Africa Censorship News

In late April, Ethiopia's state-owned Barhanena Selam (Light and Peace) Printing Company, which is used by most local newspaper publishers, issued a directive saying it would refuse to print any material it believes would breach Ethiopia's 2009 anti-terrorism law

The legislation criminalizes independent reporting on opposition groups or causes that the government deems terrorist and holds printers, as well as publishers, accountable for material that promotes terrorism.

The directive, a copy of which CPJ obtained, allows Barhanena Selam the right to cancel any printing contract if the publisher repeatedly submits content the printer considers legally objectionable.

Barhanena Selam said it would require all newspaper publishers to agree to the new terms before further publications would be printed.

Local journalists said there haven't yet been interruptions to printing even though not all newspapers have signed.

A Tunis court's decision to fine a TV boss for spreading information which can disturb the public order after he screened an animated French movie is a sign of the continuing erosion of free speech in Tunisia, Amnesty International said.

Nabil Karoui was fined 2,400 Tunisian Dinar ($1,500) after his station broadcast the animated French film Persepolis dubbed into Tunisian Arabic dialect in October 2011. The film was criticized for being blasphemous because of a scene showing a representation of God.

Karoui's lawyers have confirmed that he will be appealing the verdict.

On a day that is meant to celebrate world press freedom, Tunisia has shown its failure to respect the basic right of freedom of expression. Nabil Karoui should not have been tried to begin with, let alone found guilty for exercising his right to peacefully express his views, said Ann Harrison, Amnesty International's Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa programme.

Two others have also been found guilty of participating in the crime: Nadia Jamal, head of the organization that dubbed the movie into Tunisian dialect, and Alhadi Boughanim, responsible for monitoring programs. Both have also been fined.

While protecting public morals or public order may sometimes be a legitimate reason for restricting freedom of expression, such restrictions may only be imposed if absolutely necessary. This is clearly not the situation in these cases -- people should not be convicted and sentenced for their views, even if these views are seen as controversial or offensive, said Ann Harrison.

Sudanese authorities have a long history of closing newspapers and silencing journalists. But the government security agents who carry out official censorship have launched a new strategy this year that focuses on economic impoverishment--leaving newspapers more vulnerable than ever.

Agents of the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) now raid printing presses and confiscate newspapers on grounds that publications are covering topics barred by the NISS. The agency's red lines are numerous, changeable, and ungoverned by law or judicial order. The NISS demands, for example, that newspapers abstain from covering the International Criminal Court, government corruption, human rights violations, Darfur, the war in South Kordofan and Blue Nile, armed movements, and many other subjects.

In the past, the NISS would censor publications in advance by dispatching agents to newsrooms. Officers would read the newspaper in full and order articles be taken out and replaced. In many cases, they would reject the replacement articles too, and halt the printing of the newspaper entirely. The officers would oblige editors to sign a pledge not to publish the censored articles elsewhere, notably online.

The new goal: Censor newspapers and force them to incur heavy financial losses. Agents, for example, have confiscated copies of the newspaper Al-Maidan on several occasions, among them February 21, and March 13, 15, 17 and 18. The newspaper said it lost thousands in revenue each time the printed copies were confiscated.

It's worth noting that the president of the National Council for Press and Publications, the government body officially charged with overseeing newspapers, said in an interview with a local news outlet that the NISS exercises full control over the press. Even his agency is powerless due to NISS encroachment.

The Arab Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) condemns the arrest of rapper and activist of the 20 February movement, Megaz El Haked, by the Moroccan security forces on March 29 claiming that one of his songs is offensive to a public institution.

El Haked was summoned for interrogation on a charge of offending a public authority by a Casablanca Cour. In one of his songs, El Haked criticized the political situation in Morocco, which authorities considered a defamatory insult against public officials. The activist jailed on remand to stand trial on 4 April.

It is worth noting that this is not the first time that El Haked has been arrested for his songs. He was imprisoned for four months on trumped-up charges before being released in January 2012.

