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Net Press director jailed

    NAIROBI

    The director of the Net Press news service in Burundi, Jean-Claude Kavumbagu, was arrested on Saturday for alleged failure to sever links with a website the government had deemed to be "spreading propaganda of hatred and violence," the agency reported on Sunday.

    "I called Mr Kavumbagu to my office Thursday to ask him to shut down the window which took you to [this website], he promised to do it, but Friday he had not kept his promise," AFP quoted Communications Minister Albert Mbonerane as saying.

    In a statement on Sunday, Net Press termed the arrest "arbitrary". It said that all links to the site in question, the Denmark-based Agora website, were severed by Saturday before noon.

    Following an order issued on 26 August 2002 by the state-run media regulatory authority, the National Communications Council, Net Press said it had ceased providing material for the opinion column of the Agora site on 10 September 2002

    "Net Press reserves the right to petition the Burundi government for the harassment it continues to suffer since 1997, harassment perpetrated by government agents who want to prevent it from accomplishing its mission of informing the public," the agency said.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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