Paul Kamara, the editor and publisher of the For-Di-People daily newspaper, and three staff of the printing press where the paper is printed were, on Saturday, October 11, charged with two counts of seditious libel against President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah. They are being detained at the Padema Road Maximum Prison in Freetown, following their failure to meet the stiff bail conditions imposed by a Magistrate court.

Those detained together with Kamara are Brima Sesay, chief printer, Joseph Charles, manager, and Lovette Charles, the 60-year-old proprietor of the John Love Printing Press.

According to Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA)-Sierra Leone, Kamara and the staff of the printing press were first picked up on Friday, October 10, and held at the headquarters of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID). They were arraigned before court the following day and charged under the Public Order Act (1965) for a banner headline in the October 3 edition of the newspaper, which read, “Kabbah a True Convict”.

The article had insinuated that President Kabbah was found guilty in 1968 by a commission (referred to as the Beoku Betts Commission) set up to probe alleged fraud at the Sierra Leone Produce Marketing Board (SLMB) while he was serving as Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Trade. However, the Speaker of Parliament, Justice Edmond Cowan, who took issue with the publication, argued in parliament that President Kabbah was not a convict because a commission of inquiry did not have the powers of a high court. Subsequently, the paper began serializing verbatim, the Beoku Betts Commission report.

Kamara and the three others were granted bail in the sum of Le50 million each – totalling the equivalent of more than US $100,000 – a condition they were unable to meet. They are, therefore, being held in prison custody, to reappear in court on Thursday, October 16, 2003.

Lovette Charles is reported to have fallen sick after spending the night in the CID cells. When she appeared in court, she vowed never to print for any newspaper again. Incidentally, several newspapers have since failed to appear on the newsstands.

The MFWA is concerned about the repeated arrests, detention and fines on journalist Paul Kamara. We are also particularly worried about the prohibitive bail conditions imposed on the four detained persons. MFWA appeals to the government and judiciary in Sierra Leone to avoid acts that could amount to gagging the independent press and stifling freedom of expression in the country.

The editor and proprietor of the For-Di-People newspaper, Paul Kamara, was on Thursday, October 9, 2003, ordered to pay sums of money totalling the equivalent of $30,000, in damages and costs for a libel suit brought against him.

Presiding high court judge, Justice Ademusu, awarded damages in the sum of Le 60 million to be paid within 24 hours to Sierra Leone Football Association president and appeal court judge, Justice Emeric Tolla Thompson. Kamara was also ordered to pay another Le1,000,000 for costs.

Last year, on April 25, Kamara was charged with a two-count criminal libel suit for “malicious” publications “intended to smear the good name and the reputation” of Justice Thompson. He was placed under a Le10 million bail. Paul Kamara had accused Tolla Thompson of constitutional default for accepting a position for which he was receiving emoluments; which, according to Kamara, was contrary to the constitution.

The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) is concerned about the highhanded and evidently punitive intent of the claims and ruling against the editor of the For-Di-People newspaper. Whilst acknowledging the prerogative of the court, MFWA appeals to litigants and the judiciary in Sierra Leone to resolve complaints about defamation by exercising the options of rejoinders, retractions and apologies.

Any action that could have the effect of limiting the space for informed public debate, encouraging prior censorship, or undermining freedom of expression generally, is also a potential threat to democracy and public accountability.

The Senegal correspondent of the Paris-based Radio France Internationale (RFI), Sophie Malibeaux, was on Tuesday October 7, 2003 arrested and ordered expelled by the government of Senegal. A statement issued by the Ministry of Interior claimed Sophie “tried to sabotage the peace process through biased handling of the Cassamance issue.”

According to Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA)-Senegal, Sophie was picked up in Ziguinchor, south of Senegal, in the morning of October 7; barely a day after the opening of the Congress of the Movement of Democratic Forces of Cassamance (MFDC) on Monday, October 6. Three plainclothes police officers escorted her to a waiting aircraft belonging to the Senegal national army and flown to Dakar, capital of Senegal.

The RFI correspondent was then promptly transferred into a waiting vehicle and taken to the Ministry of interior where she was informed of her expulsion and ordered to immediately vacate the national territory of Senegal “for the sake of public order.”

The MFWA is saddened by the arbitrary and dispatch manner in which the security agencies in Senegal have proceeded to deport journalist Sophie Malibeaux. The decision itself also contravenes a basic tenet of the UN Declaration on Human Rights, which provides in Article 19 that, “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; [including the] freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”

We appeal to the government of President Abdoulaye Wade to rescind the decision to expel Sophie and, in any case, to give her an opportunity to respond to the charge of which she has already been pronounced guilty.

Paul Kamara, managing editor of the For-Di-People newspaper, was on Friday October 3, 2003 arrested and detained at the headquarters of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

Kamara was released after seven hours and asked to report the following morning.

According to Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA)-Sierra Leone sources, Kamara was arrested at the instance of Attorney General and Minster of Justice, Eke Halloway, and queried about a front page article published in the October 3, 2003 edition of the paper. The article challenged the constitutional legality of the Speaker of Parliament, Justice Edmond Cowan’s defense of President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah in Parliament.

Justice Cowan had reacted in Parliament to recent media publications that insinuated that President Kabbah was found guilty in 1968 by a Commission of Inquiry headed by Justice Beoku Betts. The Beoku Betts Commission was set up to investigate alleged fraud at the Sierra Leone Produce Marketing Board (SLPMB) while President Kabbah was serving as Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Trade.

The “For-Di-People” newspaper had, for the last week been serializing verbatim, the Beoku Betts Commission report, much to the chagrin of the Speaker of Parliament and some government officials.

The Speaker, quoting relevant provisions of the constitution, argued that President Kabbah was not a convict because a Commission of Inquiry did not have the powers of a High Court.

The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) considers the arrest, detention and interrogation of Kamara for disagreeing with the Speaker on the constitutional interpretation of the Beoku Betts Commission’s report as an abuse of power and a manifestation of intolerance of dissent.

The MFWA appeals to the government of President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah to demonstrate a commitment to media freedom and freedom of expression in Sierra Leone by permitting the independent and critical debate of issues of public interest.