El Haked's arrest for the content of his songs for the second time is unacceptable and is a clear violation of freedom of expression, which includes freedom of creativity and art, stated ANHRI: Freedom of expression is an inherent right and no one should be punished for expressing his opinions, whether that was critical of the system or not.

ANHRI calls upon the Moroccan authorities to immediately release El Haked and ensure that peaceful free expression is protected.

Update: Still Jailed

20th April 2012.  See article from hrw.org

Moroccan authorities should drop charges and release a rapper who has spent three weeks in pretrial detention on charges that he insulted the police in his songs and a video set to his music, Human Rights Watch said today.

Police arrested Mouad Belghouat, known as al-Haqed (the sullen one), on March 29, 2012, because of a YouTube video with a photo of a policeman whose head has been replaced with a donkey's. The lyrics denounce police corruption.

The offending material cited in the case file consists of a rap song Belghouat composed and recorded, entitled Kilab ed-Dowla (Dogs of the State), and a YouTube video containing a photo-montage set to the song. The song denounces police corruption with lines like, You are paid to protect the citizens, not to collect people's money and take it to your chief.

Tunisian authorities have sentenced two young Facebook users to seven years in jail after they published cartoons of Mohammad on the social network.

Tunisia's 'justice' ministry says that the duo posted images showing Mohammad naked which, according to spokesperson Chokri Nefti, saw them punished for violation of morality, and disturbing public order.

One of the men, Jabeur Mejri, is already incarcerated while police are actively seeking the other, Ghazi Beji, who was sentenced in absentia.

Local blogger Nebil Zagdoud told Reuters that the sentences are very heavy and severe, even if these young people were at fault. This decision is aimed at silencing freedom of expression even on the Internet. Prosecutions for offending morals are a proxy for this government to gag everyone.

Tunisia is still on Reporters without Borders' list of countries under surveillance despite attempts by the newly formed government to distance itself from tactics used by its predecessors.

Sudanese intelligence agents seized copies of an independent daily newspaper after it refused to pull an anti-government columnist, the chief editor said.

The confiscation of Al-Jarida adds to thousands of other newspaper pages already seized from publications this year in what the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said is an attempt to silence opposition news coverage.

A few days ago they ordered us by telephone to stop one of our columnists from writing, Al-Jarida's editor, Osman Shinger, told AFP, referring to the security service: We refused. For that reason they stopped our paper from distributing.

Swaziland is planning a censorship law that will ban Facebook and Twitter users from criticising its autocratic ruler, King Mswati III.

Mswati's 'justice' minister, Mgwagwa Gamedze, told the Swazi senate: We will be tough on those who write bad things about the king on Twitter and Facebook. We want to set an example. He said that the government is finalising a law that will make it illegal to insult the king on social networks,

The move follows comments last week by the Swazi senator Thuli Msane over how online activism was spiralling out of control and threatening the king's reputation.

Networks such as Facebook and Twitter have been used to organise public protests, including a student demonstration against cutbacks in higher education.

Pius Vilakati, spokesman for the Swaziland Solidarity Network, condemned the planned crackdown. The government is desperate right now. They are trying anything to stop people talking to each other, he said. It would be difficult for them, because people will always talk and continue to talk.

A private television station in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been raided by unidentified men.

Radio Television Kindu Maniema (RTKM) who broadcast from the capital of Maniema province was attacked by a group of men, who set fire to the station's satellite antenna, and damaged the station's offices.

Programme presenter Mira Dipenge went into hiding five days ago, fearing he would be arrested following orders from the governor of the province, Tutu Salumu.

In early February, Salumu ordered station management stop broadcasting call-in programmes in which callers could criticise his management of the province.

Compelling South Africans to obtain approval before they could tweet, Facebook or blog on anything relating to sexual conduct would silence all online expression on the topic, the Constitutional Court has heard.

