On 11 June, Ethiopia’s High Court convicted four editors and three publishers of now-defunct weeklies of anti-state charges linked to their coverage of the government’s handling of disputed parliamentary elections in 2005. Two of the editors were convicted of charges carrying life imprisonment or death.

Those convicted worked for Amharic-language weeklies shuttered after the government crackdown on media and opposition groups in November 2005. Editors Andualem Ayle of Ethiop and Mesfin Tesfaye of Abay, who were convicted of "outrages against the constitutional order," face possible execution or life in prison. Editor Wenakseged Zeleke of Asqual could get up to 10 years in prison on similar charges.

Ethiopia remains Africa’s second leading jailer of journalists, behind Eritrea, according to CPJ research

  Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has voiced satisfaction at the transitional federal government’s decision in Somalia to allow three privately-owned radio stations, HornAfrik, Shabelle and Quran Karim (Holy Koran), to resume broadcasting on 10 June, four days after it ordered them to suspend operations.

On 10 June, Information Minister Madobe Nounow Mohamuda summoned the heads of the three radio stations to inform them that they were authorized to resume broadcasts. The move was reportedly the result of pressure from the US government, whose ambassador to Kenya, Michael Ranneberger, interceded with the president to get the suspension lifted.

  HRinfo has called upon the authorities in Morocco to release civil society activists who were arrested after 1 May demonstrations and charged with "insulting sacred doctrines." HRinfo has also called for an end to the government’s crackdown on freedom of opinion and expression.

The crackdown began on 1 May when security forces broke into the Moroccan workers’ union headquarters in Agadir, immediately following a Labor Day walk. Union and other activists were beaten and abducted, including Abd el Rehim Qarad, a member of the executive office of the National Syndicate for Farmers, and Mahdy el Barboushy, a member of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights. All the activists were charged with "insulting sacred doctrines."

"We couldn’t understand the relationship between ’sacred doctrines’ and Labor Day, but when we gathered more information, we found out that the charge is ’insulting royal doctrines’. The phrasing of the published news was unfair and deceitful, moreover, as arresting activists for criticizing royalty is a violation of their freedom of expression, and when criticizing royalty becomes ’an insult to sacred doctrines’, the government’s crime becomes even more dangerous," Gamal Eid, executive director of HRinfo, said.

  In Gambia, Lamin Fatty, a reporter for the banned Banjul-based newspaper The Independent charged with publishing false information, was convicted on 5 June and fined 50,000 Gambian Dalasi (approx. US$1,850). The Kanfing Magistrate Court ruled that the prosecution had proved its case beyond any reasonable doubt and that the journalist was guilty of false publication.

The 24 March 2006 edition of The Independent erroneously reported that Samba Bah, a former Minister of the Interior and former Head of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), was among those arrested in the aftermath of an alleged coup. The newspaper subsequently published Bah’s rejoinder and also apologized to him. The police soon thereafter raided the offices of The Independent and arrested all staff members, including Madi Ceesay and Musa Saidykhan, general manager and editor-in-chief, respectively. They have since been released without charge. Fatty was arrested by the Gambian police on 10 April 2006 and was illegally detained for 63 days.

The case had been adjourned several times. On one occasion, the then Magistrate adjourned the trial to attend a private social event of friends. Fatty ’s lawyer, Camara, has consistently complained that the case has dragged on for too long. The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) condemns the increasingly high-handed use of the law to criminalise speech and expression in the Gambia.

Sources of the Alerts:

International Freedom of Exchange (IFEX)
Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA)
Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (HRinfo)
Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI)
Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)