U.S. filmmaker provisionally released in Nigeria
ReutersLAGOS, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Nigerian authorities provisionallyreleased a U.S. journalist late on Friday, almost a week afterhe was arrested for filming the army in the oil-producing NigerDelta, his colleagues and a rights group said.
Andrew Berends, a freelance journalist, was arrested lastSunday for filming a deployment by a joint military taskforcewhich patrols the delta, where the army has been battling rebelsdemanding greater local control over oil revenues.
The army said Berends had been arrested because he had notsought clearance to film in the region. He was handed over tothe State Security Services (SSS) to ascertain his mission.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)said Berends and his local translator Samuel George, arrestedwith him, were due to report back to the authorities on Monday.
"Nigeria's democratic government has made enormous stridessince the days of dictator Sani Abacha, when dozens ofjournalists were arrested and held under terrible conditions,"CPJ executive director Joel Simon said in a statement.
"Detaining journalists for doing their job is unbefitting ofthe country's new leaders. We hope that the ordeal of AndrewBerends and Samuel George will soon be over."
Nigeria's record on press freedom is much better than thatof many African countries and journalists freely criticise thegovernment. However, there are occasional incidents ofjournalists being detained and the SSS has been named a"predator of press freedom" by Reporters Without Borders. (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on thetop issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com/ ) (Reporting by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Charles Dick)