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Alert

Opposition politician threatens legal action against newspaper

(CEMESP/IFEX) - An opposition politician of the Liberia Action Party, Counselor Varney Sherman, has threatened to take "The Analyst" newspaper, one of Liberia's dailies, to court.

Sherman says he will sue the newspaper for publishing his photograph in a story captioned "Opposition Parties Sponsor Isakaba."

"Isakaba" is the term used to refer to groups of armed gangs who have, in recent times, carried out a series of armed robberies on peaceful citizens in Liberia.

The story, published in the 8 September 2006 edition of "The Analyst", quoted a 6 September press statement from the organization Youth for the Promotion of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Administration (YOPMEJOSA) as claiming that the 20 defeated political parties in the 2005 presidential elections in Liberia were using their supporters to sabotage the Sirleaf administration.

Sherman, who served as standard bearer for the Coalition for the Transformation of Liberia(COTOL in the 2005 Presidential elections, told reporters, following a program on the main campus of the University of Liberia, that he would sue "The Analyst", saying: "Just know that we will meet in court; my men will meet you in court soon; I am not joking about this."

The managing editor of "The Analyst", Stanley Seakor, says he was taken aback by the threat from Sherman.

Seakor says it is unfortunate that the politician would resolve to take the whistleblowers, and not the challenger, to court.

"The Analyst" says that, while it had some doubts about the veracity of the allegation leveled against the opposition politicians by YOPMEJOSA, it was compelled by its social responsibility to publish the information.