(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Chief Magistrate Boaz Olao, RSF protested the detention of two Kenyan journalists. The organisation asked Olao to order the immediate release of Asena Muyoma and David Matende, publisher and editor-in-chief of the “Weekly Citizen”, respectively. RSF recalled that, in January 2000, the United Nations’ special rapporteur on freedom of […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Chief Magistrate Boaz Olao, RSF protested the detention of two Kenyan journalists. The organisation asked Olao to order the immediate release of Asena Muyoma and David Matende, publisher and editor-in-chief of the “Weekly Citizen”, respectively. RSF recalled that, in January 2000, the United Nations’ special rapporteur on freedom of expression asked all governments to “ensure that press offences are no longer punished by terms of imprisonment.” “Kenyan authorities should lead by example and carry out the United Nations’ recommendations to the letter. It is their duty to release these two journalists, who did nothing more than exercise their right to inform,” said RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard.
On 10 July 2001, according to information obtained by RSF, Muyoma and Matende were arrested in Nairobi and held pending trial. They are accused of publishing an article in which they reported on the involvement of a police commissioner and an assistant to the minister of education in political unrest in Nairobi. They were charged with “publishing unverified and alarmist information.” They could be released if they each paid bail of 200,000 Kenyan shillings (approx. US$2,548; 2,900 Euros), but the two men have been unable to raise the money.
