- At a closed door trial in the capital Bamako, the five Malian journalists and a school teacher have been slammed suspended jail terms over a secondary school essay.
The accused writers have been found guilty by the Bamako court of insulting or conspiring to insult the Malian President, Ahmed Toumani Toure. They filed an appeal against the verdict.
Security forces sealed the court premises and barred hundreds of people from witnessing the trial, saying a “sex case” is held in camera.
In protest against a crackdown on free press, the defence lawyers boycotted the court proceedings.
Seydina Oumar Diarra, who wrote an article on the Info-Matin criticising the teacher for assigning students to write an essay about the mistress of a fictional President, was arrested alongside the teacher.
Four other editors of Info-Matin, Le Républicain, Les Echos and Le Scorpion - Sambi Touré, Ibrahima Fall, Alexis Kalambry and Hamčye Cissé, respectively, had been incarcerated in Bamako Central Prisons for reprinting the article.
But the journalists said their action was done to defend press and academic freedom as well as demonstrate solidarity with their detained colleague.
The Info-Matin editor slammed an eight-month suspended sentence while the three other editors were each given three-month suspended sentences.
Mr Diarra was sentenced to serve 13 days in prison – exactly the number of days he had spent in pre-trial detention. The secondary school, Bassirou Kassim Minta, was given two months sentence, fined US $212 and banned from teaching.
The five other defendants were each fined US $424. Except Minta, all the six were escorted back to prison for formalities before they are freed.
Media rights watch described the development as an abuse of authority by the government of a country seen as a model of democracy in Africa.
The judgment came less than a month after the World Association of Newspapers passed a declaration in its 60th Congress in South Africa, urging African countries to scrap insult laws. Enforced in 48 out of 53 countries in the continent, insult laws are described as the greatest scourge of press freedom in Africa.
Besides, The African Editor’s Forum is mounting an aggressive campaign around insult laws in Africa.
“The outcome of this trial was extremely disappointing, even if it resulted in the immediate release of all the journalists,” Reporteurs Sans Frontieres said. “The court saw fit to punish a crime of lese-majesté worthy of another age, while at the same time finding an apparent solution to the crisis.”
“This case has damaged relations between the government and media, and has rendered a disservice to press freedom activists by setting a sad example to authoritarian governments, which will able to argue that even democracies impose jail terms on journalists who supposedly attack the president.”
afrol News - It is called "financial inclusion", and it is a key government policy in Rwanda. The goal is that, by 2020, 90 percent of the population is to have and actively use bank accounts. And in only four years, financial inclusion has doubled in Rwanda.
afrol News - The UN's humanitarian agencies now warn about a devastating famine in Sudan and especially in South Sudan, where the situation is said to be "imploding". Relief officials are appealing to donors to urgently fund life-saving activities in the two countries.
afrol News - Fear is spreading all over West Africa after the health ministry in Guinea confirmed the first Ebola outbreak in this part of Africa. According to official numbers, at least 86 are infected and 59 are dead as a result of this very contagious disease.
afrol News - It is already a crime being homosexual in Ethiopia, but parliament is now making sure the anti-gay laws will be applied in practical life. No pardoning of gays will be allowed in future, but activist fear this only is a signal of further repression being prepared.
afrol News / Africa Renewal - Ethiopia's ambitious plan to build a US$ 4.2 billion dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, 40 km from its border with Sudan, is expected to provide 6,000 megawatts of electricity, enough for its population plus some excess it can sell to neighbouring countries.
front page
| news
| countries
| archive
| currencies
| news alerts login
| about afrol News
| contact
| advertise
| español