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To: IFEX Autolist (other news of interest)
From: Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), [email protected] [2]

Nigeria Alert
July 03, 2003

Journalists attacked, documents confiscated

* The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) and the Media Foundation of
West Africa (MFWA), as a joint activity, will henceforth issue alerts,
statements and appeals to highlight media freedom and wider human rights
violations in West Africa. See: www.misa.org [3] and www.mediafoundationwa.org [4]
for more information.

Police personnel in Abuja, capital of Nigeria, on Tuesday, June 1, 2003,
assaulted journalists Funmi Komolafe, Labour Editor of "The Vanguard"
newspaper, Rotimi Ajayi, also a reporter with "The Vanguard", and George
Oshodi, photojournalist for the Associated Press (AP) news agency. Two
others, Funmi Komolafe, a journalist with the "The Vanguard", and Ola
Awoniyi, local correspondent for the Agence France-Presse (AFP), were
earlier, on Monday, June 30, arrested and detained at the regional police
headquarters before being released an hour later.

The police kicked, whipped and battered the journalists with the butts of
their guns. They were also tear-gassed. Oshodi was severely injured in the
eye and is currently being admitted to a hospital in Aubja. His digital
camera was smashed. Komolafe's identification papers were also torn up.

BACKGROUND

The police brutalities come in the wake of the strike action called by
leaders of the central labour federation, the National Labour Congress
(NLC), in protest against recent petroleum price hikes announced by the
government of President Olusegun Obasanjo. Reports say the police crackdown
has also led to the deaths of eight people across the country.

Enquiries:
Media Foundation for West Africa
Prof Kwame Karikari
Executive Director (MFWA)
P. O. Box LG 730
Legon, Ghana
E-mail: [email protected] [5]
Tel: 233-21-24 24 70
Fax: 233-21-22 10 84
Web: http://www.mediafoundationwa.org [4]

Enquiries:
Media Institute of Southern Africa
Zoe Titus
Program Coordinator: Media Freedom Monitoring
21 Johann Albrecht Street
Private Bag 13386
Windhoek, Namibia
Tel: +264 61 232 975
Fax: +264 61 248 016
Web: http://www.misa.org [3]

Information distributed by:
Zoe Titus
Regional Program Coordinator: Media Freedom Monitoring
Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA)
21 Johann Albrecht Street
Private Bag 13386
Windhoek, Namibia
Tel. +264 61 232975, Fax. 248016
Cellular: 081 128 3919
e-mail: [email protected] [2]
web: http://www.misa.org [3]

MEDIA INSTITUTE OF SOUTHERN AFRICA
PROMOTING MEDIA DIVERSITY, PLURALISM, SELF-SUFFICIENCY AND INDEPENDENCE

**The information contained in this autolist item is the sole responsibility
of MISA**