New York, U.S.A – The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the campaign of harassment and intimidation against a newspaper in South Africa after it published a photo of a painting of President Jacob Zuma more than two weeks ago.

On May 13, local private weekly City Press published an art review of an exhibition in Johannesburg that featured a painting of a Soviet-era propaganda poster casting Zuma in the mold of Vladimir Lenin with exposed genitals, according to news reports. After a series of criticism and threats against the paper in the week of 28 May, the paper’s editor-in-chief, Ferial Haffajee, announced the removal of the photo from the website on Monday, she said in an op-ed.

Haffajee told CPJ 31 May 2012 that she had received a letter from a government official that said the paper’s coverage could instigate a race war if they continued to report on Zuma. Days before City Press removed the photo, news accounts reported that a City Press reporter was obstructed from covering a local union meeting on Saturday, while others said that on Sunday, protesters from Zuma’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) party had burned copies of the paper that featured the painting.

The ANC released a statement on May 24 saying that City Press had singled itself out as being against Zuma, the ANC, “our democracy, and the majority of South Africans.” Jackson Mthembu, a spokesman for the party, called the newspaper “a perpetrator of injustice and slander,” and told supporters “to indefinitely boycott buying the City Press Newspaper … until the removal of the insulting portrait of President Jacob Zuma from their website.”

On 31 May 2012, the Goodman Gallery announced that it had reached a deal with the ANC to remove the painting permanently, according to news reports.

“We condemn acts of intimidation and threats against City Press, as they undermine the rule of law in South Africa and curtail the freedom of the press to report on speech critical of the authorities,” said CPJ Africa Advocacy Coordinator Mohamed Keita. “As head of the ANC and the ruling coalition, President Jacob Zuma must call his supporters to restraint. We hold the government responsible for the safety of the staff of City Press.”

Zuma had filed a complaint at the Gauteng High Court on May 18 seeking the removal of the painting from both the gallery and the newspaper’s website, arguing that the artwork depicted him as a “philanderer, a womanizer, and one with no respect.” In court, City Press argued, as shown in an affidavit published online, that its decision to publish the photo was lawful and “amounted to the publication of legitimate criticism” in light of the president’s public admission of extramarital affairs and involvement in several sex scandals in office, the newspaper reported.

The Film and Publication Board also summoned City Press for a meeting, but then referred the case 30 May 2012 to the Press Ombudsman, who could take disciplinary action against the publication, according to news reports.

“It is a view I still live by and have never claimed that my or City Press’ freedom of expression is limitless. But our right to publish and to free expression is constitutional,” wrote Haffajee in an earlier Sunday op-ed.

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Each and every year conditions for journalists are getting more dangerous. So far this year, 44 journalists have been killed, making the year of 2012 potentially the deadliest year for journalists since the International Press Institute began tracking such deaths in 1997, according to the Neiman Journalism Lab. As of May 16^th there is one more journalist to be added to that list: Honduran Radio Journalist, Ángel Alfredo Villatoro.

Villatoro was found dead Tuesday night on a sidewalk in the city of Tegucigalpa. He had a red handkerchief covering his face and was dressed as a special operations police officer at the time he was discovered. He had been kidnapped from his car on May 9^th and had been shot in the head twice, according to police reports.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, also known as the CPJ, Honduran President Porfirio Lobo told journalists that the kidnappers had sent a “proof of life” video with images of Villatoro. However, it was later found out that the images were from Saturday, according to news reports. “News accounts said the journalist’s family had received a demand for ransom. Héctor Ivan Mejía, spokesman for the national police, told  journalists there were many possible theories but that nothing was confirmed and that police would continue to investigate.”

Police are suspecting that the murder of Villatoro was a result of a drug gang retaliation on the government from the recent crackdown on drug cartels. Security Minister Pompeyo made a statement to a local TV station saying, “(Drug gangs) are trying to frighten Honduran society.”

There is good reason for the government to be cracking down on local drug gangs  as Honduras is becoming increasingly used as a transit route to smuggle cocaine from South America into the United States. According to Gustavo Palencia, a reporter with the Huffington Post, “Honduras has the world’s highest murder rate – more than 80 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants last year.”

Police are continuing to investigate the murder of the beloved journalist, but have found no leads for a suspect thus far.

Villatoro was a prominent and well-know Director and radio personality for HRN radio, one of Honduras’s oldest and most listened to radio stations. As the investigation continues, those that loved him most, want to see justice served for the sake of Villatoro and his loved ones.

“We are saddened by the death of journalist Ángel Alfredo Villatoro and send our condolences to his friends, family, and colleagues,” said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon. “Honduran authorities must fully investigate this crime and bring those responsible to justice. The deadly cycle of violence against journalists and impunity for these crimes is endangering freedom of expression in Honduras.”

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On March 1, the Committee to Protect Journalists  called on Senegalese authorities to thoroughly investigate recent attacks on the media and ensure that the press is able report freely on the country’s presidential election results and potential run-off. CPJ has documented at least 12 incidents of threats and physical harm against journalists reporting on the campaign, Sunday’s vote, and its aftermath. Most of the incidents involved security officials or ruling party members.

