Four imprisoned journalists in Ethiopia of now-defunct Amharic-language weeklies were released on conditional pardon on 18 August along with 27 opposition activists, according to news reports and local journalists. The four journalists had been given heavy prison sentences earlier this month in connection with their coverage of deadly post-election unrest in 2005.

Editors Wosonseged Gebrekidan of Addis Zena, Dawit Kebede of Hadar, Goshu Moges of Lisane Hezeb, and freelance columnist Tadios Tantu had received prison terms ranging from four to 15 years after waiving their defense and pleading guilty in anticipation of a pardon.

On 20 August, Ethiopian government spokesman Zemedkun Tekle told the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) that the journalists could resume their activities, but were forbidden from engaging in "any subversive action against the Constitution." But, he added, they were free to criticize the government "as they were doing before." He dismissed reports that confessions of guilt had been obtained under duress as "absolutely false and baseless rumors."

  Reporters Without Borders has condemned a 16 August 2007 attack in Mauritania on radio journalist Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Moghdad by the prime minister’s bodyguards, as well as a charge of "libelling the First Lady" that was brought against newspaper editor Sidi Mohamed Ould Ebbe on 18 August, which could result in a prison sentence.

"Press freedom had made some progress in Mauritania, especially during the last elections, but the attack on Moghdad is a step backwards as regards the physical safety of journalists," the press freedom organisation said. "As for the First Lady, while she has the right to sue for libel, she should remember that she is a public figure who can expect to be exposed to comment and criticism from the media. In this kind of case, the right of response is preferable to legal action."

While covering a visit by Prime Minister Zein Ould Zeidane to the Health Ministry for state-owned Radio Mauritanie on 16 August, Moghdad left the news conference room for a few moments and was stopped by the prime minister’s head bodyguard, Zein Ould Soueydatt, on his return. When Moghdad showed his press card and tried to enter, Soueydatt ordered his men to beat him.

  In a 19 August press release, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) called on the government of Guinea-Bissau to take concrete and effective action to put an end to threats and intimidation of journalists reporting on drug trafficking in the country after threats have pushed one reporter into hiding and another has been harassed by the court system.

Between 3 July and 14 August, Albert Dabo, a journalist working with Reuters and the private radio station Bombolom FM was called into court three times following a complaint lodged against him by the chief of the national navy, Jose Américo Bubo Na Tchuto. In his complaint, Tchuto says Dabo falsely attributed to him the allegation that soldiers are implicated in the drug trafficking during an interview for British television in which Dabo acted as an interpreter for the naval chief. Tchuto says he did not make those allegations.

Allen Yero Emballo, correspondent of Radio France Internationale (RFI) and of the news agency Agence France-Presse fled Guinea-Bissau a month ago out of fear for his safety after his home was burglarised and he was threatened. His home was broken into on 24 June just after he returned from an assignment in the archipelago of Bijagos, south of the capital. Emballo went to the islands after packages suspected of holding drugs had dropped from airplanes and the journalist questioned local people.

  In a 16 August press release, ARTICLE 19 reported that the London High Court on 15 August dismissed attempts by the Democratic Republic of Congo President’s son, Denis Christel Sassou-Nquesso, to gain an injunction for the removal of a set of documents from the Global Witness website which displayed "secret personal profits."

"Lack of transparency in extractive industries in the Congo has created an ideal climate for corruption and poor governance. The implications for the populations and the most vulnerable communities have been disastrous," said Dr. Agnès Callamard, ARTICLE 19’s Executive Director. "The decision and the judgment constitute a clear victory for freedom of expression and the free flow of information. The judgment clearly states that public interest overrides and prevails over the right to privacy."

The set of documents published on Global Witness website include the 2004 to 2006 credit card statements of Sassou-Nquesso, who is also the Director General of Cotrade, the public agency responsible for Congo oil sales. The documents also include company records and consultancy contracts between Sassou-Nquesso’s company, Long Beach Ltd., and another company named Sphynx Bermuda Ltd. Sphynx Bermuda had previously been involved in another oil corruption scandal where Congolese officials were accused of using the company for "sham sales and purchases" of oil for personal profit.

  On 16 August 2007, a peaceful march of about 100 photojournalists was dispersed in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, by several Rapid Intervention Police (Police d’intervention rapide, PIR) officers. The police were called to the scene as the photojournalists headed to the Interior Ministry to deliver a statement.

The march was organised by the National Photographers Union (Union nationale des photographes du Congo, Unaphoco), to protest the murder on 9 August in Goma of Patrick Kikuku Wilungula, a photojournalist with the Congolese News Agency (Agence Congolaise de Presse, ACP) and the Kinshasa-based weekly L’Hebdo de l’Est.

According to eyewitness accounts obtained by Journaliste en Danger (JED), the photojournalists were well on their way to the ministry when the police officers stopped and ordered them to disperse under the pretext that the urban authority had not been informed of the demonstration. To avoid any altercation with the police, the photojournalists dispersed without resistance. They told JED they had written beforehand to the Kinshasa governor.

  The House of Representatives in Monrovia, Liberia, has threatened to summon the presenter of a talk show before the body for "preaching hate messages." Ambrose Nmah, presenter of the Truth FM Breakfast Show, was the subject of a plenary discussion during the house’s session on 14 August 2007.

