**Updates IFEX alert of 29 March 2000** (RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Communications Minister Mamadi Condé, RSF asked for the release of Abdoulaye Sankara (known under his pen name, Abou Maco). Sankara is editor-in-chief of the private Conakry weekly “Le Soleil”, which was suspended on 31 March 2000. RSF recalled that in January, the […]
**Updates IFEX alert of 29 March 2000**
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Communications Minister Mamadi Condé, RSF asked for the release of Abdoulaye Sankara (known under his pen name, Abou Maco). Sankara is editor-in-chief of the private Conakry weekly “Le Soleil”, which was suspended on 31 March 2000. RSF recalled that in January, the United Nations’ special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to free opinion and expression stated that “as a sentence for the peaceful expression of an opinion, imprisonment constitutes a serious human rights violation.” The organisation also asked the minister to see to it that the National Communications Council (Conseil national de la communication, CNC) annul its suspension of the weeklies “Le Soleil” and “L’Oeil”. RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard recalled that “Guinea has ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 19 of which guarantees freedom of expression.”
According to the information collected by RSF, on 7 April, Sankara was arrested at the offices of the weekly “Le Soleil” in Conakry. The journalist is accused of launching a new newspaper, “Le Soleil Enchaîné”, even though the CNC had suspended “Le Soleil” and “L’Oeil” for a one-month period starting 31 March. This decision followed the filing of complaints by several businessmen who were implicated in wrongdoing in various articles published in the two newspapers. The CNC had all the copies of the “Soleil Enchaîn锑s first edition seized.
RSF recalled that in December 1999, Aboubacar Sylla, owner of the private weeklies “L’Indépendant” and “L’Indépendant Plus”, was detained for two days. The police had also seized all the copies of “L’Indépendant” and expelled its editor, Saliou Samb, to Ghana. The press group had been investigating a number of corruption cases which implicated the Guinean government (see IFEX alerts of 30, 16, 10 and 7 December 1999).
