(RSF/IFEX) – Journalist Joseph Nyada Mani, director of publication for the privately-owned newspaper “Le Proces”, remains imprisoned. On 27 May 1997, he was arrested in Yaounde and placed in detention in the Nkodengui central prison. Mani was convicted of defamation and sentenced to six months in prison and ordered to pay 500 000 CFA francs […]
(RSF/IFEX) – Journalist Joseph Nyada Mani, director of
publication for the privately-owned newspaper “Le Proces”,
remains imprisoned. On 27 May 1997, he was arrested in Yaounde
and placed in detention in the Nkodengui central prison. Mani was
convicted of defamation and sentenced to six months in prison and
ordered to pay 500 000 CFA francs (approximately US$ 1 200) in
damages and interest. His conviction followed the publication, in
February 1997, of an article which reported on corrupt activities
allegedly linked to entrance exams at the Teachers’ Training
Academy (“l’Ecole normale superieure”) in Yaounde (see IFEX alert
of 21 August 1997).
**New cases plus update to IFEX alert dated 21 August 1997**
Meanwhile, pressures against journalists and media outlets
continue. On 23 May, during a press conference, Minister of
Communication Augustin Kontchou Kouomegni claimed that
journalists were not properly carrying out their work by engaging
in the “manipulation and brainwashing of international opinion.”
Kouomegni also mentioned the existence in the Penal Code “of a
panoply of measures” to punish crimes of the media.
Elsewhere, on 10 March, Claude Roger Eyoum Ndoumbe, who directs
the “Society” column in the state-owned daily “Cameroon
Tribune”, was suspended by the director of the newspaper. The
decision came after the circulation in the media, a few days
beforehand, of an open letter to President Paul Biya, in which
Ndoumbe protested the incarceration of his brother, a journalist
with the privately-owned satirical weekly “Messager Popoli”. On 7
July, Ndoumbe was dismissed from his job following a letter sent
by Minister Kouomegni to the director of the “Cameroon Tribune”
accusing the journalist of publishing articles likely to sully
the image of the Head of State, as well as Cameroon and its
institutions.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to authorities:
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 19 of which
recognises the right to inform and to be informed
journalists in Cameroon ceases
release of Joseph Nyada Mani
Appeals To
His Excellency Paul Biya
President of the Republic of Cameroon
Palais de l’Unite
Yaounde, Cameroon
Fax: +237 23 30 22/+237 22 16 99Peter Mafany Musonge
Prime Minister
Immeuble Etoile
1000 Yaounde, Cameroon
Fax: +237 23 57 65M. Laurent Esso
Minister of Justice
Garde des Sceaux
Ministry of Justice
1000 Yaounde, CameroonM. Augustin Kontchou Kouomegni
Minister of State for Communication
Ministry of Communication
BP 1588
Yaounde, Cameroon
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
