20 October 2004

TAKE ACTION! SIERRA LEONE: EDITOR SENTENCED TO FOUR YEARS IN PRISON


The African Press Network for the 21st Century (RAP 21), an initiative of the World Association of Newspapers (WAN), has launched an online letter-writing campaign to protest the sentencing of journalist Paul Kamara to prison.

On 5 October 2004, a court in Sierra Leone sentenced the editor and publisher of the daily newspaper "For Di People" to four years in prison on charges of "seditious libel" against President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah. It also recommended a six-month ban on the newspaper.

The charges stem from articles in "For Di People" about a 1967 Commission of Inquiry into fraud allegations at the Sierra Leone Produce Marketing Board. At the time, President Kabbah helped oversee the board.

For more details about the case, see:
http://www.rap21.org/article18306.html?var_recherche=paul+kamara
World Press Review Profile of Paul Kamara: http://www.worldpress.org/Africa/1025.cfm



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Also from the Communiqué, 20 October 2004

INTERNATIONAL: REPRESSIVE REGIMES STIFLE INDEPENDENT MEDIA DEVELOPMENT 19 October 2004 IRAQ: TWO JOURNALISTS KILLED; FRENCH REPORTERS REMAIN CAPTIVE 20 October 2004 PHILIPPINES: REPORTER MURDERED 20 October 2004 INTERNATIONAL: MISA, IFJ BACK CALLS FOR FREE EXPRESSION TREATY 20 October 2004 UNITED STATES: JOURNALISTS' RIGHT TO PROTECT SOURCES THREATENED 20 October 2004 TONGA: PINA HAILS COURT RULING AS VICTORY FOR PRESS FREEDOM 20 October 2004 PALESTINE: MEDIA IGNORING PRESS FREEDOM VIOLATIONS IN ISRAEL/PALESTINE CONFLICT: IPI 20 October 2004 INTERNATIONAL: WORLD PRESS INSTITUTE FELLOWSHIPS 20 October 2004 INTERNATIONAL: HIV/AIDS RED RIBBON MEDIA AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN JOURNALISM 20 October 2004
 
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