(RSF/IFEX) – In a 12 November 1999 letter to Minister of Justice Obed Asamoah, RSF protested the jail sentence received by an Accra journalist and asked him to contact the responsible parties to secure the journalist’s release. RSF reminded the minister that international human rights organisations believe that prison sentences for press offences such as […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a 12 November 1999 letter to Minister of Justice Obed
Asamoah, RSF protested the jail sentence received by an Accra journalist and
asked him to contact the responsible parties to secure the journalist’s
release. RSF reminded the minister that international human rights
organisations believe that prison sentences for press offences such as libel
are out of proportion to the harm suffered by the victims. In a document
dated 14 July 1992, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights stressed
that “detention as punishment for the expression of an opinion is one of the
most reprehensible means to enjoin silence, and as such constitutes a
serious violation of human rights”. Robert Ménard, RSF’s secretary-general,
added: “That is why nowadays no democratic state passes prison sentences in
cases involving the media.”
According to the information collected by RSF, on 11 November, Eben Quarcoo,
former editor of “The Free Press” newspaper, was sentenced to ninety days in
prison and given the choice of paying a fine of 1.5 million cedis (approx.
US$600, 400 Euros) or spending two additional years in prison. On 4
November, he was found guilty of libelling the West African nation’s First
Lady. The case dates from 1994 and relates to allegations published in “The
Free Press” that President Jerry Rawling’s wife smuggled gold and drugs on
unannounced foreign trips. Quarcoo argued in his defence that the news was
already in the public domain.