Senegal’s incumbent President Abdoulaye Wade is seeking a third term in power after judges he appointed to the country’s Constitutional Council ruled that a two-term limit does not apply to him. He stood in elections Sunday along with 13 other candidates. No official results have been released, but a run-off on March 18 between Wade and one other candidate is likely, news reports have said.

Wade’s bid for a third term sparked nationwide protests in which at least six people were killed and many others injured, including Agence France-Presse correspondent Malick Rokhy Bâ, who was assaulted by police, according to the journalist and news reports.

“We condemn acts of intimidation and violence on journalists reporting on Senegal’s presidential elections and call on authorities to investigate the attacks and hold the perpetrators to account.” said CPJ Africa Advocacy Coordinator Mohamed Keita. “Assaults on the press undermine the transparency of the vote and the public’s confidence in the results. Journalists must be allowed to carry out their duties freely.”

On January 27, two police officers beat Bâ during the violent dispersal of protests in the capital Dakar, media reports said. “They insulted me and hit me,” Bâ told CPJ, adding that he had clearly identified himself as a journalist.

The same day, two female reporters with Senegalese daily le Populaire were also assaulted by police, reports said. “[A police officer] kicked me and threw me to the ground whilst insulting me,” Aminatou Ahane told Amnesty International. Ahane told CPJ that the officer also grabbed the hair of her fellow reporter Adama Aidara Kanté, slapped her in the face, and threw her to the ground.

Outside Dakar, three regional stations of the state-run public broadcaster RTS, which is perceived to be aligned with Wade’s government, were attacked by unidentified assailants. Maguette Diop, head of the RTS bureau in Thiès, told CPJ that her station was attacked by “a group of youth on motorcycles” who threw stones and petrol canisters at the station with the apparent aim of burning it down.

Rapid police intervention thwarted the attack, she said. However, RTS stations in the central towns of Kaolack and Fatick were ransacked by angry protesters, the state-run Agence de Presse Senegalaise reported.

At least one foreign journalist, French freelance photographer Romain Laurondeau, was also injured in demonstrations opposing Wade’s candidacy. Laurondeau was hit on the arm as he took pictures of protesters on February 17. “A projectile coming from the side of the police had hit me.

The pain and tear gas made me fall, unable to move,” he told CPJ via email. A citizen journalist posted on Twitter a photo of Laurondeau lying on the ground holding his arm after he was hit.

That same day, Basile Niane, a leading Senegalese blogger, posted photos of reporter Sophie Barro, of private daily L’Observateur, being carried by two medical staff after she was injured while covering the protests. “I was hit by a big stone on my left ankle. I don’t know where it came from as both the police and protesters were throwing stones,” Barro told CPJ.

Even away from the protests, some journalists were threatened and harassed. On February 21, Mohamed Naby Sylla, correspondent for private station RFM in the northern city of Saint Louis, reported receiving a threatening phone call at about 1:05 a.m. local time from someone who identified himself as Masseck Ngom, a younger brother of Interior Minister Ousmane Ngom, over his reporting that the minister’s family home had been ransacked during a protest.

“He threatened to burn my mother’s house,” Sylla told CPJ. He said he subsequently noticed he was being tailed by a 4×4 vehicle when he went out. “I did not sleep in my home and I immediately called my family not to allow anyone into the house,” he said.

CPJ was unable to obtain contact details for Masseck Ngom. Asked about the alleged threats against Sylla, Information Ministry Spokesman Pape Atoumane Diaw told CPJ that the government had nothing to do with “partisan excesses of political parties,” adding that the local press union had condemned the incident and that journalists were free to take the matter to court.

Meanwhile, an official of Wade’s ruling Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS) in the southwestern province of Tambacounda filed a criminal defamation complaint against Assane Diallo, correspondent for the daily L’Office, over a February 20 article reporting that the official had been booed during a campaign rally, local news site Rewmi reported Saturday.

Bakary Konté, a correspondent of RFM in the southern town of Sédhiou, also reported being intimidated by PDS supporters, daily Le Quotidien reported. Konté told CPJ more than a dozen local journalists were under threat or pressure to report only positively about the PDS.

Bocar Dieng, a correspondent for private media group Walfadjiri in the central town of Fatick, said Sitor Ndour, a leader of a local pro-Wade group, assaulted him at his home on election day over a report on alleged ballot stuffing, the state-run Agence de Presse Senegalaise reported.

“Sitor Ndour intimidated me for having reported the presence in Fatick of Haitian students who had come to vote in the city,” the APS quoted Dieng as saying, adding that he was left with a swollen eye. Ndour denied attacking the journalist, according to the same source.

Diaw, the information ministry spokesman, told CPJ: “Isolated incidents are regrettable and condemnable,” and said the government had convened workshops with the press and police before the elections. He referred further inquiries to other government offices, saying he was not qualified to speak on behalf of the government in matters of policy and justice.