The court is considering the legality of amendments to Section 16 of the Film and Publications Act requiring that newspapers, magazines, and maybe even online news websites are vetted by state censors prior to publication.

The Home Affairs minister and the Film and Publications Board, supported by the organisation, Justice Alliance of SA, are seeking to uphold the sections of the Film and Publication Act that the South Gauteng High Court previously found to be inconsistent with the constitution.

The act came into force in March 2010, but is now being examined by the court.

Print Media SA and the SA National Editors Forum believe large numbers of publications will have to be submitted to the Film and Publications Board in matters of substantial public interest. It will have severe negative consequences for the publication in terms of deadlines, and for the public.

An argument submitted by an organisation called Section 16, argued that this would mean that even cartoons such as Zapiro's series on the rape of lady justice, or an arbitrary blogger's observations on a report that a politician was caught with a prostitute, would have to be pre-classified.

The parties are also questioning why newspapers were given an exemption, because they fall under the self-regulatory system of an ombudsman and a Press Code, but not magazines.

Legal counsel for the home affairs minister told the Constitutional Court that publications that fell outside those regulated by the press code would have to submit content for classification ahead of publication, and this did not amount to censorship.

Under the act, publication without approval is a criminal offence and could lead to imprisonment for up to five years.

The act was supposedly intended to protect children from exposure to and involvement in inappropriate content, especially sexual content.

The Committee to Protect Journalists has condemned the Angolan police raid at the independent weekly Folha 8, which was conducted in connection with a politicized investigation into the publication of a satirical photo montage. Officers confiscated all of Folha 8's computers, effectively crippling the operations of one of the country's two remaining independent publications.

In an interview with news agency LUSA, Folha 8 editor William Tonet said the raid was connected to a public prosecutor's December 2011 criminal investigation into the paper's re-publication of an Internet photo montage lampooning President Jose' Eduardo dos Santos, the Vice President and the military adviser to the president. No formal charges in the investigation have been filed, but the newspaper's computers could be used as evidence against them in the case, local journalists told CPJ.

The seizure of Folha 8's computers is a crude act of censorship meant to silence one of the few remaining independent news outlets in Angola, said CPJ Africa Advocacy Coordinator Mohamed Keita. Satire is not an outrage against the state--it's an important part of robust debate in a free society. We call on authorities to return Folha 8's equipment at once and put an end to this politically motivated investigation.

The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Liberian authorities to ensure the safety of journalists who have been repeatedly threatened for exposing the practice of female genital mutilation in the country.

Mae Azango, a reporter for the daily FrontPage Africa and New Narratives, a project supporting independent media in Africa, told CPJ she had gone into hiding after receiving several threats for an article she published about Liberian tribes practicing female genital mutilation on as many as two out of every three girls in the country. They left messages and told people to tell me that they will catch me and cut me so that will make me shut up, Azango said: I have not been sleeping in my house.

Wade Williams, the editor of FrontPage Africa, said that several people around town had confronted her over the article, which was widely discussed on radio programs. Williams also said that the newspaper and its personnel were receiving threatening phone calls: They said that for us putting our mouth into their business, we are to blame for whatever happens to us.

Liberian police must immediately investigate these threats and ensure the safety of Mae Azango and other FrontPage Africa staff, said CPJ Africa Advocacy Coordinator Mohamed Keita: The people behind these threats seem to be secure that they can act with impunity. Authorities must send a clear message that threats of violence are crimes, and that they will uphold the law.

Reporters Without Borders calls for the immediate release of Nasreddine Ben Saida, the publisher of the Arabic-language daily Attounissia, and the withdrawal of all charges against him, the newspaper's editor, Habib Guizani, and one of its journalists, Mohammed Hedi Hidri.

The first media executive to be jailed in the post-Ben Ali era, Ben Saida has been held since 15 February, when he, Guizani and Hidri were arrested by the vice squad on the prosecutor-general's orders for printing a photo of German-Tunisian football player Sami Khedira embracing a topless model so as to hide the nudity on the front-page of that day's issue, which was seized from newsstands.

