Tuesday, June 20, 2006

NG photojournalist released

I had reported earlier on the arrest by the Nigerian Navy of National Geographic photojournalist Ed Kashi, and his fixer Elias Courson. They were released earlier today after a three-day detention.

The Nigerian Navy claimed they were arrested for photographing gas flares from a Bayelsa State oil facility without a permit. Two journalists in Port Harcourt were reported as saying that they knew of no such permitting process.

The Committee to Protect Journalists has more.

(In an odd bit of small-world trivia, Kashi was a college classmate of Episcopal Diocese of Washington's Director of Communications Jim Naughton.)

[Photo from Committee to Protect Journalists website]

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the Nigerian stuff. Is the Catholic Church on record anywhere on this Bill that attacks the freedom of expression and assembly.

Matt Thompson said...

Hi Atiyah,
Yes, the Catholic Church (at least in Nigeria) is very much on record. Cardinal Okogie was quoted by the Vanguard in early March. You can see the quote at this post.