Wade came to power as a democratic reformer, having been imprisoned during decades in the opposition. However, his rule has been characterized by intense media repression, including imprisonments, police intimidation, and judicial harassment of critical journalists, according to CPJ research. Powerful officials or security forces involved in intimidating the press have rarely faced justice, CPJ research has found.

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The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns last week’s arrest and brutal assault of Mohamed Abdirahman, a journalist in the semi-autonomous republic of Somaliland.

Police arrested Abdirahman, a reporter for the local news site Subulahanews, on the morning of February 21 in the northwestern town of Borama, and accused him of publishing a false story that claimed Ethiopian separatists with the Ogaden National Liberation Front had settled in the northwestern town of Lughaya, local journalists said.

While in custody, Abdirahman was beaten by four police officers with sticks and the butt of a gun until he lost consciousness, local journalists and news reports said. Police took the journalist to Borama Hospital, where he was treated in the intensive care unit for his internal injuries, according to local journalists and news reports. He was moved to Hargeisa Hospital February 28, so he could receive more advanced treatment, local journalists said.

“This vicious attack against Mohamed Abdirahman is the latest example of the severely deteriorating press freedom climate in Somaliland,” said CPJ East Africa Consultant Tom Rhodes. “Authorities must ensure a thorough and independent investigation into this crime, and ensure that those responsible are brought to justice.”

Faisal Ali Sheekh Mohamed, the director general of the Information Ministry, told CPJ he was not aware of Abdirahman’s case but would investigate the matter.

On February 19, two reporters for the weekly Ogaal were arrested for publishing a similar report on the ONLF. One of the journalists, Mohamed Abdi, told CPJ they were arrested on the orders of the interior minister and were taken to the Central Investigation Department in the capital, Hargeisa. Both journalists were released on Sunday, local journalists said.

Somaliland authorities have repeatedly arrested and arbitrarily detained independent journalists for reporting on cases of disputed regions in the semi-autonomous republic. Authorities arrested at least 28 independent journalists without charge in January, according to CPJ research.

Image Courtesy of   http://www.fesoj.org

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On Wednesday, April 20, the Associated Press confirmed that Tim Hetherington, co-director of the Oscar-nominated Restrepo as well as the Pulitzer prize nominated photographer Chris Hondros had been killed in the city of Misrata, Libya. The two men, alongside two other photographers, came under fire in the besieged city and were brought in by rebels after being struck by a rocket-propelled grenade.

Mr Hondros had, according to the New York Times, suffered “an extensive loss of brain tissue and was revived twice before being triaged from care. He spent several hours in a coma and died after 10 p.m.” Mr Hetherington had upon arrival to the triage centre already lost large amounts of blood and doctors were unable to stabilize him, a source told the New York Times. He died soon after.

Of the other two men wounded, Guy Martin, a British photographer, suffered a severe pelvic wound and underwent surgery during the night where doctors managed to stop the bleeding. The fourth member of the group, Michael Christopher Brown, suffered wounds to the shoulder but nothing life threatening.

Misrata is the third-largest city in Libya and has been the battleground of intense fighting for weeks. Hundreds of Libyans have been confirmed killed, according to the New York Times report. On the day of the attack, Hetherington tweeted “In besieged Libyan city of Misrata. Indiscriminate shelling by Qaddafi forces. No sign of NATO.” Hetherington have been working in similar, dangerous environment while covering political conflicts in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria. His collaboration with Sebastian Junger on the documentary Restrepo brought the British national international acclaim when it was nominated at this years Academy Awards.

However, covering the fighting in Libya has proven itself extremely difficult as journalists are subjected to heavy fire from multiple sources and face the risk of “arrest, beatings and detention from the pro-Qaddafi forces.” Just last month, two other journalists were killed in the Libyan conflict; Mohammad al-Nabbous, founder of the online Libya Al-Hurra TV, was killed by an unknown gunman and Ali Hassan al-Jaber, a cameraman for Al-Jazeera, was shot during an ambush on his crew.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an independent organization promoting global press freedom, have documented more than 80 attacks on the press in Libya since February. “Our hearts go out to family, friends, and colleagues of Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros, whose work in some of the world’s most dangerous places has had a profound impact on how we understand and perceive war,” said Joel Simon, CPJ executive director. “Their deaths are another illustration of war’s cruelty and a reminder of how devastatingly difficult coverage of the Libyan conflict has become.”

Human Rights Watch, who’s staff knew the photographers, arranged shortly after the confirmation of the deaths to have the bodies evacuated to Benghazi with the Ionian Spirit, a vessel chartered by the International Organization for Migration. According to the New York Times, officials from England and the US have begun preparing for the remains of Mr Hetherington and Mr Hondros to be repatriated from Libya after the voyage.

At Toonari Post, our thoughts are with the family and friends of Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros.

Photo Credit: Michael von Bergen – a swiss independent photojournalist currently based out of Bogota. Please visit: http://www.flickr.com/people/vonbergendotnet/

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