(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Attorney General José Antonio Sossa, RSF protested the raid of the “El Siglo” dailyâs head offices and the order to arrest its editor, Carlos Singares. The organisation called on Sossa to annul the order. Robert Ménard, RSF’s secretary-general, recalled that in January 2000, the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Attorney General José Antonio Sossa, RSF protested the raid of the “El Siglo” dailyâs head offices and the order to arrest its editor, Carlos Singares. The organisation called on Sossa to annul the order. Robert Ménard, RSF’s secretary-general, recalled that in January 2000, the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression for the United Nations stated that “a prison sentence as punishment for the peaceful expression of an opinion is a serious human rights violation.”
According to information obtained by RSF, on 22 June, agents of the Judiciary Procedure Police searched “El Siglo”‘s offices with the order to detain the editor. They failed to arrest the journalist as he was not in the office at the time. Singares is accused of “defamation and disrespect” by the attorney general. That same day, the newspaper had published an article stating that lawyer Sidney Sitton was accusing Sossa of frequenting “meeting places ⦠in search of pleasure with underage adolescents”.
On 25 May, Sossa ordered Singares’ arrest after the publication of an article whose contents allegedly violated and offended his “dignity, honour and decency”. On 30 May, Sossa annulled that detention order, a decision which was welcomed by RSF.
Panamanian law authorises the attorney general to pass prison sentences of up to eight days without due process and with no possibility of the decision being appealed.
