(IFJ/WAJA/IFEX) – The following is an 11 October 2003 joint IFJ-WAJA press release: Sophie Malibeaux case: an escalation in attacks on press freedom in Senegal A recent action by the Senegalese authorities has raised fears concerning the press’s future and the right to information in a country which until now has been known to respect […]
(IFJ/WAJA/IFEX) – The following is an 11 October 2003 joint IFJ-WAJA press release:
Sophie Malibeaux case: an escalation in attacks on press freedom in Senegal
A recent action by the Senegalese authorities has raised fears concerning the press’s future and the right to information in a country which until now has been known to respect democracy and freedom.
Police officers arrested Sophie Malibeaux, Radio France Internationale’s (RFI) permanent special correspondent, in Ziguinchor, southern Senegal, on 7 October 2003. Malibeaux was covering a meeting of the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (Mouvement des Forces Démocratiques de Casamance, MFDC), an armed independence group, when she was arrested and forced onto a special flight to Dakar.
The journalist was held for several hours in the Interior Ministry’s offices. Later that day, she was notified that she was to be expelled from the country. The official explanation for the expulsion order was the “necessity [to preserve] public order”. Malibeaux was not given the opportunity to make a statement in her defence.
The journalist was given very little time to collect a few personal effects at her home and police then escorted her to the airport. A second order cancelling or suspending the earlier expulsion order arrived just as she was about to board a Paris-bound flight.
The authorities’ brutal treatment of Malibeaux came as a shock to many observers, who are unaccustomed to such behaviour by the authorities in Senegal.
The organisations that have signed this statement denounce the authorities’ humiliating and degrading treatment of Sophie Malibeaux. Such behaviour targeting the accredited foreign press is unprecedented in Senegal. The organisations believe the police action was unjustified, as the RFI correspondent respected the code of ethics in her coverage of the MFDC meeting, and ask that the case be closed.
These events follow numerous recent examples of harassment against Senegalese journalists and the state prosecutor’s statement listing recent violations of press laws, which was interpreted as a thinly-veiled warning to journalists.
The Foreign Press Association of Senegal, SYNPICS, the West African Journalists Association and the International Federation of Journalists’ Africa Bureau call on the authorities to put an end to the repeated attacks on journalists and press freedom in order to favour good relations with the press and to preserve Senegal’s good standing within the international community.
Dakar, 11 October 2003
Foreign Press Association of Senegal (APES)
Senegalese Union of Information and Communications Professionals (SYNPICS)
West African Journalists Association (WAJA)
International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Africa Bureau
