(RSF/IFEX) – On 25 February 2003, RSF protested the detention of Ismael Mbonigaba, editor of the newspaper “Umuseso”, who has been imprisoned for the past month for allegedly “inciting people to be divisive and practice discrimination”. The organisation said the editor’s detention was simply an excuse for the government to crack down on independent media […]
(RSF/IFEX) – On 25 February 2003, RSF protested the detention of Ismael Mbonigaba, editor of the newspaper “Umuseso”, who has been imprisoned for the past month for allegedly “inciting people to be divisive and practice discrimination”.
The organisation said the editor’s detention was simply an excuse for the government to crack down on independent media and the opposition. Calling on the authorities to free him at once, RSF noted that the May 2002 press law banned the preventive detention of journalists except for specific reasons, which did not include “incitement to be divisive”.
Mbonigaba was arrested on 22 January and was sent to Kigali’s central prison two days later, under the anti-discrimination law of 18 December 2002. A decision on his fate is expected on 27 February. He faces several years’ imprisonment.
The editor was picked up after his paper reported on 13 January that former prime minister Faustin Twagiramungu would stand against President Paul Kagame in the next presidential election.
The article was accompanied by a caricature of Kagame, represented as King Solomon, holding the hand of a baby representing the Democratic Republican Movement (MDR, a political party that is part of the government coalition) and a sword in his other hand. Two other people were shown pestering him about how to handle the MDR. The caricature suggested Kagame is the arbiter of the party’s divisions and that he alone could decide its future.
Mbonigaba has previously been targeted by the authorities several times. In May, he was arrested after criticising a speech in which Kagame referred to Rwandans as “idiots.” His passport was seized, preventing him from attending a conference in neighbouring Burundi.
