NIGER: Publication director of "Le Canard déchaîné" jailed again

IFEX - News from the international freedom of expression community
> _________________________________________________________________
>
> ALERT - NIGER
>
> 20 June 2002
>
> Publication director of "Le Canard déchaîné" jailed again
>
> SOURCE: Reporters sans frontières (RSF), Paris
>
> (RSF/IFEX) - Abdoulaye Tiémogo, publication director of the satirical
weekly
> "Le Canard déchaîné", was arrested on 18 June 2002 further to Prime
Minister
> Hama Amadou's filing of a complaint for "defamation". RSF has urged the
> prime minister to withdraw his complaint and see to it that the journalist
> is released immediately.
>
> "Abdoulaye Tiémogo has been arrested three times since October 2001 and
has
> spent almost two months behind bars. A member of the government has been
> behind the legal action each time," deplored RSF Secretary-General Robert
> Ménard. The organisation asked the prime minister to demonstrate his
> commitment to press freedom by reigning in his ministers, who
"unrelentingly
> try to silence an investigative journalist who is especially critical of
> them." Ménard also recalled that, "as a sentence for the crime of
> defamation, imprisonment constitutes a serious human rights violation."
>
> According to information collected by RSF, Criminal Investigation
Department
> officers in Niamey placed Tiémogo in police custody on 18 June, in the
late
> afternoon. The prime minister filed a complaint against Tiémogo because he
> felt "defamed and insulted" by three highly critical articles that were
> published in the latest issue of "Le Canard déchaîné". The journalist
> notably accused Amadou of seeking to bribe the speaker of the National
> Assembly in order to retain his post as prime minister.
>
> Just over one month ago, Tiémogo was jailed for two weeks after Amadou
filed
> a complaint. He was placed in police custody on 17 May, one week after
> hosting a debate on the private radio station Tambara FM. During the
debate,
> Sanoussi Jackou, president of the Parti Nigérien pour l'autogestion (PNA),
a
> small opposition party, accused the prime minister of ethnic and regional
> discrimination in the appointment of high state officials. Jackou was also
> arrested, as was Abarad Mouddour Zakara, publication director of his
> newspaper "La Roue de l'histoire", following the commerce minister's
filing
> of a complaint for "defamation". They were released on 29 May after being
> sentenced to a four-month suspended jail sentence and a fine of 100,000
CFA
> francs (approx. US$147;153 euros) (see IFEX alerts of 30 and 23 May 2002).
>
> On 19 October 2001, the Niamey First Instance Tribunal sentenced Tiémogo
to
> six months' imprisonment for "defamation". Agriculture Minister Wassalké
> Boukari had filed a complaint against "Le Canard Déchaîné" following its
> publication of an article alleging that he had embezzled 200 million CFA
> francs (approx. US$294,000; 305,000 euros) from a gold-mining area in the
> west of the country. The minister withdrew his complaint on 7 December, at
> the start of the appeals trial, and the journalist was subsequently
released
> (see IFEX alerts of 12 December and 19 October 2001).
>
> For further information, contact Jean-François Julliard at RSF, rue
Geoffroy
> Marie, Paris 75009, France, tel: +33 1 44 83 84 84, fax: +33 1 45 23 11
51,
> e-mail: [email protected], Internet: http://www.rsf.fr
>
> The information contained in this alert is the sole responsibility of RSF.
> In citing this material for broadcast or publication, please credit RSF.
> _________________________________________________________________
> DISTRIBUTED BY THE INTERNATIONAL FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
> EXCHANGE (IFEX) CLEARING HOUSE
> 489 College Street, Toronto (ON) M6G 1A5 CANADA
> tel: +1 416 515 9622 fax: +1 416 515 7879
> alerts email: [email protected] general e-mail: [email protected]
> Internet site: http://www.ifex.org/
> ________________________________________________________________