NYC Filmmaker Arrested in Nigeria

2008_09_nigeria.jpgAndrew Berends, a documentary filmmaker, was arrested by Nigerian authorities are filming in the country's oil region. He was released 36 hours later, but faces more questions. According to the AP, the Nigerian military spokesman Lt. Col Sagir Musa said, "He had no security clearance. It is for his own safety. If something happens to him it’s an embarrassment to the security agencies... The S.S.S. will investigate him and once they are satisfied they will release him, God willing.” However, Reporters Without Borders says Berends was "doing his job... It is absurd for the authorities to think that, by arresting him and his interpreter, they can conceal the economic and ecological disaster unfolding in the Niger Delta.” Espionage carries a death sentence in Nigeria. Here's the CIA Factbook on Nigeria.

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Deposit $100 in their checking account and they'll free him.

Well, heck, a bunch of reporters just got arrested in Minnesota, too -- including someone from something called "Democracy Now" that's apparently an established (if liberal-biased) radio show and a photographer from the AP. Arresting reporters on trumped-up charges doesn't just happen in Nigeria and China anymore.

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