(RSF/IFEX) – In a 10 September 1999 letter to President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah, RSF expressed its deep concern about his government’s decision to shift the Public Emergency Regulation into a new law, containing various articles which are in total contradiction with Sierra Leone’s international commitments to freedom of expression. RSF noted that the organisation “does […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a 10 September 1999 letter to President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah,
RSF expressed its deep concern about his government’s decision to shift the
Public Emergency Regulation into a new law, containing various articles
which are in total contradiction with Sierra Leone’s international
commitments to freedom of expression. RSF noted that the organisation “does
not deny the right of the Sierra Leonean government to dispose of laws which
protect state and public security, but it is your duty to respect
fundamental human rights of expression, guaranteed by Article 19 of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ratified by your
country.” RSF asked Kabbah “to use all your influence to abrogate Articles
10 (1) (2) and those points of Articles 11 (1) (2), and Articles 12 (2) (3)
which are inconsistent with your international commitment to human rights.”
Robert Ménard, the organisation’s secretary-general, therefore reminded the
president that “our organisation is attached to journalistic ethics and
defends the right to prosecute those responsible for defamation, provided
that the punishment is appropriate to the offence and does not involve
imprisonment.”
According to the information gathered by RSF, the new law containing the
Article 10 (1), subtitled “Publication of disturbing reports”, states that
“no person shall publish any report or statement which is likely to cause
alarm or despondency or be prejudicial to the public safety, the public
tranquility or the maintenance of public order.” A person who does not
respect that article shall be liable to a one year jail sentence. That
article is unquestionably a strong violation of the right of expression. The
government has already used the same Public Emergency Regulation to jail
journalists like Winston Ojukutu Macauley and Sylvester Rogers (see IFEX
alert of 21 April 1999 and 13 June 1997).