Guizani and Hidri were released after being questioned, but a judge ordered Ben Saida placed in pre-trial custody on charges that carry a possible sentence of six months to five years in prison and a fine of 120 to 1,200 dinars (60 to 600 euros).

By bringing criminal charges, the prosecutor's office is showing that journalists can still go to prison for a newspaper article and is sending an extremely disturbing signal to all those who defend freedom of expression.

This is a hypocritical reaction because photos of this kind often appear on the cover of foreign magazines sold in Tunisia, Reporters Without Borders said.

Update: Fined

9th March 2012. See article from independent.co.uk

A Tunisian court has fined a newspaper publisher for supposedly violating public morals by printing a photograph of a footballer's girlfriend shown naked but mostly obscured.

Nasreddine Ben Saida was fined 1,000 dinars (£420) and the court ordered all copies of the issue destroyed.

Critics called the case an attack on media freedom.

The International Publishers Association is speaking out after authorities in Morocco banned the Spanish-language daily newspaper El Pai's from distributing its February 26 issue because of an excerpt it featured from the French book Le Roi predateur (The Predator King).

The book, written by Catherine Graciet and Eric Laurent, offers a critical look at the King of Morocco, and is being published in France by the French house Le Seuil.

The IPA is calling the cancelation of the paper in Morocco an act of censorship. IPA member Olivier Betourne, said:

By prohibiting the issue of the El Pais daily, which included excerpts of The Predator King, the Moroccan authorities go against the wind of freedom which is currently blowing in the MENA region. Not only does IPA condemn the censorship of the Spanish daily, it also urges Morocco to authorize the distribution in Morocco of The Predator King.

Malawi Information Minister Patricia Kaliati is aging a nutter war with local tabloid, Weekend Times, with its Page 8 Action Girl that depicts sexualised images modestly reminiscent of Page 3 of The Sun in the UK.

Kaliati, speaking at the launch of the Malawi Child Protection and Gender Media Network, is reported to have condemned the Weekend Times Page 8 girls , describing it as pornographic and misogynistic.

What a shame! she screamed: How would you feel to see your daughter or sister exposed like that?

She called on journalists to campaign for the removal of Page 8 from Weekend Times.

The entire print-run of two Sudanese newspapers have been seized by The National Intelligence and Security Services.

Al-Tayar and Al-Youm Al-Tali newspapers 20th February editions were confiscated after they published statements made by Hassan al-Turabi the leader of the Popular Congress Party (PCP). Turabi alleged that his office had been wiretapped by security services, and showed journalists some of the listening devices he found. Security agents arrived at the newspaper's Khartoum offices and seized the expose edition.

Twenty newspaper reporters protested the confiscation in front of the National Press Council, which licenses newspapers.

A teenager will be beaten with two strokes of a cane for calling a woman a prostitute on Facebook, a Zimbabwe court has ruled.

The 17-year-old, is believed to be the first in the country to be punished for making such a comment on the site.

The boy admitted using his mobile phone to photograph a woman talking on the phone without her knowledge before posting it on Facebook He then posted the photo online with a caption saying she was a typical Chiredzi prostitute, in the local Shona language.

The woman saw the photo as the pair were friends on Facebook and called police, who arrested the boy. His Facebook page has now been removed.

Magistrate Tinashe Ndokera found the boy guilty of criminal assault. He ordered him to be caned twice.

Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki has called on parliament to outlaw accusations of blasphemy as a threat to public order.

Such practices can threaten the peace between citizens living in the same country and lead to conflict, Marzouki warned in a statement. Violators of the new law should be prosecuted to protect the coexistence, fraternity and solidarity among Tunisians, he said.

Nobody has the right to make such accusations against a fellow citizen because such behavior risks leading to violence which is reprehensible in itself, Marzouki added.