The House of Representatives was reacting to comments made by Nmah during the 14 August edition of his show, in which he attributed the imminent closure of a local nursing school, run by the Phebe Hospital in Central Liberia, to the reduction of the hospital’s budget by the members of Parliament. During the show, Nmah expressed strong disagreement with the House’s action.

The House insists that Nmah’s conclusion is untrue and aimed at inciting the population against members of the body. They also accused him of preaching "hate messages" and using his radio to ridicule the legislature. Nmah is a provocative host and has often clashed with other individuals over issues of the day. He is chief executive officer of Renaissance Communication Incorporated, and the owner of Truth FM and Real TV in Liberia.

  In a 15 August press release, the Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) said recent reports strongly suggest free speech in the public health system in South Africa is in need of “intensive care.” According the organisation, the most recent case of Eastern Cape’s Dr Nokuzola Ntshona, the Medical Superintendent at the Frere Hospital who was suspended this week, raises serious questions about the state of free speech in the public sector.

The suspension also comes in the wake of controversies about the Daily Dispatch’s investigation into baby deaths at Frere hospital, which led to a verbal attack on the newspaper by President Thabo Mbeki. This investigation prompted a visit by the then-Deputy Minister of Health, Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, who described the situation at the hospital as a "national emergency." Ntshona backed up her statements in a letter to President Mbeki. Madlala-Routledge has since been dismissed.

According to the organisation, FXI has in the past dealt with an attempt by the Western Cape health department to gag doctors from speaking to the media, as well as National Department gags on provincial health officials from commenting in the media about HIV/ Aids, during the visit of United Nations Special Envoy on HIV/ Aids, Steven Lewis. Last year, the longstanding battle between Eastern Cape-based Doctor Costa Gazidis came to an end, when he was reinstated after being fired from the Department of Health for a media statement in which he criticised the Minister of Health. Also last year, Western Cape-based doctors were instructed to desist from protesting against budget cuts, even in their lunchtimes, and on their leave days. The FXI has also been reliably informed that a number of doctors have been told that they cannot speak to the media, even in their individual capacities.

  Reporters Without Borders said it was shocked and appalled by the eight-month prison sentence imposed in Morocco by a Casablanca court on 15 August 2007 on Mostapha Hurmatallah of the Arabic-language daily Al Watan Al An for publishing a leaked internal security memo. Hurmatallah was convicted of "receiving documents obtained by criminal means," and Abderrahim Ariri, the newspaper’s editor, received a six-month suspended sentence on the same charge.

"This sentence displays contempt for international legal practice, which has repeatedly reaffirmed the position that journalists should not be imprisoned for press offences," the press freedom organisation said. "We condemn the growing gulf between the government’s promises of democratisation and what it does in practice. This is the first time since October 2004 that a journalist has been sentenced to spend time in prison in Morocco, which now joins the club of North African countries - Egypt, Libya - that are holding journalists."

Ariri and Hurmatallah were arrested by plain-clothes police in Casablanca three days after writing a series of stories for the 14 July issue that were headlined "The secret reports behind Morocco’s state of alert." One of the stories was based on an intelligence agency memo published in the newspaper which urged all the security services to be vigilant after a terrorist organisation posted a video online containing "a solemn call for jihad against all the Maghrebi governments," identifying Morocco by name.

  On 15 August, the Network of African Freedom of Expression Organisations (NAFEO) has expressed concern at the adoption by the Parliament of Kenya of a new press bill. The law compels journalists to disclose their sources when sued in court.

The new law contravenes international legal instruments which guarantee freedom of the press, particularly the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. NAFEO argues that by undermining the protection of sources, the bill constitutes a fundamental violation of media freedom.

In expressing their concern, NAFEO argued the application of this law will result in a lack of confidence and fear on the part of citizens to give information to journalists, including information that serves the public interest. NAFEO is very concerned about the use of such legislation in democratic context, which aims to silence the media and undermine free expression citizens’ rights to information.

  A Magistrate Court in Conakry on 13 August 2007 convicted two journalists of two privately-owned weekly newspapers for defaming Bahna Sidibe, a former minister of works in Guinea.

Thiernodjo Diallo and Abdoul Aziz Camara, managing editors of La Vérité and Libération newspapers, were given six-month suspended sentences and fines of 50 million Guinean francs (US$12,781) each. Another fine of one million Guinean francs (US$256) is to be paid to Bahna as damages.

The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) correspondent reported that the journalists had accused the former minister of having misappropriated funds of the ministry. La Vérité first published the allegation in its 20 March edition. In the said article, headlined "Ministry of Works. The other face of Bahna Sidibe", Thiernodjo alleged that the former minister diverted an amount of one billion Guinean francs (US$255,624) meant for road infrastructure to build his private apartment.

Sources of the alerts:

International Freedom of Expression eXchange (IFEX)
Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA)
Network of African Freedom of Expression Organisations (NAFEO)
Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI)
Tunisia Monitoring Group (TMG)
Centre For Media Studies and Peace Building (CEMESP)
ARTICLE 19
Journaliste en danger (JED)
International Federation of Journalists (IFJ)