*** Two Journalists Murdered ***
In Angola, Augusto Sebastiao Domingos Pedro, the correspondent of the state-owned Jornal de Angola in the western province of Bengo was murdered on 8 July, and Benicio Wedeinge, the director of the public television station TPA in the southern province of Cunene, was killed on 16 July. Pedro, 40, was beaten to death after an argument at a petrol station in Luanda. He had worked for Jornal de Angola, the country’s only daily newspaper, since 1997. Wedeinge was killed by two shots fired by an unidentified intruder who broke into his home in Onjiva, the capital of Cunene province, in the early hours of the 16th. The authorities have not yet made any arrest.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the public prosecutor has requested a three-year prison sentence with no parole for Patrice Booto, managing editor of the Kinshasa-based thrice-weekly Le Journal and its supplement Pool Malebo. This request was made during the 21 July 2006 public appeal hearing at the Kinshasa/Kalamu High Court in appeal of the earlier Assosa Peace Tribunal verdict. The editor had been sentenced to six months in prison and a US$500 fine. Booto had paid the required fine as well as all the legal expenses before being notified of the state prosecutor’s appeal. The state prosecutor’s 2 June appeal against the first level verdict, had called into question the 30 May Peace Tribunal decision, which had found Booto guilty of "offending the head of state" and "insulting the government". The case is being deliberated upon and a new verdict is set to be announced on 28 July, on the eve of the 30 July presidential elections.
In Gambia Sam Obi the managing director of a new, privately-owned newspaper based in Banjul, the Daily Express, and Abdul Gafari a journalist for the publication, were arrested during the night of 14 July and taken to NIA headquarters. They were finally freed on bail on the evening of 18 July. Obi said he was not tortured and no charges were brought against them. Nonetheless, they were ordered to go back to NIA headquarters on 19 July with their newspaper’s registration certificate. Both journalists are Nigerian citizens living in Banjul.
In Senegal, Moustapha Sow, the managing editor of the Dakar-based daily L’Office, was freed conditionally on 14 July pending the outcome of his appeal against his conviction on a charge of libelling Bara Tall, the CEO of a construction company. The release hearing should have been held on 7 July 2006 but was postponed a week by Dakar appeal court judge Boubacar Diallo. The editor was sentenced by a Dakar court to six months in prison in the Tall case in May. He began serving his sentence on 29 June and had spent two weeks in prison when the release request filed by his lawyers was finally held by the Dakar appeal court
In Zimbabwe, journalists Ndamu Sandu and Godwin Mangudya, were released together with members of the Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA), after spending a night in police cells at the Harare Central Police station on 20 July. Sandu, who works for the privately owned weekly Zimbabwe Standard, and Mangudya, a journalist formerly with the banned Daily News, were arrested and detained at the Harare Central Police station on 19 July while covering demonstrations to press for the removal of the Chairperson of the commission running the affairs of Harare Municipality. The journalists were released after they each paid an admission of guilt fine of $250,000 (approx. US$2.50) under the Miscellaneous Offences Act.
Sources: Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), New York Ethiopian Free Press Journalists’ Association (EFJA), Addis Ababa Human Rights Watch (HRW), United States International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX), Canada International Press Institute (IPI), Vienna, Austria Journalistes En Danger (JED), Democratic Republic of Congo Media Foundation of West Africa (MFWA), Ghana Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), Namibia Media Rights Agenda (MRA), Nigeria Reporters Without Borders (RSF), France