   |
|
afrol News, 27 August - A proposed amendment to Togo's already harsh press law causes concern. The amendment would establish heavy prison sentences for defaming or insulting the government, state institutions and employees. Togo already is known as one of Africa's most media-repressive countries. The government-proposed press law amendment has led Ann Cooper, Executive Director of the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), to send a harsh letter of protest to Togo's President Gnassingbé Eyadéma. Here, the media watchdog expresses its grave concern that "Togo continues its slide toward becoming West Africa's worst press freedom abuser." The bill, put forward a week ago by the Togolese cabinet, proposes heavy prison sentences for "defaming or insulting" the President, state institutions, courts, the armed forces, and public administration bodies. The proposed amendment would increase the penalty for "insulting the Head of State" from the current one to six months imprisonment to a "one to five-year jail term with no parole and a fine of one to five million CFA francs" (US$ 1,480 to US$ 7,400). In addition, the bill introduces penalties ranging from three months to two years for "insulting the National Assembly speaker, the Prime Minister, parliamentarians, government members, and constitutional institutions." Further penalties are a three-year jail term for defamation of "courts, tribunals, the armed forces, security forces, constituent bodies, and the public administration." Current law provides for a three-month jail term. CPJ had already written to President Eyadéma on two different occasions to voice alarm about press freedom violations in Togo and to file the group's opposition to the laws that govern the media in the country. "In May 2000, we expressed concern that the new harsh press laws would greatly inhibit the flow of information in Togo, a fear that was realised soon after the laws went into effect," Mrs Cooper recalls. Over the past two years, CPJ had documented numerous instances of "government officials seizing newspaper print runs, harassing and jailing journalists, and shuttering media outlets whose coverage displeased your government," the letter complains. This crackdown had taken place amid widespread allegations of general human rights abuses by Eyadéma's regime. In the latest case, Basile Agboh, publication director of the independent Lomé-based weekly 'Le Scorpion', was arrested on 5 June. Agboh was charged with "attacking the honour" of the President's son, Lieutenant Colonel Ernest Gnassingbé, in an article in the 3 June edition of the paper, which alleged that Eyadéma junior had issued death threats to Prime Minister Agbeyomé Kodjo. Agboh was transferred to Lomé civilian prison to await trial. Though the newspaper had printed an apology for the story, Agboh remained in prison until 16 August, when he was conditionally released. These and other incidents documented by various international media watchdogs had demonstrated that "Togo has one of the most repressive climates for journalists in Africa," Mrs Copper writes. "Press Code provisions that allow authorities to censor publications and broadcasts containing 'offensive' or 'controversial' content clearly violate the right of press freedom, which is specifically guaranteed by Togo's constitution," she adds. The US group feared that the proposed amendments would "further hamper Togolese journalists' ability to report the news at a time when the nation is going through major social unrest with far-reaching consequences for its economic development and political future," the letter to President Eyadéma says. - We therefore urge you to do everything within your power to repeal the Press Code of 2000, to stop interfering with the vital work of independent news organisations, and to allow journalists in Togo to practice their profession without fear of criminal prosecution or outrageous fines, it concludes.
|
