a number of journalists were assaulted by a team of police officers and members of an anti-riot unit, at a meeting of the National Executive Council of Nigeria’s ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Abuja, on 4 January. The journalists were not allowed to take notes or photograph those attending and the proceedings. When Anambra State Governor Chris Ngige arrived, he received a rousing ovation. At that moment, the police officers reportedly initiated an attack on the journalists, hitting them with gun butts, batons, police boots and horse whips. Some of the journalists were reportedly injured while others had their cameras damaged or lost valuables, including their mobile telephones. Yomi Odunuga, Abuja bureau chief of "The Punch", and Segun Jacob Olatunji, a correspondent for the "Nigerian Tribune" , were wounded as a result of the attack. Other journalists reportedly injured in the attack were: Gbenga Abiodun, a photojournalist with the "Daily Independent"; Abayomi Fayese, a photojournalist with "The Guardian"; Kennedy Ebomade, of the "Daily Trust"; Ibrahim Samaila, of "The Punch"; Francis Ojo, of the "Daily Champion"; as well as Akin Osimolade and Sunday Adah, both of "TELL" magazine. Innocent Okafor, of "This Day" newspaper, Monday Emoni, of "The Comet" newspaper, and George Edemevughe, of Channels Television, had their cameras damaged. The police were reportedly acting on the orders of PDP officials who instructed that journalists should not be allowed to cover the meeting.

  In Niger, issue number 99 of the weekly newspaper "Le Témoin" was seized by police in the capital city of Niamey on 20 December 2004. According to local reports, four plainclothes police officers went to the Nouvelle Imprimerie du Niger (NIN), the country’s largest private printing press, at about 6:00 p.m., and asked to see the director. Some minutes later, several uniformed officers arrived at the premises in two pick-up trucks and stormed the workshop of the printing press, despite protests from the NIN director. They seized the paper’s entire print run and materials necessary for the production of the issue, including offset plates. The managing editor of "Le Témoin", who was present at the time, immediately left the premises after learning that police were asking for him. In the seized issue, "Le Témoin" was expected to publish a photograph of four soldiers and gendarmes taken hostage by Touareg rebels operating in northern Niger.