(MISA/IFEX) – Jailed reporter Fernando Quinova, who was held illegally by police in the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado, was released at the weekend, reports the Mozambican News Agency, AIM. **Updates IFEX alerts of 9 March, 8 March, 5 March, 3 February and 28 January 1999** Quoting the 9 March 1999 edition of the […]
(MISA/IFEX) – Jailed reporter Fernando Quinova, who was held illegally
by
police in the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado, was released
at
the weekend, reports the Mozambican News Agency, AIM.
**Updates IFEX alerts of 9 March, 8 March, 5 March, 3 February and 28
January 1999**
Quoting the 9 March 1999 edition of the Maputo daily “Noticias”, AIM
reports
that news of his release came in a letter sent to the office of the
publicly-owned Mass Communications Institute (ICS) at Pemba. In the
letter,
Quinova said his release followed a telephone call, which he believed
came
from Pemba, and on 6 March at 5:00 p.m. (local time) he was released.
The
only condition for his release was that he had to supply the local court
with the details of his identity and address.
Quinova said he had been kept in a dark cell and given one meal a day
while
in the jail. He described his state of health as “enfeebled”. He also
demanded that a court hearing be held “because I still don’t know why I
was
detained.”
Background Information
Quinova, who works for the ICS, was arrested on 30 October last year,
after
Radio Mozambique had broadcast a story he wrote concerning the death of
an
alleged thief at the hands of the police in the district of Chiure. He
was
held in the Chiure police cells without charge for twenty three days but
managed to escape and walked through the bush for two weeks until he
reached
the Cabo Delgado provincial capital, Pemba.
He and the local ICS delegate, Luisa Lourenco, then complained to the
provincial police command, who admitted that the Chiure police had
behaved
illegally and promised an inquiry. Despite this, Quinova was re-arrested
on
15 February when he returned to Chiure. This time he was charged with
slandering the police, and “leaking information.”
AIM has confirmed that neither of the charges against Quinova exists in
the
Mozambican legal order. There are no such crimes as “leaking
information” or
“slandering the police.”
A Prominent jurist and one-time advisor to the justice minister, Abdul
Carimo, who is currently deputy speaker of the Mozambican parliament,
told
AIM that crimes of defamation (slander or libel) applied to individuals
–
not to institutions. Quinova could thus be sued for slandering a named
policeman, but not for slandering “the police.” As for “leaking
information,” there was no such offence on the Mozambican statute books,
said Carimo. There was a law protecting state and military secrets, and
the
unauthorised publication of such data would constitute a crime. But
nobody
could imagine that a news item about the death of a suspect at the hands
of
the police could fall into the category of “state secrets,” Carimo told
AIM.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to authorities:
calling
for an urgent inquiry into the actions of the police at Chiure
not
only do they violate his universal right to freedom of expression but
are
also unfounded in the context of Mozambique’s legal and constitutional
dispensation
against
Quinova
Appeals To
President Joaquim Alberto Chissano
Avenida Julius Nyerere 2000
Caixa Postal 285
Maputo, Mozambique
Fax: +258 1 492 068Mr. Almerino Manhenje
Minister of Interior
Fax: +258 1 422 0084/431 048General Pascol Ronda
General Commander of Police
Fax: +258 1 431 048Ms. Julietta Langa
Chairperson of the Higher Council for Social Communication
Fax: +258 1 493 845
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
