(CPJ/IFEX) – On 2 July 1998, Joseph Mboka, editor of the “Democrat”, Jonathan Leigh, managing editor of the “Independent Observer”, and Ahmed Kanneh, managing director of “Newstorm” were arrested for violating Proclamation 1, the current emergency regulations banning the publication of information regarding the current war with the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF) forces. Mboka’s […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – On 2 July 1998, Joseph Mboka, editor of the “Democrat”,
Jonathan
Leigh, managing editor of the “Independent Observer”, and Ahmed Kanneh,
managing
director of “Newstorm” were arrested for violating Proclamation 1, the
current emergency regulations banning the publication of information
regarding the current war with the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF)
forces.
Mboka’s arrest was in connection with an article printed in the “Independent
Observer” on 30 June entitled “Danger, Sanko To Return”, regarding the
arrest in Nigeria of the leader of the dissident RUF. Mboka was released the
same day without charges.
Leigh’s arrest is in connection with an article printed in the 30 June 1998
issue of the “Independent Observer” regarding the Sierra Leonean army’s
recruitment of 3,000 former Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) junta
soldiers.
Kanneh’s arrest is in connection with an article printed in the 30 June
issue of “Newstorm” regarding the murder of a employee of the power company
of an ECOMOG (West African Peacekeeping Forces) soldier and his impending
death sentence.