Salafist extremists have accused Tunisian journalists and other public figures of not following the teachings of the Koran. They have also demanded full-face veils for female university students, castigated a TV channel for an allegedly blasphemous film and beat up journalists at a protest.

Morocco has banned the distribution of Thursday's edition of Spain's El Pais newspaper, as a cartoon published by the newspaper allegedly tarnished King Mohammed VI's name.

The decision to ban (the paper) was made on the basis of article 29 of the press code that protects the monarch, a senior communication ministry official told AFP: The caricature contains a deliberate intention to smear the (king's) image to harm the king personally.

The cartoon, which was picked up by a Moroccan website, accompanied an article by Spanish journalist Ignacio Cembrero. Contacted by AFP, Cembrero said the Moroccan reaction surprised him as the small cartoon was friendly and rather likeable.

A court hearing of a case regarding censorship of pornographic websites in Tunisia has been postponed to February 22nd, confirmed Olivia Gre, director of the Tunisian chapter of Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

Last year, a lawsuit was filed by three Tunisian lawyers, who found free access to pornographic websites in Tunisia to be dangerous to children and corrosive of Islamic values. The court's decision sided with the lawyers, yet the Tunisian Internet Agency (ATI) appealed the ruling on May 26th. On August 11th, 2011, the appeal was denied, but the ATI delayed implementing the decision, pleading technical and financial limitations.

They appealed the decision again, to Tunisia's Supreme Court, prolonging the legal debate as to the acceptable extent of internet freedom.

On February 3rd, RSF released a statement, entitled Internet Filtering: Risks to Stepping Backwards, in which it argued that blocking porn sites in Tunisia could mark a prelude to the return of old censorship practices of the previous regime. The statement recommended that internet providers promote tools of parental control.

Update: Blocking Blocked

23rd February 2012. See article from tunisia-live.net

The Tunisian Internet will remain unblocked, for the time being. The Supreme Court of Tunisia has cancelled the decision of a lower court, which had previously ruled in favor of blocking pornographic content on the internet.

The decision did not end the case, but sent it back to a lower court, giving an apparent vote of no confidence in the legal argumentation previously presented.

The decision was immediately hailed by free speech advocates and by the Tunisian Internet Agency (ATI). The ATI's legal argument against the suit, however, did not hinge upon issues of civil liberties, but rather the technical ability of the agency to implement the decision. According to a press release distributed by the ATI this afternoon, all attempts of application of judgment led to serious degradation of service.

Olivia Gre, director of the Tunisia office of Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said: For us, it's definitely good news. It means not taking a step backwards. According to Gre, the trial would begin from scratch, with new legal arguments to be employed in two to three months.

On Monday, a court in the Moroccan city of Taza sentenced 24 year-old student Abdelsamad Haydour to 3 years in jail and a fine of USD 1,200 for criticizing the king of Morocco in a video posted on YouTube. According to the official state news agency, Haydour is accused of attacking the sacred values of the nation.

According to one Moroccan news website Haydour had no legal assistance during the hearing and the Court did not appoint a lawyer to defend the accused in accordance with the Moroccan law.

Under Moroccan law the king is considered inviolable. But the Moroccan constitution also guarantees (Article 25) freedom of thought, opinion and expression in all its forms.

The incriminating four-minute clip was posted in early January, during a week of social unrest and violent clashes between demonstrators and anti-riot police in the unemployement-stricken city of Taza. In the video, Abdelsamad Haydour is seen talking to a group of people in the street, harshly criticizing the king and his entourage.

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information condemns the Moroccan authorities for their confiscation of the last issue of the French magazine Le Nouvel Observateur due to its publishing of an image adopted from the French-Iranian film Persepolis.

The mentioned issue of the magazine was supposed to be distributed on 2 February 2012 and addressed Persepolis, an animated film about the suffering of an Iranian family following the Iranian revolution in 1979, forcing the family to travel to France. Persepolis seems to have offended by a depiction of the muslim god as an old man. 

