togo: Three journalists detained
Three private media practitioners, Dimas Dzikodo (Editor) and Philipe Evégnon (Managing Director) of the L'Evénement newspaper, as well as Jean de Dieu Kpakpabia , a reporter with the Nouvel Echo weekly, were arrested and detained over the weekend in Lomé, capital of Togo. Dzikodo was first arrested on Saturday, June 14, 2003, from an internet café where he went to scan pictures of persons who had been assaulted and injured by state security personnel during the recent presidential elections held on June 1.
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From: Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), [email protected]
Togo Alert
June 19, 2003
Three journalists detained
* The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) and the Media Foundation of
West Africa (MFWA), as a joint activity, will henceforth issue alerts,
statements and appeals to highlight media freedom and wider human rights
violations in West Africa. See www.misa.org and www.mediafoundationwa.org
for more information.
Three private media practitioners, Dimas Dzikodo (Editor) and Philipe
Evégnon (Managing Director) of the L'Evénement newspaper, as well as Jean de
Dieu Kpakpabia , a reporter with the Nouvel Echo weekly, were arrested and
detained over the weekend in Lomé, capital of Togo.
Dzikodo was first was arrested on Saturday, June 14, 2003, from an internet
café where he went to scan pictures of persons who had been assaulted and
injured by state security personnel during the recent presidential elections
held on June 1.
According to Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) Togo sources, state
security personnel had been stalking him on the suspicion that he was among
an alleged group of informants for several international media and
pro-democracy organisations, whose conduct, the government claimed, was
designed to bring the name of the country into disrepute.
Evégnon and Kpakpabia were picked up the following morning, Sunday, June 5
on the same charge. The three have since been in police custody at the
headquarters of the bureau of national security in Lomé. According to the
Minister of Interior, Security and Decentralisation, Squadron Leader Akila
Esso Boko, they are being held for "plotting against the internal security
of the country."
The MFWA is concerned about the poor human rights record of the government
of President Gnassingbe Eyadéma in Togo, in particular the lack of tolerance
and respect for the rights of journalists and individuals to hold, seek,
receive and share opinions and ideas.
The MFWA urges you to protest the arrest and continued detention of the
three journalists. Please address your protest to:
H. E. Gnassingbe Eyadéma
President
[email protected]
Republic of Togo
Enquiries:
Media Foundation for West Africa
Prof Kwame Karikari
Executive Director (MFWA)
P. O. Box LG 730
Legon, Ghana
E-mail: [email protected]
Tel: 233-21-24 24 70
Fax: 233-21-22 10 84
Web: http://www.mediafoundationwa.org
Enquiries:
Media Institute of Southern Africa
Zoe Titus
Program Coordinator: Media Freedom Monitoring
21 Johann Albrecht Street
Private Bag 13386
Windhoek, Namibia
Tel: +264 61 232 975
Fax: +264 61 248 016
Web: http://www.misa.org
Ends
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Information distributed by:
Zoe Titus
Regional Program Coordinator: Media Freedom Monitoring
Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA)
Private Bag 13386
Windhoek, Namibia
Tel. +264 61 232975, Fax. 248016
Cellular: 081 128 3919
e-mail: [email protected]
web: http://www.misa.org
MEDIA INSTITUTE OF SOUTHERN AFRICA
PROMOTING MEDIA DIVERSITY, PLURALISM, SELF-SUFFICIENCY AND INDEPENDENCE
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