A Ghanaian journalist, Eben Quarcoo, has been saved from serving a two year prison sentence following the payment of his fine in a libel case by the International Federation of Journalists. Quarcoo, former editor of the bi-weekly “Free Press”, was sentenced in October 1999 to a 90-day imprisonment for intentional libel for an article that […]
A Ghanaian journalist, Eben Quarcoo, has been saved from serving a two year prison sentence following the payment of his fine in a libel case by the International Federation of Journalists.
Quarcoo, former editor of the bi-weekly “Free Press”, was sentenced in October 1999 to a 90-day imprisonment for intentional libel for an article that alleged that the First Lady of Ghana, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, was involved in gold smuggling. In addition he was fined 1,500,000 cedis (about US$400) and would have served an additional two year sentence if he had defaulted on payment of the fine.
Following a request to the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) by WAJA, an amount of US$800 was provided for payment of the fine and his upkeep in prison from the IFJ’s Safety Fund for Journalists.
Quarcoo was freed on 29 December from The Nsawam Prisons where he served the initial 90-day prison sentence following the payment of the fine.
In a letter published in the Ghanaian media, Quarcoo thanked the IFJ, WAJA, The Ghana Journalists Association, The World Association of Newspapers and numerous local and international bodies that showed solidarity during his incarceration.