Once again, in the post Ben Ali era, censorship and freedom of speech (or lack of), is at the centre of debate. The reason this time is the ongoing saga of a legal action lodged by three lawyers against the Tunisian Internet Agency (ATI)) calling upon it to block pornographic websites.

Early next month, the ATI, will appeal to the Court of Cassation's (the highest court of appeal) verdict issued on May 26, 2011, by a court in Tunis ordering the agency to block access to pornographic content on the web.

The ATI, which lost an appeal on August 15, 2011, claims that the filtering of pornographic websites listed by Smart Filter could not be carried out for the five Internet service providers.

The Tunisian Internet Agency, wanting to put an end to its old image as an Internet censor during the rule of Ben Ali, prefers to raise the awareness of Internet users, and especially parents by giving them practical tips on the use of parental control software instead of blocking websites.

South Africa's Independent Communications Authority will take legal action against TopTV should the pay-TV broadcaster continue with its plan to launch three porn television channels within the next few weeks.

On Digital Media, the company that owns TopTV, said last month it would go ahead with the launch of the channels early this month despite Icasa's objections.

It argued that the TV censor had not responded to its application in the required three months and TopTV was therefore legally entitled to go ahead.

However, Icasa last week maintained that it was illegal for TopTV to proceed with the launch until the regulator had finalised the application process.

If TopTV goes ahead with the launch we will have no option but to obtain an interdict to stop them. We are waiting for their response to our queries, Icasa spokesman Paseka Maleka said. He added a public hearing on the issue would be held within the next two weeks. Icasa would rule on whether or not it would grant TopTV's application for the three new channels by the end of the month.

Update: Court prevents porn starting before the TV censor has finished deliberating

17th January 2012. See article from mybroadband.co.za

The South Gauteng High Court has granted the  Independent Communications Authority of South Africa an urgent interdict to stop a satellite TV operator rom going ahead with its proposed porn channels. The company must now wait on the deliberation by the TV censor.

TopTV wants to introduce a standalone porn package of channels Adult XXX, Private Spice and Playboy Europe.

The TV censor's public hearings into the licence application by On-Digital Media, owner of Top TV, have now begun in Sandton, Johannesburg, where the year-old operator was not represented despite being invited to respond and make presentations.

The misleadingly named Freedom of Expression Institute, African Christian Democratic Party and the Film and Publication Board have all opposed the launch.

Freedom of expression is not a pre-eminent right, and especially not when it infringes on children's rights to be protected from harm, spouted Pearl Kupe, on behalf of the Christian Action Network: Putting in pin-blocking functions presents very little challenge to the increasingly techno-savvy generation, and I know this being a mother.

The African Christian Democratic Party said it was impossible to build a strong nation with dysfunctional families, and producers and distributors of pornography had shown contempt for family values.

Freedom of Expression Institute's executive director, Elston Seppie, said the right to freedom of expression was about balance, ...BUT...the right of children, women and family values should take precedence.

Update: Inevitably Banned

28th January 2012. See article from xbiz.com

TopTV has lost its bid to provide South Africa with its first-ever paid adult satellite programming.

South Africa's TV censor, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) has refused to allow the company to broadcast softcore Playboy Europe, and hardcore Private Spice and Adult XXX channels.

ICASA spokesperson, Paseka Maleka said the censor would release the reasons for the denial wihtin the next 30 days.

In a letter to Reuters, ICASA said, We advise that the Council of the Authority ... decided, after careful consideration, to refuse On Digital Media (Pty) Ltd's application for the authorization of (the proposed) video channels.

Update: Inevitably Delayed

2nd March 2012. See article from mybroadband.co.za

ICASA said it would provide grounds for its decision within 30 days, or by 27 February 2012.

