(MFWA/IFEX) – On 7 June 2005, Magistrate Sam Margai, of the No. 1 Freetown Court, discharged Syndey Pratt and Dennis Jones, editor and reporter, respectively, of the “Trumpet” newspaper. The two journalists were acquitted of charges of “seditious libel” brought against them on 27 May, following the publication of the paper’s 23 May edition. The […]
(MFWA/IFEX) – On 7 June 2005, Magistrate Sam Margai, of the No. 1 Freetown Court, discharged Syndey Pratt and Dennis Jones, editor and reporter, respectively, of the “Trumpet” newspaper. The two journalists were acquitted of charges of “seditious libel” brought against them on 27 May, following the publication of the paper’s 23 May edition.
The acquittal of the two journalists was aided by the intervention of the president of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ), Alhaji Ibrahim Ben Kargbo, who pleaded with the attorney general and minister for justice, Hon. Frederick Carew, to drop the charges. Carew agreed to drop the charges if the newspaper editor published a retraction of the article.
The court’s order followed the publishing of a retraction on the front page of the newspaper’s 31 May edition. The presiding magistrate, however, warned the editor and his reporter to be more cautious in the future when reporting stories that they were unsure of.
