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CPJ to honor five international journalists
SIMBA
SIMBA
CPJ will honor journalists from Somalia, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, Azerbaijan, and the United States with its 2009 International Press Freedom Awards at a ceremony in New York this November. At right, Mustafa Haji Abdinur in Somalia.
Awardee Bios:
• Mustafa Haji Abdinur, Somalia
• Naziha Réjiba, Tunisia
• Eynulla Fatullayev, Azerbaijan
• J.S. Tissainayagam, Sri Lanka
• Anthony Lewis, United States
Blog | Democratic Republic of the Congo
Didace Namujimbo, the brother I lost in Bukavu
By Déo Namujimbo
Didace Namujimbo, right, with colleague Serge Maheshe at Radio Okapi offices in 2006. Both were later murdered. (Déo Namujimbo)
Didace Namujimbo, right, with colleague Serge Maheshe at Radio Okapi offices in 2006. Both were later murdered. (Déo Namujimbo)

I shall never forgive myself for having initiated and encouraged my younger brother, Didace Namujimbo, to take up journalism. Working for 21 years in Bukavu, a city nestled on the picturesque shores of Lake Kivu, led me to cover every aspect of the brutal conflict and humanitarian catastrophe in this part of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, but a year ago nothing prepared me to deal with the news that my brother had been killed.
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November 20, 2009 5:14 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (0)
Alerts | Azerbaijan, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Tunisia
Honored for their work, threatened at home
CPJ introduces 2009 International Press Freedom Awardees

Naziha Réjiba (CPJ/Jeremy Bigwood)
Naziha Réjiba (CPJ/Jeremy Bigwood)
Washington, November 19, 2009—Naziha Réjiba, editor of the Tunisian online news journal Kalima, said she knows what to expect when she returns home—surveillance, harassment, and threats conducted by one the world’s most repressive governments.

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November 19, 2009 12:18 PM ET | Permalink
Tags: Eynulla Fatullayev, IPFA, JS Tissainayagam, Mustafa Abdinur, Naziha Réjiba
Alerts | Somalia
Two Somali journalists injured in separate shootings
New York, November 18, 2009—Two Somali correspondents for international media outlets were injured in separate shootings, one in the northeast semi-autonomous region of Puntland, and the other in the capital, Mogadishu, according to local journalists and news reports.
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November 18, 2009 3:37 PM ET | Permalink
Tags: Attacked, Puntland
Blog | Zambia
Zambian editor acquitted in hospital 'obscenity' case
By Mohamed Keita/Africa Research Associate
Chansa Kabwela speaks to reporters. (Thomas Nsama)
Chansa Kabwela speaks to reporters. (Thomas Nsama)

As the news editor of Zambia’s largest circulation newspaper and a mother to two young children, Chansa Kabwela already has her hands full. For the last four months, however, this 29-year-old journalist was mired in a court case with a peculiarity that made international headlines and sparked a debate on press freedom in this landlocked nation in southern Africa. The case was finally resolved on Monday.
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November 17, 2009 5:10 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Chansa Kabwela, Legal Action
Blog | Malawi
The Malawian who harnessed the airwaves
By Mohamed Hassim Keita and Caitlin Clarke/CPJ Africa Staff
Villagers gather at Kondesi's radio station. (Zodiak Broadcasting)

After The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, the autobiography of ingenious 22-year-old William Kamkwamba’s homemade electric windmill in Malawi, comes “the boy who harnessed the airwaves” by building a radio station with rudimentary materials. The tale of 21-year-old Malawian Gabriel Kondesi also showcases the inventiveness spawned by life in this impoverished, landlocked nation in southeastern Africa. Unlike the story of Kamkwamba, though, Kondesi’s tale is still unfolding.
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November 16, 2009 2:28 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (18)
Tags: Harassed
Blog | Zambia
CPJ pleased by Kabwela acquittal in Zambia
We issued the following statement after the Lusaka Magistrate Court acquitted Zambian journalist Chansa Kabwela today on pornography charges. The independent daily Post editor was charged with pornography for disseminating photos to several government officials of a woman giving birth in a hospital car park during a nurses strike in June...

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November 16, 2009 1:25 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Chansa Kabwela
Alerts | Gabon
CPJ condemns suspension of six newspapers in Gabon
New York, November 12, 2009—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the suspension of six private newspapers by the government-controlled media-monitoring body, the National Communications Council, in Gabon. The council announced the suspensions, which range from one to three months, on Tuesday evening on state-run TV. The papers have been suspended for “violating the ethics of journalism” and “inciting ethnic divisions” according to local reports.
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November 12, 2009 4:59 PM ET | Permalink
Tags: Censored
Blog | Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone's criminal libel law sparks barber boycott
By Umaru Fofana
My looks have completely changed in recent months. Long hair now colonizes my chin and my head. Never in my adult life have I waited longer than a week without a shave or a haircut, let alone for four months. One ends up doing the strangest things for press freedom in Sierra Leone.
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November 10, 2009 2:24 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (10)
Tags: Defamation, Legal Action
Blog | Burma, Canada, China, Cuba, Ethiopia, Iran, Pakistan, Syria, UAE, USA
Toronto’s Citizen Lab uses forensics to fight online censors
By Robert Mahoney/Deputy Director

A basement in the gray, Gothic heart of the University of Toronto is home to the CSI of cyberspace. “We are doing free expression forensics,” says Ronald Deibert, director of the Citizen Lab, based at the Munk Centre for International Studies. Deibert and his team of academics and students investigate in real time governments and companies that restrict what we see and hear on the Internet. They are also trying to help online journalists and bloggers slip the shackles of censorship and surveillance. Deibert is a co-founder of the OpenNet Initiative (ONI), a project of the Citizen Lab in collaboration with the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School. ONI tracks the blocking and filtering of the Internet around the globe.
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November 2, 2009 3:29 PM ET | Permalink | Comments (2)
Tags: Blogger, Censored, Internet
Alerts | Rwanda
In Rwanda, defamation case is politicized
New York, October 26, 2009—The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned that the prosecution of Jean Bosco Gasasira, editor-in-chief of the Rwandan bimonthly Umuvugizi, on criminal defamation charges has been politicized and the outcome predetermined.
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October 26, 2009 11:03 AM ET | Permalink
Tags: Defamation, Harassed
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