Dokument #1103219
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Autor)
According to 2 October 1997 report byAfrica News
Elsewhere, a government anti-crime outfit called "Operation Sweep" is patrolling the streets of Lagos, targeting newspaper vendors. "Operation Sweep" has already caused the death of one person and the abduction of another. On 1 July, Godfrey Chukwu, a newspaper vendor in Lagos, died after the outfit fired without warning; one of the bullets hit Chukwu in the head
The following information was provided during a 8 January 1998 telephone interview with a representative on the Nigerian desk at Reporters sans frontière in Paris.
The representative stated that the Nigerian military régime has been taking actions against freedom of the press since 1995. The representative added that street vendors of pro-government newspapers have not been submitted to harassment by the security force, but street vendors of privately-owned newspapers who publish articles critical of the régime would be in a position to experience problems with the security forces. The objective of the security forces is not the intimidation of individual street vendors but to force the owners of the newspapers and their journalists to tone down their criticism.
The representative stated that in 1997, Reporters sans frontières had information about one case of a street vendor being killed and one abducted. The representative did not have information on any specific arrests of street vendors in March 1997.
This Response was prepared after
researching publicly accessible information currently available to
the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is
not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any
particular claim to refugee status or asylum.
References
Africa News [London]. 2 October
1997. "Nigeria: Clean Sweep of the Media in Nigeria, Says
Reporters' Group." (NEXIS)
Reportera sans frontières, Paris,
France. 8 January 1997. Telephone interview with a representative
of the Nigeria desk.