On September 16, 2014, a mob of villagers killed three journalists and five others who were raising awareness about Ebola in Womey, a village about 900km from Guinea’s capital, Conakry.

Facely Camara, who was a journalist with Radio Liberté FM at Nzérékoré (about 50 km from Womey), and Molou Chérif and Sidiki Sidibé, who were, respectively, a journalist and a technician at a community radio station in Nzérékoré, were killed while covering a sensitisation campaign on preventive measures against Ebola in Womey.

The MFWA’s Guinea correspondent reported that locals attacked the team, which comprised local administrators, two medical officers, a preacher, and the three journalists. They pelted the team with stones and attacked them with cutlasses.

Some members of the delegation managed to flee, but eight of them, including three journalists, were kidnapped by the villagers. The villagers brutally killed them in the bush by slitting their throats and then buried them in a mass grave.

According to the correspondent, the villagers instigated this attack because they thought Ebola “is a political lie orchestrated by the authorities and that the disease is not real.” This follows previous riots in Nzérékoré in August after rumours that health officials who were disinfecting a market were infecting people with the virus.

The MFWA’s correspondent added that the Union of Free Radio and Television Stations of Guinea, Guinean Association of Private Newspaper Publishers, and Guinean On-Line Media Association have already issued a joint statement condemning this incident.

The Guinean Prime Minister, Mohamed Said Fofana, condemned the massacre in a national address. He promised that the perpetrators will be punished; six people have already been arrested in connection with the incident.

The MFWA is greatly saddened by this development and urges the Guinean Prime Minister to remain true to his words and bring the perpetrators to justice.

We urge organisations working with journalists to ensure their safety while reporting on sensitive issues. We also call on the Guinean government and other governments in West Africa to intensify education about Ebola to clear doubts and suspicions people may have about the disease.

Criminal Investigations Department officers picked up Louis Esperant Celestin, the managing editor of the weekly newspaper Journal d’Afrique, on September 3, 2014.

The MFWA’s correspondent in Guinea reported that the officers pushed Celestin into a vehicle and sent him to the office of the Deputy Prosecutor of the Kaloum County Court. There, he was interrogated for about four hours regarding a complaint made by the Director-General of the Post and Telecommunication Regulatory Agency (L’Autorité de Régulation des Postes et Télécommunications-ARPT), Moustapha Mamy Diaby. He was then released without prejudice and handed over to his lawyer.

Diaby has accused Celestin of libelling him through the press following a publication by Célestin’s on June 16. The said report alleged that Diaby had diverted 44 billion Guinean Francs (about 6million dollars) meant for the ARPT.

“I used a report which did not state whether it was not for immediate release. This document produced by the Ministry of Telecommunications stated that this amount went missing under the management of Moustapha Mami Diaby. Now he has lodged a complaint against me.” Celestin told our correspondent.

The MFWA condemns the arrest and detention of Celestin as it is unlawful under the Guinea’s new legislation on the press, Law No. 002, which was passed in 2010 by the National Transitional Council and assented to by the President of the Republic in 2013. The law decriminalizes breaches of the press laws. This law stipulates that a journalist cannot be arrested and detained for breaches committed through the press. For libel, slander, and ancillary offences committed through the press, the offending journalist incurs a fine without facing arrest or imprisonment.

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A member of the Guinean Gendarmerie assaulted David Tchopn Bangoura, a reporter for the private radio station Lynx FM, on September 4, 2014.

Bangoura was covering a peaceful march organised by former clients of an allegedly bankrupted bank who were demanding the reimbursement of their money when the gendarme, identified as Abdoulaye Diallo, charged at him.

Diallo, who had blocked the road to the demonstrators, left his post when he saw Bangoura and uttered “you journalists, you are the ones going everywhere to report problems.” He followed the statement with two slaps, sending Bangoura to the ground.

“He insulted me and called me all sorts of names.” Bangoura told the MFWA’s correspondent. The officer said what he did was right and that he does not regret his action.

In Guinea, journalists discharging their professional duties are often attacked by gendarmes who brutalize and insult them. The MFWA calls on the security agencies in Guinea to respect the important role journalists play in the development of the country and allow them to carry out their professional duties. The MFWA also urges the leadership of the security agencies to sanction members who assault and brutalize journalists in the course of their duty.