(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has protested over Justice Minister Fred M. Carew’s recent threat to jail Chernoh Ojukwu Sesay, editor of “The Pool” newspaper. “We are appalled at this abuse of power. It shows the government is determined to crack down on the media, two weeks after the unjust sentencing of ‘For di People’ editor Paul […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has protested over Justice Minister Fred M. Carew’s recent threat to jail Chernoh Ojukwu Sesay, editor of “The Pool” newspaper.
“We are appalled at this abuse of power. It shows the government is determined to crack down on the media, two weeks after the unjust sentencing of ‘For di People’ editor Paul Kamara to four years in prison for libel. Carew’s lecturing of Sesay after summoning him to his office is unacceptable behaviour by a minister in a democratic government, especially in a country as fragile as Sierra Leone,” RSF said.
“We urge President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah to calm his minister down and listen to the numerous calls by journalists and press freedom groups to decriminalise media offences by repealing the 1965 libel law. Sierra Leone would thus no longer be adding to the list of imprisoned journalists in Africa. It would also put an end to this kind of deplorable incident,” the organisation added.
On 1 October 2004, “The Pool” carried a story entitled, “Carew plans to kill three orphans”, which claimed that prior to becoming a government minister, when Carew was only a lawyer, he had tried to leave three children penniless when working for one of his clients.
Sesay was summoned the same day to the minister’s office, where he also found Director of Public Prosecutions Bryma Kebbie and a lawyer. The editor told RSF that Carew accused him of committing an offence and angrily warned that if journalists continued to be “irresponsible and ignore the 1965 law,” he would make sure the law is applied and that Sesay “[would join] Kamara in prison very soon.” “As long as I am justice minister, I will not hesitate to jail any journalist who falls foul of the law. Do you understand?”, Carew reportedly said.
