2 October 2008

Alert

Minister sues jailed newspaper editor for defamation


Incident details

El Malick Seck

editor(s)

legal action

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(MFWA/IFEX) - El Malick Seck, jailed editor-in-chief of the privately-owned newspaper "24 Heures Chrono", will appear in a Dakar court on 28 October 2008 to answer defamation charges brought against him by the country's Minister of the Interior, Sheikh Tidiane Sy.

According to a Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) correspondent, the suit follows an article published in "24 Heures Chrono" on 14 July which said that although Sy has denied having links with the Diané brothers who were reported to have murdered a French judge in Djibouti, a United States Agency for International Development (USAID) document confirmed that Sy had worked for assassins in Washington.

Seck is serving a three-year prison sentence for linking President Abdoulaye Wade and his son to a money laundering case in Côte d'Ivoire. "24 Heures Chrono" has also been banned for three months for the same offence. The ban expires on 12 December.

For further information on Seck's previous sentence, see: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/96959


Source

Media Foundation for West Africa
PO Box LG 730
30 Duade Street, Kokomlemle
Legon, Accra
Ghana
alerts (@) mediafound.org
Phone: +233 21 242470
Fax: +233 21 221084

More on this case

Journalist El Malick Seck pardoned 29 April 2009 Journalist El Malick Seck loses appeal, faces three-year sentence for defaming president and his son 2 March 2009 Jailed editor El Malick Seck again convicted of defaming top Senegalese officials 27 January 2009 Court refuses bail for jailed editor 4 December 2008 Following appeal, court exonerates journalist of two offences, but he still faces possible prison term 16 September 2008 Dakar newspaper editor gets three years in prison for libelling president, newspaper suspended for three months 12 September 2008 Jailed editor denied bail 10 September 2008 Police raid and seal "24 Heures Chrono", seize edition, arrest editor; cabinet minister's nephew among those arrested for ransacking two newspapers 2 September 2008

Senegal

Court grants bail to two detained journalists 8 October 2009 ARTICLE 19 condemns attacks against Wal Fadjri media group and its journalists 1 October 2009 Two journalists arrested, charged after reporting on local government corruption 25 September 2009 "Le Quotidien" journalists interrogated 1 September 2009 Radio and television group shut down for payment default 28 August 2009


West Africa

GHANA: ARTICLE 19 recommends changes to proposed access to information law 8 February 2010 GHANA: Newspaper reporter attacked 5 February 2010 MAURITANIA: Court imposes new two-year sentence on website editor 5 February 2010 GHANA: Investigation launched into journalist mistreatment allegation 5 February 2010