However the TV censor did not deliver its justification by the deadline, telling MyBroadband that the reasons are yet to be approved by ICASA Council in the next week or so.

They are currently being vetted by ICASA Legal Department and will therefore be released after approval by Council, explained ICASA spokesperson Paseka Maleka.

Violence broke out outside the Tunisian courthouse where TV executive Nabil Karoui was on trial for blasphemy.  Extremists attacked the people rallying in his support.

Karoui, the owner of a television station in Tunis, is charged with violating sacred values and disturbing public order for airing Persepolis, the award-winning animated film about the 1979 Iranian revolution that depicts God as a bearded old man.

The attackers believe that the film violates Islamic values forbidding the depiction of God.

Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali has condemned the most recent violence and affirmed his commitment to freedom of expression. But as the trial is continuing then affirmation is not worth much.

The trial has been adjourned until April 19.

Reporters Without Borders is worried by events of the past week affecting the media in the breakaway northwestern territory of Somaliland, in which a total of 25 journalists were arrested and a television station, HornCable TV, was closed in Hargeisa, the territory's capital. The organization accuses the authorities to trying to intimidate the media and calls for the release of four journalists still being held illegally.

This wave of arrests of journalists is without precedent in Somaliland, Reporters Without Borders said. We are disturbed by this crackdown and by the president's readiness to brand a media as a 'nation destructor.' This will further intimidate journalists who already have to cope with tough conditions in this region of Somalia. We urge the authorities to free the four journalists still being held and to reopen HornCable TV without delay.

When HornCable TV employees demonstrated outside the presidential palace in Hargeisa in protest against the station's closure, they were attacked and beaten by members of the Somaliland Special Protection Unit and eight of them were arrested. Thirteen other journalists from various media who went to help their detained colleagues were then also arrested. HornCable TV's owner was summoned to the president's office later and interrogated. The detained journalists were finally released after being held for more than 24 hours.

HornCable TV was closed on 14 January when around 100 policemen arrived in seven armoured vehicles, ordered all the staff to leave and sealed the doors. The transmitter was disconnected soon afterwards.

South Africa's Advertising Standards Authority has ruled that a Tracy McGregor billboard in Johannesburg was harmless.

The advert censor dismissed complaints that the billboard depicted women as objects for sexual gratification, degrades the dignity of women and encourages sexual promiscuity.

Tracy McGregor, the 2008 FHM Sexiest Women winner, is shown on the billboard wearing black stilettos and black lace underwear, with one arm over her head. Next to her are the words: Playboy Playmate Parties and the Playboy SA website address is given below.

But a handful of motorists and residents were less than titillated. One said that the billboard promotes pornography and that he was uncomfortable having to explain such images to his young nieces and nephews.

In its response, Playboy SA said the magazine carried far tamer content than some magazines on local shelves, and suggested that those who were offended should focus on the message detergent adverts sent to society about women.

And it seems the advertising body agreed, saying in its ruling that Playboy had chosen not to gratuitously depict a lustful, sexual image. The billboard is not overtly sexual and imagery of a seductively dressed woman is a product relevant to the advertiser.

Authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) shut down broadcasts of the French government-funded Radio France Internationale (RFI) over its coverage of the violent aftermath of the November 2011 presidential elections.

ommunications Minister Lambert Mende said the Council of Ministers had ordered the temporary measure of switching off RFI's six FM broadcast frequencies until the Congolese Broadcasting and Communications Superior Council, the new state-run media censorship agency, had issued a decision. The government did not at all appreciate the way RFI attempts to trivialize the anti-constitutional comedy of Tshikedi, Mende told Agence France-Press.

This decision is part of a pattern of closures to punish Radio France Internationale whenever it reports independently on political news in the DRC, said CPJ Africa Advocacy Coordinator Mohamed Keita. We call on the Congolese media regulatory agency to break with this pattern of political censorship and reverse the decision immediately.

RFI is the most popular news station in the DRC, according to CPJ research.