Journalists in Angola are suffering from increasing hostility from the authorities. A reporter has been jailed for a year in a controversial case, and several journalists have been threatened, roughed up or censored over the past two weeks.
Armando Chicoca, who reports for the US government's Voice of America and several independent Angolan magazines, was sentenced to a year in prison for allegedly defaming a judge by reporting the claims of the man's former maid that she was fired for rejecting his sexual advances.
Four journalists employed by the Jornal Novo weekly – Pedro Cardoso, Afonso Francisco, Idálio Kandé and Ana Margoso – were arrested while covering an anti-government demonstration in Luanda four days ago. During their detention they claimed to have been treated roughly.
The latest issue of the weekly Folha 8 did not appear after state security officials ordered the printer to stop the presses.
Two Radio Ecclesia reporters, Zenina Volola and Matilde Vanda, were threatened by state security officials while covering the opening of a congress of the Angolan women's organisation.
The Paris-based press freedom watchdog, Reporters Without Borders, said: "It is a disgrace for Angola that a journalist has been given a jail sentence for an alleged case of defamation that has not been proved."
Sources: CPJ/Reporters Without Borders
