(CPJ/IFEX) – At 10:00 a.m. (local time) on 10 December 1998, BBC reporter Winston Ojukutu Macauley appeared in Magistrates Court #1A, presided over by Magistrate Naomi Tunis, where he was formerly charged with “false publication contrary to Article 98 of the Penal Code of 1998.” Macauley, who was represented by attorneys Jenkins Johnson and Alusine […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – At 10:00 a.m. (local time) on 10 December 1998, BBC reporter
Winston Ojukutu Macauley appeared in Magistrates Court #1A, presided over by
Magistrate Naomi Tunis, where he was formerly charged with “false
publication contrary to Article 98 of the Penal Code of 1998.” Macauley,
who was represented by attorneys Jenkins Johnson and Alusine Sesay, pleaded
not guilty and was released on a bail of six million leones (US$ 3,500.00).
He was allowed by the court to produce two sureties, in lieu of cash, with
the requirement that they were not less than fifty years of age, and that
they owned homes in the Western area of Freetown. CPJ sources believe that
the age requirement for Macauley’s release was set to prevent his being
bailed out by fellow journalists, most of whom are under forty years of age.
**Updates IFEX alerts of 9 December
BBC stringer Sylvester Rogers, who has been held in Makeni since his arrest
on 8 December, is reportedly being transported to Freetown to appear in
court on 11 December, and is said to be suffering from insistent malaria.
Shortly after his arrest, “Concord Times” reporter and BBC stringer Sulaiman
Momodu escaped from the custody of the Criminal Investigation Department and
he is currently being sought by police for reapprehension.
